Funky Flanders Red Sour Saison - Quick Update

24 hours after pitching the French Saision yeast into my stalled Flanders Sour Red there is some small airlock activity.  Since it was already down to 1.022 I can only see this as a good sign that any activity is showing.  I was expecting it to just kind of sit for a week and then I would find out at the end of the week if anything happened by taking a gravity ready.

I will follow up if the activity increases with some timing just to keep track of how this yeast is chewing through this lowered pH beer.

2/19/13
Still chugging along.  Very encouraging.  I was reading reviews on the Northern Brewers website about the Wyeast Belgian Saision which is closely related to the French Saison.  In these reviews someone posted that "with agitation, some of the CO2 is released causing the PH to increase, allowing the yeast to again become active." 

Since my beer was probably suffering from pH issues I decided to give it a try.  I don't know if this is helping or not but it has been 3 days of a slow steady re-fermentation.

2/23/13
I think refermentation has finally come to and end.  It really slowed down on the 21st but after shaking the bucket and releasing more CO2 it seemed to pick up and go for another 10-12 hours before slowing again.  I shook the bucket yesterday morning and didn't see any airlock activity last night or this morning.

Took a gravity reading today and it was down to 1.012.  Pretty impressive for a beer that has been stalled for over a month.

I took a taste sample and did not get too much of a sour flavor.  I had a lacto starter going for the next test batch I was going to make tomorrow.  I think I am just going to pitch that into this beer and let it sit for a week to sour some more and then just bottle and see what I get.  At this point, even if the beer turns out great, it is going to be hard for me to recreate a beer that came about because of two - almost three - failed batches.  I have good notes and the different recipes in Beer Smith but it would still be hard to replicate.  Overall, very happy that this beer will at least make it to a bottle for a testing.

Next up will be a taste testing day in about 3 weeks.

3/3/13
Not enough sour twang.  Going to let it sit for another week with some lacto added.  I made a lacto starter by creating a 1.030 wort and adding some crushed grain and keeping it at 100 degrees for three days.  Strained and added the liquid.  Will most likely bottle Wednesday no matter what and just get this beer out of the way!

Funky Flanders Red Sour Saison?

Soon to be Funk Flanders Red Sour Saison?  Wyeast French
Saison getting ready to go into the soured wort of a Flanders
Red inspired beer. The wait begins.

The French Saison yeast arrived yesterday and I have inoculated the wort that was stuck at 1.022 with this monster yeast this morning.  The waiting game has begun and I would really love to see some airlock activity by the end of the day tomorrow.

Only time will tell.

So the question is – If this beer turns the corner, do I call it a Funky Flanders Red Sour Saison?  I guess we will have to wait and see how much of that Saision - if any - flavor comes through.

100% Brett and Sour Red Updates

Preparing to transfer the 100% Brett (Better Bottle on the right)
and check in on my test 2 gallon of sour red

I'm a little late in posting this but on Sunday (2-10) I had to move the 100% Brett to the secondary for another month of maturing and thought it would be a good time for an update.

The 100% Brett is at 1.014 with at least another month to go and smells fantastic.  I will try it before I bottle in mid March.

I also decided to check in on the red sour that I am trying to salvage. I added some Brett to the already lactic wort that was stuck at 1.022. Hoping the Brett would eat some more of the sugar I hoped to see a drop tonight. It came in at 1.020. Barely moved - if at all.

After a brief back-and-forth with The Mad Fermentationist via email I have taken his advice to add some of the French Saision yeast from Wyeast.  This stuff sounds like monster yeast that can help restart a stuck fermentation and also get beer pretty dry.  I'm just hoping to get the beer to drop a bit more so some more of the sour flavor can come through.  It currently tastes too sweet with that extra sugar in there.  If it does not drop by this time next week I will just bottle a few 750ml bottles and see what happens.

I will be adding the Wyeast tomorrow and check back in on Wednesday or so to see if our gravity is moving down.

Fingers crossed.

Fools Gold IPA (Nugget Copper) - Tasting Day

Time to taste the new IPA!  This brew was supposed to be inspired by the Nugget Nectar beer that Troegs Brewing Company puts out in March every year.  I figured this year I would try to make my own.  As mentioned in my previous post I had some issues on brew day.  I did not boil the wort for 90 minutes which I believe led to my gravity being a bit lower than I was hopping for and the color is not anywhere near an amber.  So the Imperial Amber Hopped Ale I set out to make is not more of a copper or deep gold color. 

With the description above it's pretty to easy to figure out why I am calling this test batch Fools Gold IPA.  There is one more reason which you will see in the tasting notes below:

Overview:  Deep Golden IPA brewed with 5 different kinds of hops, European Pilsner, Vienna and Munich malts.  Dry hopped for 5 days for added hop flavor.





OG = 1.055   IBUs = 87   SRM = 6  ABV = 5.9%

Appearance: Deep Golden - almost orange - in color with a large white head that fades pretty quickly after the pour.  Great lacing on the glass as I drink one while writing this review.

Smell: Great floral hop flavor. Smells a bit sweet and just a tiny bit of pine lingers in the background.

Taste:  It tastes almost exactly as the smell is described.  You get a floral, citrus-like flavor up front and on the back end it has just a small hit of earthy hop flavors. Very smooth and it can probably drink like a session beer. A session beer at 6% may not be too much of a session but these are very easy to drink.

Overall:  Since there were some issues on brew day I am not 100% sure what to say.  I have had beers that are in the upper 80's on the IBU chart and this doesn't taste like one.  So I would like it to be a bit more bitter.  Because it was not as bitter or as high in alcohol content it drinks very, very easily.  So at 6% and still bitter enough to know you are drinking an IPA, I decided to name it "Fools Gold".

I will for sure be brewing another batch with just a small amount of caramel malt and I will boil for the full 90 minutes and see where it takes us.  Two thumbs up though.  Best IPA to date!

Le Singularite - 100% Brett Update - 2

A week after the brew date and the air lock is still showing some small activity.  Still a small krausen visible as well.I smelled the  airlock and a very strong fruity yeast scent is coming through. Hoping that this beer is very interesting.

I decided to move it to the basement and drop the temperature as low as it can go.  With the temps falling to 10-20 degrees this week the basement should get pretty cold.  Hoping to get it down into the 50's for the next week.  I will move it to the secondary next Sunday and hold it at the colder temps for one month before bottling the brew.

Up next is restarting the quick sour tests.  Might brew that in the next two weeks.
Till then...