Farmers Daughter 2013 Blend #2 & Tasting Session

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.

1. Eric brought his Flanders Red ale fermented w/ DeeperRoots Flanders House blend yeast*
2. Danny brought his Flanders Red ale fermented w/ DeeperRoots Flanders House blend yeast*
3. I brought my Gail Belgian Dark Strong, fermented clean w/ WLP550 Yeast
4. I brought my Invocation American Sour Ale , 100% Wild, which had really gotten clean and tart.
5. I brought my 2013 Farmers Daughter 2013 Base (recipe below) fermented with my house Flanders pitch (Called LB-Flanders) *1

Farmers Daugher, #7 (Blend) Tasting Session

 Aroma:   A rustic quality close to emptied wine barrels.  Delicate plum tartness, with cherries.

Appearance:  Beautiful radiant amber in color.  Crystal clear clarity.  Soft, thin, long lasting head in a light tan color. 

Farmers Daughter Blending Session

Nice Labels add to the blending experience

Last November I got together with Danny over at Deeper Roots Brewing to construct a Flanders Red Style Sour beer that we brewed together on his 10 gallon system.  The recipe is very close to a traditional Flanders style sour ale.  Meanwhile on my 5 gallon system I took the spent grain and did a 5 gallon second running beer for our 1st batch of Dreg's.  We took the original 10 gallons and split the batch 50/50.  Leaving the second running batch as 4, 1 gallon Dreg batches.

Original Farmers Daughter Post.

Overview of the Original Idea.

Original Dreg Beer Post.

Since last November both Danny and I have brewed another Flanders style beer independently for this project.  His named Crumple Car and mine named Farmers Bitch (no post on that rebrew, only some pictures under the Farmers Daughter post).  I also brewed the original recipe with just WLP001 to have as a neutral base for blending.  Planning to cover all the avenues concerning flavor, acidity and aroma.

Dreg Series: Little Bitch

This is a continuing series on harvesting yeast from production beers.  The focus of this is to collect, grow and ferment a beer with these Brett or wild yeast strains.  The majority of the wort for this experiment is collected by brewing 7 gallons instead of the typical 6 during a normal Homebrew session.  Each of these post will develop slowly as the Brett/Funk matures over time.

Base Recipe: Farmers Bitch Flanders Red

Production Beer Harvested (Dregs): Russian River Supplication and The Bruery Old Tart blended 50/50.

Farmers Bitch a Flanders Red gallon project

Farmer's Bitch

Farmer's Bitch's 1st run off

Last year I brewed up my 1st attempt at a Flanders Red named Farmer Daughter with a good friend and fellow brewer Danny over at DeeperRootsBrewing.  It was a 10 gallon batch that we split into 2 five gallon carboys and fermented differently.  For this second batch we are going to each brew a different recipe and blend together when the time is right.  This is fast becoming my personal favorite style of beer and I am on a personal quest to pinpoint this style.  How awesome would it be to have a Flanders Red on draft?  I can always dream right?

This recipe was tweaked a little over the last week but still holds onto the original recipes grain bill.  Mostly adding some oats and lowering the gravity. 

Farmers Daughter Red(Flanders Red)

This will be a collaboration with Danny at DeeperRootsBrewing.com  You can read the processes in the BeerSmith notes but in a nut shell we will be brewing a 12 gallon batch and splitting it.  Then using different yeast/processes to sour the beer.  This is our 1st sour attempt and to be honest I'm fired up about it.

Farmer's Daughter Red (sour) 12 Gallon

Flanders Red Ale

 

Type: All Grain	Date: 11/11/2011
Batch Size: 12.00 gal	Brewer: Chris Lewis
Boil Size: 13.74 gal	Asst Brewer: Danny Schroeder
Boil Time: 60 min	Equipment: My Equipment
Taste Rating(out of 50): 35.0	Brewhouse Efficiency: 80.00
Taste Notes:
Ingredients
Amount Item Type % or IBU 10 lbs Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain 34.48 % 9 lbs Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (2.0 SRM) Grain 31.03 % 6 lbs Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 20.69 % 1 lbs Aromatic Malt (26.0 SRM) Grain 3.45 % 1 lbs Caramunich Malt (56.0 SRM) Grain 3.45 % 1 lbs Special B Malt (180.0 SRM) Grain 3.45 % 1 lbs Wheat Malt, Dark (9.0 SRM) Grain 3.45 % 1.40 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (60 min) Hops 9.1 IBU 2 Pkgs Belgian Sour Mix 1 (White Labs #WLP655) [Add to Secondary] Yeast-Ale 2 Pkgs California Ale (White Labs #WLP001) [Starter 35 ml] Yeast-Ale
Beer Profile
Est Original Gravity: 1.070 SG	Measured Original Gravity: 1.070 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.016 SG	Measured Final Gravity: ? SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 7.12 %	Actual Alcohol by Vol:  %
Bitterness: 9.1 IBU	Calories:  cal/pint
Est Color: 15.9 SRM	Color: Color
Mash Profile
Mash Name: My Mash	Total Grain Weight: 29.00 lb
Sparge Water: 6.35 gal	Grain Temperature: 72.0 F
Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F	TunTemperature: 72.0 F
Adjust Temp for Equipment: FALSE	Mash PH: 5.4 PH
My Mash Step Time Name Description Step Temp 40 min Temp Add 43.50 qt of water and heat to 154.0 F over 2 min 154.0 F 10 min Step Heat to 168.0 F over 2 min 168.0 F 40 min Sparge Add 0.00 qt of water at 170.0 F 170.0 F
Mash Notes:
Carbonation and Storage
Carbonation Type: Kegged (Forced CO2)	Volumes of CO2: 2.4
Pressure/Weight: 21.6 PSI	Carbonation Used: -
Keg/Bottling Temperature: 60.0 F	Age for: 378.0 days
Storage Temperature: 68.0 F
Notes
This will be a 12 gallon split batch with me and Danny (DeeperRootsBrewing.com) I will take 6 and he will take 6 for a net of 10 gallons total after trub loss. We will pitch Batch #1 with Cal Ale WLP001 and Batch #2 will have S-05 and WLP655 (sour) After fermentation on batch #1 will will drop a second WLP655. After 6 months we will blend together and store.
Created with BeerSmith

Update #1

Today (11/12/11) We brewed this beer,  yeast was added at 62 degree on both carboys.

Update #2

Friday night (11/18/11) I transferred the beer into another carboy for souring/aging.  The beer was at 1.030 which is a lot higher than I expected.  But sticking to the plan, I added the Brett mix from White Labs.  2 days later I have a nice layer growing as you can see below...

Update #3

As of this morning (12-4-11) the beer has cleared out and has lost its krausen.  I see some activity around the sides of the carboy, but not much that can be described as a pellical.  I am waiting for some sort of activity.  Once we have that I will take a picture and update this post.

Update #4

Today (12-13-11) I am added the Oak Cubes from my Kate the Great Russian Imperial Stout.  They were aged for about 6 months in the 14% Beer.  Before that they were soaked in Bourbon for 3 weeks.

Above is Danny's Brett 1st beer carboy.  Personally I love the red color on the bottom picture.

Update #5

Today, 12-31-11 this is the current state of the Flanders Red, nice and pelically  (Don't even know if that is a word)

Update #6

The beer is starting to get really good and sick.  The pellical is looking great. 

Update #7

Last night I racked the beer into another keg to put the next generation of Flanders Red in.  rightfully named Farmers Bitch. The beer will stay under a blanket of Co2 until I blend with Jeff and Danny.

What is left of the pellical

A wonderful red color

A stray Oak Cube left over after racking