Red Flanders ale suggestions

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BeerCat

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I have been reading about sours for a while and ordered some Roselare yeast the other day on the spur of the moment. I have a lot of empty dj's sitting around i am going to fill them all after fermenting in a bucket. I know there are plenty here that are into sours so all advice and suggestions are most welcome.

What is a good mash schedule for this type of beer? I have read they use a turbid step mash? I

The recipe i looked at calls for EKG but i was planning on using aged hops. The recipe in the bible is 20 IBU. I thought bitterness inhibited souring so a bit confused about that. I thought i would use red x as its malty, a beautiful colour and i like the flavour. I have a fresh pack of yeast manufactured this month and the grist i have in mind is below.

23l batch
OG 1048
FG 1005
IBU ?
ABV 5.7%
SRM 12.5

3kg red x
400g munich
300g raw wheat
230g carared
150g special w
 
To me, that seems a small amount of grain to produce an ABV of 5.7%.

If required, have you thought about adding a Candi Sugar Syrup to up the ABV and maintain the colour?

"Here's one I made earlier." as they say.
Candi Sugar Syrup.jpg
 
To me, that seems a small amount of grain to produce an ABV of 5.7%.

If required, have you thought about adding a Candi Sugar Syrup to up the ABV and maintain the colour?

"Here's one I made earlier." as they say.
View attachment 17430

Hi mate, what is that your drinking there? Lovely colour looks like whiskey. :) The ABV is based on 90% attenuation and 75% efficiency which from what i have read about the yeast might be on the low side. Do sours normally use sugar? I have not seen any recipes with any in but only done a little reading. I was thinking of rye as well for the colour. Perhaps the colour fades with increased attenuation.
 
@JFB's flanders red is outstanding, though he hasn't been about the forum for a few weeks.
Thanks Steve. I remember seeing that in your review thread. looked amazing. I was going to tag the sour brewers yesterday but i forgot. @dad_of_jon sent me a bottle of his "face off". Most impressive, should i add the dregs? They are in the fridge.
@Dads_Ale Has also sent me some very nice sour beers in the past. I have also been reading @IainM and @Zephyr259 brew threads with great interest.
 
Recipe looks great to me. I did a sour red a while back from extract and I used aged hops in the boil. I used some maltodextrin to sort of simulate the effect of a high temperature mash and provide some longer chain sugars for the brett to chew on, if making one all grain I would probably just mash quite high rather than do a complex mash schedule. Must check on that beer actually, so easy to forget about it as it’s been tucked away in a cupboard for six months or so!
 
As above, I wouldn't bother with a turbid mash, just a single infusion at 68c will be fine.

Ordinary EKG will work, though I'd drop the IBU to 15. If you have some aged hops they'd be even better (I actually have a load of well aged hops if you want some?)

Are you planning on adding oak at all?
 
Brew it, pitch the yeast and wait. Then wait some more. I think they suggest 18 months for that blend. I don't think the mash temperature matters too much, when Brettanomyces has that much time.

I've seen a blog somewhere that has an addition of whole wheat pasta in the fv, as a way of replicating the carry over of starch from turbid mashing. That might be fun to try in one of your demijohns.
 
Thanks for all the comments everyone, most appreciated. I am really looking forward to watching something peculiar growing in my dj's. I also really like the idea of log term aging beer. I have read that if you want it really sour you can add lacto first. I have some but was going to do another beer with that so i was going to repitch onto the yeast and buy a large dj to condition that in as i only have about 6 gallon ones.
@strange-steve I bought 300g of aged hops from MM and was planning on using 100g in this beer. Thanks for the offer though really kind of you. Oak is a good idea. I need to get some more and MM are out of stock, was thinking sherry barrels would be good.
I am going to make some more candi sugar for a stout but it always goes sticky and is a pain to handle. Any ideas?
Pasta sounds nuts in a beer!
 
I am going to make some more candi sugar for a stout but it always goes sticky and is a pain to handle. Any ideas?
When I made some I made a syrup by adding more water after it was the right colour and boiling until it was 116c which is soft ball stage and should produce a thick syrup. Something wasn't quite right and I got a thinner syrup but that just made it even easier to add to my brew.
 
I agree with the above. Make a syrup which can be kept in a bottle. Here's how:

https://joshthebrewmaster.wordpress.com/2010/12/01/how-to-make-belgian-candi-syrup/

OR

Do what I did and start with a commercial cane syrup.

PS

I typed the above and then checked the cost of cane syrup in UK supermarkets. "Ouch!" £8 a litre in Sainsbury's!!

No way! That's another shelf regular that will have to wait until we go back to France where it comes in at about €3 for a 75cl bottle!
 
IMG_4298[4936].JPG
I cant offer to much advice other than just brew away then sit on your hands and let the yeast do the work.
I opted to go with the 20 ubi's in my flanders and it came out well. Although my latest FRA I droped it down to 15.
In the new one I used the rosselare blend which has a very mellow fermentation compared to the WLP 655.
Just remember to keep it somewhere where you can develop an unhealthy habit of staring lovingly at it over the year or so it works its magic!!
The picture above is an ould bruin I keep next to the kitchen table(normally with a jumper on!)
 

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