Need help with a recipe : Flanders Red in 6 months

[Swaroga]

Hi all.

I wish to brew a Flanders Red and age it in oak barrels.

I was thinking brewing a red ale and pitch it with Brett and lactic bacteria and leave it for 6 months in an oak barrel. Anyone had any experiance with it. Can this be any good ? Will I have to blend it with a sweet beer ? Won't there be some off taste with autolysis of the yeast ?

 

[DurtyChemist]

As soon as you say the words "brett" and/or "lactic" you should follow it up with "at a minimum of 12 months" and buy a carboy. If you add brett for less than that you're removing all possibility of adding Brett flavor.

 

[Swaroga]

I appreciate the response. I don't need the Brett flavor to go to far. And ...I have a carboy. I still wonder if there's a way to do it in 6 months. Let's just imagine the world ends in 6 months and I want to drink my home brewed Flanders Red.

 

[youreanimpulse]

You could try pitching lacto first to sour it, then fermenting with Sacc and transferring into the barrel with Brett. At 6 mos it will probably have some Brett character but this method will not make a complex sour like a Flanders Red. Those are generally blends of fairly old (one to several years) sour beers and younger sours or clean beers. IMO you won't be happy with this as a young sour project (and yes, I have tried this). How about some Berliner Weisse while you wait for a year or two for the good stuff?

 

[Swaroga]

You could try pitching lacto first to sour it, then fermenting with Sacc and transferring into the barrel with Brett. At 6 mos it will probably have some Brett character but this method will not make a complex sour like a Flanders Red. Those are generally blends of fairly old (one to several years) sour beers and younger sours or clean beers. IMO you won't be happy with this as a young sour project (and yes, I have tried this). How about some Berliner Weisse while you wait for a year or two for the good stuff?

Thanks !
So you say the results weren't satisfying hein ? Shame.

Would you recommend any other Belgian sour that can be done in 6 months ?

I wish to participate in a homebrew competition and one of the styles they ask to do is a Belgian Sour ... but seams they might be a bit off track.

 

[JBIII]

Hi all.

I wish to brew a Flanders Red and age it in oak barrels.

I was thinking brewing a red ale and pitch it with Brett and lactic bacteria and leave it for 6 months in an oak barrel. Anyone had any experiance with it. Can this be any good ? Will I have to blend it with a sweet beer ? Won't there be some off taste with autolysis of the yeast ?

It can definitely be done...could you be a bit more specific as to exactly what flavor profile you are going for? e.g. strong Sour/tart, funk, plum, prune, cherry pie, etc...

 

[Swaroga]

It can definitely be done...could you be a bit more specific as to exactly what flavor profile you are going for? e.g. strong Sour/tart, funk, plum, prune, cherry pie, etc...

Honestly not sure yet. I wouldn't mind it to be moderatly sour with dried fruits, cherry and chocolate thing going on that I would lift up with dark grains and maybe vanilla.

Anyway the sour profile doesn't have to be too funky or peated. I would settle for the wood like and lether background.

 

[JBIII]

OK. So, the first thing to know is aging is just a process to develop a specific flavor profile. So, depending on the flavor profile you are looking for it is possible to create a beer using a relatively short aging period and still have a flavor profile similar to a beer which is traditionally aged much longer. The hardest part it figuring out what adjustments to make and when to make them, in order to mimic an aged beer.

Last year I brewed a split batch Flander's Brown using the Roeselare yeast and Tart Cherry juice and kegged one split after only 6 months...it really had a flavor profile similar to a Duchesse de Bourgogne and most people thought it was fantastic. The key to it all was the tart cherry juice(Knudsen)...

So for your beer it'll pretty much be the same process...using tart cherry juice to mimic an aged sour...the amount you use will determine the level of sourness/tartness of your beer. And using the Roeselare yeast as your primary and only strain will add funk, leather, cherry pie/dried fruits and subtle notes of acetic acid. And you'll be able to get your wood flavor profile during your aging period, since you're using oak.


Now if you really wanted to sour the traditional way you can always do a sour mash, or you can brew a batch and start by adding lacto and then a few days later add a more traditional strain of yeast...in any case, hope this helps and happy brewing...Oh and cranberries as well. They also do a fantastic job of souring a beer.