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| Taking some Tasting Session notes while brewing at a buddies house in EastLake |
Last June, I got together with Eric, Danny and Sisco to blend our 2013 Flanders Red Ale. (Which we normally do each September, but the timing was off this year) Eric, Danny and myself all had variants of our house Flanders ready to go. Plus, I always brew a clean malty beer for some added mouthfeel (if needed) during blending. Here is a quick overview of the beers we used.
- Eric brought his Flanders Red ale fermented w/ DeeperRoots Flanders House blend yeast*
- Danny brought his Flanders Red ale fermented w/ DeeperRoots Flanders House blend yeast*
- I brought my Gail Belgian Dark Strong, fermented clean w/ WLP550 Yeast
- I brought my Invocation American Sour Ale , 100% Wild, which had really gotten clean and tart.
- I brought my 2013 Farmers Daughter 2013 Base (recipe below) fermented with my house Flanders pitch (Called LB-Flanders) *1
* - Danny and Eric's beers used the same House Dregs that Danny grew up in 2011 and then passed onto Eric
*1 - My House Flanders is Roeselare (2nd gen) w/ Logsdon Brett, SideProject Dregs, Bruery Old Tart Dregs
During the blending it became apparent that the beers need something else or even more time to mature (which is NOT what we wanted to hear). When we got it tart enough, we lost the cherry to berry flavors. When we focused on fruit and grape flavors, it became to malty and rich. Which, honestly we've never faced this issue before. The previous blends just worked, and worked well.
After trying multiple blends, the writing was on the wall, we blended to the best of our abilities and lost. Knowing additional time was required to get this right. Ending up with 2 different, yet very similar blends totaling over 12 gallons (my share, but Danny's and Eric's blend was similar). Farmers Daughter 2013 Blend #1 went into cold storage at 41°, with the hopes of cleaning up a bit, as it was the better blend. Farmers Daughter 2013 #2 was placed with my other sours in a carboy and pitched with a built up batch of Logsdon Kreik.
On Blend #2, 4 Months passed with a nice pelical forming and small amount of fermentation present. (It started at 1.012) Then I decided to add four pounds of canned (in water) tart cherries into the Flanders. Letting it age on cherries for another 3 months. Finishing up at 1.005, crystal clear. Racking into a keg and carbonating. (Just a side note, the crashed cooled blend #1 was pulled out, warmed and placed on top of blend #2's finished dregs and spent tart cherries which it's still residing today.)
Blend #2:
Aroma: Crisp and tart. I really couldn't tell you much more than that. More on the lactic side than anything else. No lemon or butyric acid, thank god. Pretty normal smelling Flanders Red (if I can say that)
Appearance: Soft tan head, big and powerful, however it doesn't linger like I would of liked. Although I do get great lacing during the tasting. Crystal clear since pulling off the Tart Cherries.
Flavor: More acidic than most commercial examples, but that's a personal preference that I like to showcase in my Flanders Red's. Starts off puckering, yet complex turning into a sweet, cherry/raison-ish focused Flanders. Finishing crisp and dry, with me wanting more. Medium body, bringing out the roundness of the sour culture. Letting me know that this isn't as one dimensional when reflected against the aroma.
Mouthfeel: The carbonic acid paired with the lactic/pedio create a bubbling array in the final product. I would have to say this is med-high to high body wise, about perfect for style.
Overall Impression: You know, this was my back up Flanders that I basically tossed together and it ended up better than the planned blend #1. I LOVE this beer. Without a doubt, it rides along the edge of the style, but I really don't care. Think Supplication blended with a Rodenbach Flanders Red. Tart, clean and tasty.
Brewing Timeline/Notes: Brewed annually each August in hopes of having it complete by the following year.
I'm really starting to like by House Flanders yeast blend. Its starting to really show its legs on these beers. The amount of tartness is really complementary with this style. Below is my base Flanders Red Recipe, that I've used for 3 years now, which should give you something close to my Tasting Notes above without blending. Tart Cherries are optional, but recommended.
| Farmers Daughter 2013 Base |
| Flanders Red Ale |
| Type: All Grain | Date: 03 Aug 2013 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Batch Size (fermenter): 5.00 gal | Brewer: Chris Lewis | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Boil Size: 5.82 gal | Asst Brewer: Danny Schroeder | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Boil Time: 60 min | Equipment: My Equipment | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| End of Boil Volume 5.20 gal | Brewhouse Efficiency: 80.00 % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Final Bottling Volume: 5.00 gal | Est Mash Efficiency 80.0 % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Fermentation: My Aging Profile | Taste Rating(out of 50): 41 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ingredients
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Beer
Profile
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| Est Original Gravity: 1.058 SG | Measured Original Gravity: 1.045 SG | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Est Final Gravity: 1.017 SG | Measured Final Gravity: 1.005 SG | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5.4 % | Actual Alcohol by Vol: 5.2 % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bitterness: 19.0 IBUs | Calories: 145.8 kcal/12oz | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Est Color: 16.4 SRM | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Mash
Profile
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| Mash Name: My Mash | Total Grain Weight: 10 lbs | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sparge Water: 3.27 gal | Grain Temperature: 72.0 F | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F | Tun Temperature: 72.0 F | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Adjust Temp for Equipment: FALSE | Mash PH: 5.20 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Sparge Step: Fly sparge with 3.27 gal water at 168.0 F | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mash Notes: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Carbonation and
Storage
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| Carbonation Type: Keg | Volumes of CO2: 2.4 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Pressure/Weight: 21.64 PSI | Carbonation Used: Keg with 21.64 PSI | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Keg/Bottling Temperature: 60.0 F | Age for: 378.00 days | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Fermentation: My Aging Profile | Storage Temperature: 68.0 F | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Fermentation Notes
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| Primary: Fermented at 64 degrees for 9 days. Racked to Carboy #5 and added House Dregs at ambient temp Blend: Blend #2, aged again on Tart Cherries for 3 months | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sounds like a fun tradition and that the beers are turning out pretty well. I also like to add a bit cherry to my Flanders Reds so that it strengthens the background note from the Brett.
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