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. 

Le Singularite - Tasting Update

I took some homebrew to a small get together last night.  I had the final batch of "Funk with Less Fuss" red (which I will write up a full recap of the experiment in another post) and a bottle of Le Singularite.  This is the beer that was brewed from the "Wild Brews" book with a single strain of Brett Claus.  A simple pale beer that will let the character of the yeast shine through.

You can read the original tasting notes here.

This was about 5 weeks ago.  How time has changed!

This is no longer a beer I would enjoy.  When it first cracked open you can smell the funk.  It was a very strong barn flavor.  You could also see a difference in the beer.  It looked to be very effervescent with small bubbles crawling to the top of the glass one after another.  The after the first sip you get hit with how bone dry this beer is now.  No longer a medium mouth feel.  Light and dry as the Sahara. So far this may sound like a good beer.  Similiar to Duvel with some funk right?

Wrong.  The taste was pretty terrible.  It moved into the band-aid flavor realm.  According the Wild Brews this is from the ester 4-ethyl-phenol which is a volatile phenol.  Descriptions in the book are listed as:

• Band Aid - Big check on this one
• Antiseptic - A bit.  So check here as well.
• Stable - Horse Blanket / Hay flavor?  If so check.
• Barnyard - Big check.

The question is whether or not the flavor will subside after some time or if the beer is beyond saving.  I will probably pitch the remaining few bottles and save 2-3 and open one every few months to see what is going on.

Cabernet Sauvignon Barell

Today I moved the Cabernet Sauvignon that my buddy made for me into my new wooden barrel.  It is just a 20L barrel and the goal is to age this wine in the barrel for about two months - maybe longer - so my barrel will have a bit of a wine coating to it.

The idea is from Russian River and their sour "Consecration" which is aged Cabernet Sauvignon barrels.  They describe the beer as:

Dark Ale aged in Cabernet Sauvignon barrels from local wineries. It is aged for 4 to 8 months with black currants, brettanomyces, lactobacillus, and pediococcus added to each barrel. Rich flavors of chocolate truffle, spice, tobacco, currants, and a bit of Cabernet. 

I will be adding a Flanders Red to the barrel after the wine has aged and has been bottled. The beer will have a blend of Brett and Lacto.  Not sure about the Peddioccoccus yet.

The barrel was filled with water to seal it up.  Once it was sealed we added some cleaner to the barrel that is meant to reduce the tannin levels.  After it soaks for three days it is drained and then rinsed out three times with hot water.  After the final rinse we added the wine through a funnel as seen in the photo to the left.  It had a very strong charred oak smell while flushing out the water.  Reminded me of whiskey.  I will update the status one the wine has been bottled and the new beer added to barrel for the first batch of barrel aged sours!

Golden Blonde Sour Ale - All into the Secondary

It took 17 days to get the gravity down to 1.014 or lower but the Roeselare and Brett Lambicus are both now in the secondary for a bit of aging.  Brett L will sit in the secondary at least a month.  It may take longer since it seems to be a slower fermentation compared to the Brett B in my quick red.  The Roeselare will sit for two months.

Here are the gravity readings from today:

Brett L - 1.014
Roeselare - 1.012

Keep in mind the Belgium Wheat Wyeast was down to 1.010 in a week.

I will add some Riesling soaked oak cubes when they are about 2-3 weeks away.  I learned in the Quick Red experiment that 8 weeks was a bit too long as the head from the beer really carried a big oak smell and flavor.  Hopefully this will be a better balance.  Also the beer is a lot lighter and less to hide behind. 

Coming Up in the next 2-3 weeks:

1. Bottle Day - Roeselare Quick Red
2. Inoculating my first 20L wooden barrel with 20L of Cabernet Sauvignon which will then hold the winning recipe from the quick red experiments.
3. Tasting Day - Farmhouse Ales Saison
4. Tasting Day - Roeselare Quick Red
5. Bottle Day - Chimay Blue - Trappist Clone 
6. Brew Day - 100% Brett Trois Golden Blonde Sour
7. Brew Day - Berliner Weisse

Follow Up: Golden Blonde Sour Ale

It has been one week since primary fermentation started. All three started on the same day - roughly 30 hours after the yeast was pitched.  The Roeselare and Belgian Wheat yeast versions seemed to have a more vigorous start than the Brett L.

About 36 hours after I saw signs of fermentation being under way, the Belgian Wheat was very vigorous and almost needed a blow off tube as some of the fermenting beer was shooting into the airlock.  It seemed to calm down about 24 hours later and for the past 3-4 days little to no airlock activity.  I measured the gravity on Monday and it was at 1.010.  Pretty impressive for the Belgian Wheat yeast.  The sample I took was a bit lemony with some tartness while having a small trace of the Belgian Wit flavors you would probably associate with the yeast.  It was transferred to the secondary tonight and oak cubes that have been soaking in Riesling wine were added once the transfer was complete.  It may take a bit longer for this one to clear up but the current plan is to let it sit in the secondary for 2 weeks.  If more time is needed it may sit up to a month.  Remember, the target timing for this "quick" sour is 5 weeks so I do not want to stray too far from this just so all of the testing is consistent.

