Oud Bruin questions

[nolasuperbass]

I am making plans to bottle a flanders red, and I am thinking about what to pitch on the Roeselare cake. I was considering an Oud Bruin, but when I started researching the style, it raised several questions. I was hoping that the experts on here with lots of experience could chime in and help.

1.) I previously thought that an Oud Bruin was just a Flanders red with a different grain bill that emphasized cara-malts instead of special B. However, according to many sources, Oud Bruins are just Belgian sach and laco, not brett. This would mean that Roeselare is not appropriate for the style. Is that everyone's take?

2.) If there's no brett, why do I need to age it? I thought that the reason that Flanders reds and lambics took so long was because the brett can't be rushed, and that it continues to work on the beer for many years, adding complexity and depth. Is the laco in there still doing something? Can I just kettle-sour it and move this along?

3.) The BJCP guidelines lay out the IBU range as 20-25. Seriously? I am new to sours, but I've read that bitter and sour make a bad mix. For example, the Berliner Weisse has only 3-8 IBU's. Can laco even work with IBU's that high?

4.) What Belgian yeast do you recommend for my sach strain? I have some WLP500 and 540 on hand. Thanks a lot in advance!

 

[howamidriving]

I wouldn't consider my self an expert, but here's some input.
I wouldn't​ worry about having some Brett in your cake; oud bruins do tend to be more about latic, and even some acetic character, I doubt anyone would flip over some Brett character.

As far as ibus go, keep in mind that traditional​ oud bruins a blended with a portion of young beer and then pastuerised. So there will be a small amount of sweetness to hide those slightly higher ibus.

Typically, yeah in sours you wanna keep ibus below 15 or so, but I think you would still get some souring in the 20-25, especially with more aggressive lacto strains.

 

[nolasuperbass]

Thanks for the reply. I think I am just going to put another flanders red on the roeselare cake, and then kettle sour a 10 gallon brown to whatever appropriate pH. For the brown, I am probably going to keep the IBU's to about 15, use generous amounts of caramunich, kettle caramelize about 2 gallons, then split the batch between the wlp500 and 540, and put cherries in the secondary of the 540 batch. Sounds tasty. I will post the results down the road.