Homebrew Beer Blog

I’m getting a little early start on the Flanders Red. Last year I didn’t get going until late May, so I’m about a month ahead, which is probably about a good place to be to get the most out of the summer basement.

The 2007 batch is still down there, and I pulled a sample. It tastes nice, and from drinking an entire pint of Rodenbach Klassiek at HopCat, I’m thinking I like the idea of unblended rather than blended. So, I’m going to let that baby sit a second summer and maybe crack it open towards the end of the year.

So, pretty much the same plan as last year. I modified my recipe a little for what I had on hand, but basically is Jamil’s recipe. That seems pretty promising from the tasting, so I figured I’ll give a try again this year. I may yet do a second batch of something different after I get some other brewing out of the way.

I think I like the idea of fermenting first with a regular yeast, then racking to a 5 gallon carboy for the bugs. That seems to have worked well. I then will put a toasted oak dowel in a stopper and jam it in there. This idea is based off of all the amazing work from Raj Apte The idea is the wood will provide some O2 for the bugs and some oak. This surface area should be approximate to the giant wooden tanks at Rodenbach. Also by doing the Roeselare blend in the secondary, I can stress less about the glass carboy going kaboom.

So, I’ll let this ferment out for a week or two, then rack to a 5 gallon carboy and add the blend. Then, I just let it sit in the basement and let it do its thing as the seasons pass. I’ll update this post with pics as time goes on.

04/22/08
Flanders Red

6.5 Gallon Batch
OG 1.060
IBU 16.0

4.75 lb Belgian Munich
4.38 lb German Pils
3.00 lb German Vienna
0.50 lb Belgian Aromatic
0.50 lb Belgium CaraMunich
0.50 lb Belgian Special B
0.50 lb German Wheat Malt Malt

1.00 oz EK Goldings

WLP001
Wyeast Roeselare Blend

05/04/08 - UPDATE: OK, racked this to the carboy for aging. I bought a 3/8 oak dowel and toasted it at 375 for two hours. Then, with some encouragement, I got it through a #7 stopper. I did this one longer length this time, only cutting off about six inches or so to lop off the painted ends and also get it to fit in the oven. The dowel goes all the way to the bottom, and obviously sticks out further. Also, this time I put less head space. I’m not sure how that’s going to affect things, whether I’ll get more O2 through the additional wood, or if the smaller head space will give me less from the stopper. We’ll see, but I figured on filling it up to maximize the volume and let the pellicle do its job.

So, some pics, and one with last year’s batch.