Headspace for secondary on fruit and yeast selection?

[mell_man79]

I'm about to brew two 5 gallon batches of oud bruin to which I'm gonna add 10 lbs of cherries to one, and 10 lbs of raspberries to the other 3 months into the secondary fermentaion in a standard 5 gallon fermentation bucket. I'm really concerned if the extra space in the 5 gallon bucket will be enough for the fruit and resulting krausen from the secondary. I was just planing to put the lid on with a airlock, but I'm worried I'm gonna come home and have a mess all over my kitchen. Also, I plan on brewing 6 gallon batches instead of the standard 5 gallons to make up for trub loss. I was thinking of buying 60 liter buckets for this, but I'm not sure if that's overkill. Also, I'm torn between using Wyeast 3763 Roeselare Blend, or white labs WLP665 flemish ale blend during the secondary. I was told that the roeselare blend will sour the beer more quickly than the WLP665, but I have never soured a beer or used either of these yeast. Any advice would be appreciated

 

[mell_man79]

By the way. This recipe is following Jamil's Flanders brown extract recipe which calls for about a week on a dry yeast, then 6 months in a secondary on a souring culture.

 

[mell_man79]

Anyone? This post is two months old and no one has any advice??

 

[timcook]

I am far from experienced with making sour beer. I've only made 2 batches. My advice would be to put the Roeselare in one fermenter & the Flemish blend in the other. Don't worry about the fruit now. Let them ferment for 12 months. I would not check anything until they've been fermenting for 6 months. At that point, you take take a taste & add some dregs from your favorite sours (Jolly Pumpkin, Crooked Stave, etc.) You have a whole year to decide on the fruit & secondary decisions. Be patient, browse some sites (milk the funk, mad fermentationist) and ask others.

 

[Dcpcooks]

60l is overkill for the fruit addition. I use a 60L as a lager fermentor for15 gallon batches where I don't want headspace. The Speidel 30l is 7.8 gallons and should be a nice size to accommodate the beer and fruit with enough headspace for the secondary fermentation while limiting head space for the long secondary. You could probably get away with 6.5 gallon carboys but you would need to keep the air locks clean and you'd probably loose a bit to blowoff.

I think you will like roeselare for an old bruin. It's a bit softer in my opinion.