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Do you mean a drier, more fermentable beer the more time you spend at the lower temperature? If you normally aimed for a single infusion temperature of about 152 F (67 C), how much time at each end would you recommend?

In a single step infusion mash, one can adjust the dryness or sweetness of the resulting beer, by the choice of mash temperature (the higher the temperarture, the sweeter the beer). When doing a Hochkurz mash (using the ideal beta and alpha temperatures), does anyone know how one controls the...

Kai is very much missed. I'm not sure why he suddenly seemed to disapear. I have learned so much from his websites, and videos, and I'm grateful that he still has them up. Thanks for the book recommendation. I wasn't aware of that one - it seems as though it just came out recently.

Yes, going slowly may work, as long as you stay in the saccharification range for at least 10 or 15 minutes. You need a lot of sugars to get significant Maillard reactions, especially at the low temperature of 212 F. Most of the Maillard reactions that do occur, occur in the random, temporary...

Yes, but the grain is not yet converted. Thus, although you release starches during the boil, you miss out on the Maillard reactions

Kai's Pseudo decoction sounds like a great shortcut, although I am wondering about one aspect that Kai might have missed. There seem to be two main advantages to doing a decoction: 1) you release more starches which enhances the later conversion process; 2) you get Maillard reactions which...

I tried my Rodenbach after a year, and while it has plenty of Brett character, there seems to be little Lacto character. Will an extra half year result in significantly more lacto? If not, how can one increase the lacto content?

Westvleteren is not noted for having a spicy taste. It is much more about caramel, chocolate, raisin, prune, dates, and cherry. If you want to change it for your own taste and add some spices, I would recommend adding a couple of cinnamon sticks. Not too much - just a hint. A few vanilla beans...

After a year of fermenting, shouldn't almost all of the sugars be gone by then? So one would think that the amount of sugar to add should remain a fixed amount, depending on the amount of carbonation desired. I was planning to siphon it into a temporary large container, add the sugar and...

What process do you use to bottle? Do you add fresh yeast and dextrose? How much?

Just trying to be helpful. Otherwise, why did you post?

As mentioned, I did find it was far from complete, even after 8 months. You don't get the full lacto effect at that point.

May sounds awfully early to me. My understanding is that you should let it sit a year to a year and a half. I made one once and bottled it about 8 months later, and it was still a long way from finishing. I had to cheat and add lactic acid to it. I've made two 5-gallon batches since - one last...

If you're going to try a sour in the future, I recomend Rodenbach to start with. You can usually get it around here before and during Christmas Season.

Welcome! I'm also in the GTA area, and have been brewing beer since 1990 (wine since the 1970's). I'm loving my Brewzilla and Fermzilla. I mostly brew the more difficult lagers and true sours that take a year to a year and a half to complete (not the hyped-up overnight kettle sours). I'm a...

Adding more Special B should help in adding unfermentables. My understanding is that mashing a little higher will give you less unfermentables.

I used Roeselare on my last two batches (one made in January, the other in June), without adding any other yeast and without making a starter. They both started fairly quickly the day after brewing. I understand that you can't make a proper starter with Roeselare because of the balance and...

Yeah, I don't think much happens after 1.5 years. What was your gravity after the primary fermentation finished? In other words, did you include a lot of non-fermentables?

Thanks @Shenanigans. Do you think it would have soured more if you let it stand for another few months?

Yes, when I made it many years ago, I found it to be very dry. I wasn't sure how to sweeten it without causing further fermentation. I ended up using a non-fermenting sugar which seemed to work.