Wednesday, February 20, 2013

FLANDERS

On may 19th, I wrote a post about making a Flander's Red. I even bought a pack of Roeselare yeast but I was slightly hesitant to use it because it was a year old when I bought it. My LHBS didn't bother getting anymore in because there wasn't much of a demand for it. So, I put my plans on making a sour beer on hold, until today. I had a friend go to Minneapolis a couple weeks ago and I asked him to bring back a pack of Wyeast's Roeselare yeast. He did, and today, I brewed a batch of Flander's.
Here is my recipe:
2.5KG Malteurop 2 row pale malt
1.5KG Vienna Malt
0.38KG Flaked Corn (Maize)
0.37KG Honey Malt
0.15KG Caraaroma
0.05KG Chocolate Malt

I pitched a pack of Wyeast's 1056 American Ale Yeast into the wort and I plan to wait a few days until the gravity drops to about 1.020, then I will rack into a secondary and pitch the Roeselare yeast. At some point, I will add some oak chips to give it a little woody taste. There are so many different ways to make a Flanders and the technique I am following is a faux blended Flanders. Usually, you ferment the wort with the Roeselare for a year and then you blend the beer with a younger batch. My way does not have the art to it that blending does, but this is my first sour so I figured I would play it safe.