Flanders Red Again

Third time is the charm, right? In year three I got the same Flemish ale strain as I had used in the prior two years. Al B's bugs have been working away for that length of time in my prior Flanders Reds. They have worked uninterrupted for that time. I haven't so much as moved them from their resting places since they began to settle there. These brews like many other traditional sours the Flanders Red is a blend. Blending allows you to achieve a complexity that is hard to achieve in a single batch brew. When this batch is around 6 months old I will blend the young and old Flanders Reds to produce my signature blend.

(Please read more after the break.)

What would the perfect blend taste like? When I drink a Flanders Red I like a bit of tartness, and a fruitiness. I have enjoyed very apply Flanders like a Rodenbach Grand Cru. I also really enjoy the stone fruit flavors present in The Bruery's Oude Tart. If I could make my perfect flavor profile there would be some grain berry flavor, with some tart cherry flavor, finished with green apple tartness. We'll see.

In order to possibly coax some different flavors out of this third batch of Flanders Red I have made some changes to the recipe. I am going to sub out the white wheat malt for a flaked red wheat. It might be different, who knows? I'm open to varying things up and seeing how they change over time.

The Recipe:

2 lbs Rice Hulls (Briess) (0.0 SRM) 17.4 %      

4 lbs 2.0 oz Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) 36.0 %      

2 lbs 2.0 oz Wheat - Soft Red, Flaked (1.6 SRM) 18.5 %      

2 lbs Munich 10L (Briess) (10.0 SRM) 17.4 %      

6.5 oz Aromatic Malt (Briess) (20.0 SRM) 3.5 %      

6.5 oz Caramunich II (Weyermann) (63.0 SRM) 3.5 %      

6.5 oz Special B Malt (180.0 SRM) 3.5 %      

0.50 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] - Boil 60.0 9.3 IBUs    

1.0 pkg Flemish Ale Yeast (ECY 02)

Mash:

Mash In: Add 15.33 qt of water at 162.9 F to get to 152.0 F for 60 min

Mash Out: Add 8.03 qt of water at 202.7 F to get to 168.0 F for 10 min

Drain mash tun

Batch sparge with 2.22 gal of 168.0 F water for 30 min

Specs:

Boil Size: 6.43 gal

Batch Size (fermenter): 5.00 gal

Estimated OG: 1.048 SG

Estimated Color: 14.0 SRM

Estimated IBU: 9.3 IBUs

Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Brewday:

My Brewday went fine. Ryan stopped by to eat and everything took a little bit longer than it should have, the water took a while to boil, and the mash was hard to stabilize because I forgot my thermometer and had to use one of the terrible ones at my moms. The grind smelled great and the wort looked clearish and right.