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Have made a few flanders reds and have read a lot about lambics so now is the time to try one. I am not doing it the traditional spontaneous fermentation way or using a traditional turbid mash so it's sort of a quasi lambic but I think it should come out nicely after a year or so. The mash and boil is using the wyeast schedule which looks a shedload easier than the traditional way. Yeast will be using slurry of wattle yeast, a slurry of roselare and a slurry of sour batch kidz. Will start it fermenting in the early 20s and then just in the corner for how ever long it takes.

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So put this down today/this evening. This morning I cooked some hops I picked back in march from my POR vine. I just had them sitting in the garage in a paper bag. It was 15 grams but after cooking in the oven at 60 degrees for 30 mins it became 9 grams. Followed the wyeast schedule and the pre boil sample looks as clear as my pilsener @interceptor 😂 . Anyway I boiled for 2 hours and added hops with 30 mins to go. I was a little worried about too much IBU. After the boil I'm a little under. By my guess on the robobrew I have about 18 litres in the glass carboy. The sample says 1060. Probably 10 points higher than I would have expected with the grain bill. Maybe the 2hr mash? Don't know. Anyway I taste the wort sample. Tastes effin weird. Sweet as you would expect but a funny dank sort of taste. Nothing in the way of bitterness. Anyway pitched the slurry and she is away. Will update as I take samples along the way.

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9 hours ago, Greenyinthewestofsydney said:

I'll post on this thread as I take samples at 3 month intervals.

cheers!

I'll need to buy another stainless FV and give it a go sometime, ,love my Flanders and Berliner too much to give them up!

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  • 2 months later...

So I had a peek at this today. Was going to do it at 3 month intervals but decided to take a sample today which is like 10 weeks in. Ph is way higher than I expected. Gravity is 1.000 already. The taste is interesting. Like a brett saison but with this funny sort of after-taste. Not that in a bad way though. I quite like it. Not much like the lambics I have tasted. Tempted to bottle it and do another but I'll trust the process.

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  • 1 month later...
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So took another sample of this. Basically 7.5 months in the fermenter. Gravity of 0.995 so unchanged from last time. Starting gravity was 1.060 so that puts it at 8.5% alcohol.  Ph came up as 3.8 which is slightly up on the last one. I calibrated this before taking the reading so thinking last time I must not of. Taste is tart and pretty complex. A bit more brettanomyces coming through. It seems a lot tarter and complex from last time. The sour tastes a lot more than a 3.8ph which is kind of weird. Tempted to bottle but keeping the course so will leave it for another couple of months and take another sample.

 

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10 hours ago, Greenyinthewestofsydney said:

So took another sample of this. Basically 7.5 months in the fermenter. Gravity of 0.995 so unchanged from last time. Starting gravity was 1.060 so that puts it at 8.5% alcohol.  Ph came up as 3.8 which is slightly up on the last one. I calibrated this before taking the reading so thinking last time I must not of. Taste is tart and pretty complex. A bit more brettanomyces coming through. It seems a lot tarter and complex from last time. The sour tastes a lot more than a 3.8ph which is kind of weird. Tempted to bottle but keeping the course so will leave it for another couple of months and take another sample.

Greeny, thanks for sharing, I love reading about this stuff - so thank-you. Please keep us posted.

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5 hours ago, jennyss said:

@Greenyinthewestofsydney, I just looked up in Wikipedia about Lambic beer - that is wild stuff with the yeasts, and very historical. We'll hear more in a couple of months!

Yeah they are not everyone's cup of tea but the complexity in these long fermentations for mine is something that can't be beat!!

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  • 1 month later...

Another sample taken. This beer is really developing nicely. Gravity or 0.994 and a ph of 3.5. Nice tasting. Winey type flavour. Nice sour andtouch of brett. Really think this will be nice when carbonated up. Can't bottle this weekend but going to bottle next while making up another batch to dump on top of the trub.

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  • 3 months later...

Had a lot of problems with carbonation on this. Took between 2 and 3 months to carbonate. I wasted 4 330ml bottles with carbonation testers. So note to self. Next time re yeast!!

Anyway first real taste of this. Its about a year old and its very very good. Very dry and complex. Sour but not overpowering and a nice brett taste. Have had a few commercial lambics and this is a touch less sour but more complex brett taste. Next one is almost 3 months already. Almost time for a sample.

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1 hour ago, Greenyinthewestofsydney said:

Had a lot of problems with carbonation on this. Took between 2 and 3 months to carbonate. I wasted 4 330ml bottles with carbonation testers. So note to self. Next time re yeast!!

Anyway first real taste of this. Its about a year old and its very very good. Very dry and complex. Sour but not overpowering and a nice brett taste. Have had a few commercial lambics and this is a touch less sour but more complex brett taste. Next one is almost 3 months already. Almost time for a sample.

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Well done mate glad it’s working out I am jealous! Still waiting for my Flanders 3 months in now!

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12 hours ago, RDT2 said:

Well done mate glad it’s working out I am jealous! Still waiting for my Flanders 3 months in now!

Yeah i cant say i prefer a lambic to the flanders reds. Flanders reds have that bit of malt influence still there. These lambics have none at all really. Just pilsener and wheat. All yeast driven. Its different and its very nice as well but kind of simplistic compared to the flanders.

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  • 1 month later...
On 5/20/2023 at 2:36 AM, Greenyinthewestofsydney said:

Yeah i cant say i prefer a lambic to the flanders reds. Flanders reds have that bit of malt influence still there. These lambics have none at all really. Just pilsener and wheat. All yeast driven. Its different and its very nice as well but kind of simplistic compared to the flanders.

Amazing stuff ! I do like Flanders Red, or Oud Bruin, both great beers. It must be satisfying to brew those up, the longest I did was a Orval clone(ish) that took about 3 months brewing. I still have quite a few bottles left.

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4 hours ago, stquinto said:

Amazing stuff ! I do like Flanders Red, or Oud Bruin, both great beers. It must be satisfying to brew those up, the longest I did was a Orval clone(ish) that took about 3 months brewing. I still have quite a few bottles left.

It's satisfying to taste them for the first time but not too difficult to brew. Just got to have some patience. I have 2 23L glass carboys now. One for flanders red and the other lambic and another 11L one for experimental brett beers and what not. Definitely worth doing if you like your sours or brett beers.

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On 5/19/2023 at 8:33 PM, Greenyinthewestofsydney said:

Had a lot of problems with carbonation on this. Took between 2 and 3 months to carbonate

Looks great - I have had issues carbing the flanders in a bottle, I have found it needed over priming

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