The Roeselare seemed to really slow down after about 4 days.  I have not seen much airlock activity in the past few days so on Monday I decided to test the gravity.  It was at 1.020.  Still a bit high.  I will let this sit in the primary for another 4 days and recheck the gravity to see if it is moving.  I will agitate the carboy once or twice a day to add some carbon dioxide which seemed to help my last quick sour that was stubborn to finish. I did not sample this one at this time so I am not sure of the flavor at this time.

The Brett L. carboy has been a pretty slow fermentation so far.  It was the last beer to take off and  never really created too big of a krausen or never really caused the airlock to fire away.  Since I checked the other two for a gravity reading I checked this one as well.  It was also at 1.020.  Again, the plan now is to let it sit for 4 more days.  I am also going to agitate this one for added CO2. I did sample this one and it was pretty intense.  A lot going on.  I guess this should be expected since the Brett is a slower working yeast and that the Lambicus creates the "strongest" Brett flavors.  It was sour.  That's for sure.

So far the fermentation cycle is a 180 degrees of how the Flanders Red went.  The 100% Brett B fired off first and was a ferocious - making the airlock click at a high pace for a solid 4-5 days.  The Brett L. in the Blonde was the last to start and has showed the slowest fermentation to this point.  Also, the Flanders version of the "clean" yeast (Saccharomyces only) took 3 days before any airlock activity was present and was a bit slower on the fermentation than the others.  This Belgian Yeast has been the strongest ferment so far with the Blonde Sour.

More to come once the Brett L. and the Roeselare versions switch over to the secondary.

Brew Day - Golden Blonde Sour

Just a quick update on the Golden Blonde Sour.

All three batches are now showing really good signs of fermentation. The Belgian Wheat is very active.  Roeselare is going along at a steady pace and the Brett Lambicus is moving along a lot more slowly.

These beers have all taken off with fermentation with little to no lag time.  The Bruin batch had some lag as all three batches last time started up on a different day up through 3 days after brew day.

Brew Day - Golden Blonde Sour Ale

Last weekend I made a lacto sour starter and pitched it into some fresh wort made from pretty typical Belgian Blonde mash.  I let the wort sour for 48 hours and this is what awaited me when I got home for brew day.

I drained the mash tun that was keeping the mash as warm as possible.  It drains from the bottom so most of the remains from the lacto fermentation are left behind. After it was drained into the boil kettle all hell broke out.

A huge thick foam from the soured wort built up as the temperature raised towards 212.  It was like the thick ocean foam that you see on the beach after a bad storm.  I had to keep skimming that off.  This foam trapped a lot of heat and once the air hit the wort I had an instant boil over.  I dont think I lost too much but it was still not fun to deal with.

After I got it under control it boiled for 30 minutes before the first hop addition.  After the hops were added it was a mountain of green hoppy foam.  I was constantly watching it and adjusting the temprature.  After 20 minutes I finally hit the right temperature that I could let it rip through the final 40 minutes of the boil. 

At flame out I added just a bit of aroma hops and set it aside to cool some before chilling it with my immersion chiller.  Call it my "coolship".  Otherwise known as my basement sink.

Once the wort cooled to 72 degrees it was time to pitch all the yeast.

I split this batch into 3 different batches. 

Batch 1 - 100% Brett Lambicus Strongest of the Brett in regards to the earthy and barnyard flavors

Batch 2 - Wyeast Belgian Wheat
Description in some reviews say it creates a tart wheat beer with some nice fruit flavors.  Sounds pretty good for this test right?

Batch 3 - Roeselare.
The traditional Wyeast pack for mixed fermentation.

About 18 hours after I pitched the yeast here is the updates:

Batch 1 - little signs of fermentation but not much going on yet.
Batch 2 - a good size krausen.  Just no airlock activity yet.
Batch 3 - full steam ahead. Airlock firing away.

We will see in 5 weeks how the Belgian Wheat one tastes, followed by the 100% Brett L. at 7 weeks.  And then 2 months later the mixed fermentation will be tasted.

The mixed fermentation batch has 1.8 gallons.  I will split the .8 gallons into two growlers and add some fruit - Raisings and Peaches to see how those tatse.  Hope to just get one  750ml bottles of those ones.  I will age those on fruit two weeks longer than the regular Batch 3.

Next up - bottle the French Saison and the Chimay Blue clone I have in secondary storage.

Until next time...