This looks like the best thread to resurrect for Sofie clone ideas...
Here are the recipe and mash and fermentation profiles I used...
Primary took 5 days. Moved to secondary in a Speidel 30 liter fermenter and pitched Brett and let it go for 31 days. Then added oak cubes and bitter orange for 6 days. Removed oak and orange after 6 days and kegged. Force carbonated and bottled from keg.
Overall it's a nice and interesting Brett finished Saison. But it ended up with too much bitter orange flavor. I think oaking is correct, but it's hard to tell since the orange is too strong. I think it has more citrus than Sofie, but I've not done a head-to-head comparison yet.
I tasted daily once I added oak and citrus, but I think I needed to agitate it a little (don't like to agitate my fermenting beers). My hypothesis is the bitter orange flavor kinda hung around the bag and didn't mix well, so when I took a sample from the tap, I wasn't getting a true reflection of how much orange was really there. What do you think about agitating? Will this break the pellicle? Is that bad?
Also, has anyone tried a tincture approach to adding orange to this recipe?
Finally, what are opinions about using prepared bitter orange peel vs fresh orange zest?
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http://www.sycamorecreekbrewing.com/