Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Flanders Red 2010


 

 

Flag of Flanders

It has been just over a year since I brewed a Flanders Red in October of 2010, and I decided to bottle 3 gallons as a "young" beer and split out 2 gallons for blending next October with a beer I will brew in the next week or so.  Last year I used WLP 028, Edinburgh Ale yeast in primary and Wyeast 3763, Roeselare blend in secondary, finally pitching a rehydrated pack of Muntons Ale yeast at bottling. I was interested to see if the Muntons would have the legs to stand up to the acidity and considered using champagne yeast, but it carbonated just fine. The grain bill of this Flanders is based on Jamil Zainasheff's 2004 NHC recipe from the AHA website, however, I made the beer much stronger than style guidelines to accentuate the vineous wine-like character of the beer. This year I plan to use a different grain bill, shooting for a lower ABV, as well as my homemade Lambic yeast blend.

The resulting beer is deliciously tart and wine like. It has a strong but clean sour cherry flavor and I can't imagine waiting another year to taste next year's blended beer.

 Flanders Red 2010 Recipe:


2 Gallons reserved for blending and a bottle for drinking

Specifics:
Batch Size: 5.25 gallons
OG: 1.067
FG: 1.009
SRM: 17.88
IBU: 18

Grain:
5 lbs. Vienna
4 lbs. 2-Row
3 lbs. Munich 10L
.5 lbs. Red Wheat Malt
.5 lbs. Special B
.5 lbs. Belgian Aromatic

Hops:
1 oz. East Kent Golding at 60 minutes

Yeast:
WLP 028 Edinburgh in primary
Wyeast 3763 Roeselare in secondary
Munton's Ale Yeast at bottling

Notes:
Brewed 10/16/10. Drew just under 7 gallons pre-boil wort and boiled down to 5.25 gallons. Cooled and pitched WLP 028. After a week in primary, transferred and pitched Wyeast 3763. Let sit in secondary for 13 months before reyeasting with Muntons and bottling 3 gallons. Reserved 2 gallons for later blending.



4 comments:

  1. If the Flag of Flanders is not a blatant rip off of ye old can of Strohs grog then I didn't have my first taste of the sweet nectar at the highly impresionalbe age of five. I challenge you to a taste test sir. And a class action law suit. Mano y mano. My pickled brain verses your pickled brain. Your jeopardy style quiz depth of knowledge against my yet to be diagnosed ADHD. Find a can of Strohs, if you dare--better yet a case, and we will toast to Germanian patent infringement. Sure the Flanders sounds way more complex and refined than my childhood favorite, but remember this: Strohs is the Homer to your Flanders. and our little challenge will bring to light just how much you suck-diddely-uck Ryan.

    Tom

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  2. Wow Tom! You sure are wordy. Wasn't that a long way to go just to tell me I suck?

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  3. I may have jumped to the conclusion prior to the taste test. I got a little excited about finding the elusive can of Strohs.

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  4. We can still be Stroh's Bros.

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