Funk with Less Fuss - Flanders Red - Final Recap

Three months have passed and the Flanders Red edition of Funk with Less Fuss experiment has come to an end.  I made a three gallon batch of beer and split it three ways with three different yeast.  A standard ale yeast, one with 100% Brett and the mixed fermentation with Roeselare yeast that contains Brett, Peddio and Lacto along with standard brewers yeast.

Keep in mind my goal was to create a sour as quick as possible.  I did not let them age in the bottle or secondary any longer than was required from any of the resources I used.  These beers may get better with time as most standard sours do.  This will be for another test down the road.

I saved a bottle from each and did a "vertical" tasting of all three in one sitting. Here is the final recap from the three batches.

#1 Flanders Red - Sour Mashed - California Ale Yeast: 
This was the cleanest of the three beers. With no wild yeast and all of the flavor coming from the sour mash this was to be expected.  The sour level was pretty nice.  Not as fruity as the others probably due to a lack of the Brett.  With the clean flavor the oak cubes really came through on this one more than the others as well.  Maybe a bit too much.  Overall a really solid beer that was ready to drink in 5 weeks.

For the next batch I would work on the following: 
The body of the beer was a bit weak.  I mashed at a lower temp to get a drier beer. Next time I will mash a bit hotter so there is more body to the beer.  I would also explore using a more expressive yeast to add some more character.  Maybe a Belgian Ale or Belgian Wheat.I will also reduce the amount of sugar used at bottling since I had a few slow gushers

#2 Flanders Red - Sour Mashed - 100% Brett. Brux:
What I really liked about this one was the sour flavor.  It was just like a sweet tart.  Some other flavors that people used to describe it included green apple and cherries.  This was also one thing I did not like about it.  The sweet tart flavor really over powered the rest of what was going on.  The Brett did not add too much other funk and just added to the sour flavor.

For the next batch I would work on the following:
Again I need to reduce the sugar used at bottling so the slow gush does not happen.  I also need to balance out the sweet tart flavor.  If using only Brett as the primary yeast maybe I need to use two different strains and reduce the amount of time that the wort sours to reduce the sweet tart flavor and let some more of the Brett character show through.  Maybe mashing at a higher temp to give the Brett more sugars to munch on would help while also giving a more rounded malt and "beer" flavor to balance out the sweet tart taste.

 #3 Flanders Red - Sour Mashed - Roeselare Yeast Mixed Fermentation:
To my surprise, this beer was not too different than batch #2.  It had a bit more funk, but only a little. (This is why I did not do a tasting post on this one).  That extra funk might of made it a bit better than batch #2 but not so much better that justified the extra month in the secondary.

For the next batch I would work on the following:
Same as #2.  The other thing I would do is let this sit for 3 months in the secondary and then bottle.

Final thoughts:
I think the first two batches have the most range to fit within the "Quick Sour" category.  A more expressive yeast in the first batch may take that beer to the next level and another Brett strain along with a shorter sour mash may balance out batch #2.  A bit more body on all of them could really help as well. As of this moment I am considering the following for the next batch.

Go with batch #1.  Choose a more expressive yeast and mash a bit hotter so there is more body.  Once it comes out of the secondary add one or two strains of Brett to "dirty-up" the beer and let it sit for one month in the secondary and bottle with less sugar – OR – Do all of the same as listed above but instead of moving to a secondary carboy I would dose the bottle bucket with Brett and bottle condition without any added sugar and let the Brett referment in the bottle with the remaining sugars.

Whatever I decide this next batch will be a five gallon batch and it will be going into the wine barrel once it has been bottled. 

The Funk with Less Fuss is a great way to create some quick sours.  They will not have the complexity of the traditionally aged sours but you may be surprised.