Thursday, September 7, 2017

Flemish Red Ale

I've had an opportunity to try a couple of beers lately that were referred to as Flemish or Flanders red ales, and I've really enjoyed them.  They're usually sour, full-bodied, and with a heavy sweetness that's reminiscent of dried dark fruit. It turns out that Northern Brew has a 3 gal extract recipe for a Flemish Red Ale, and since I had some of the ingredients, I thought I'd give it a shot.  All I need to do is a bit of math for the reduction in volume, and I have a pretty good souring process, so I'm all set.

Brew Day: 7 Sept 2017

Partial Mash:
8 oz Vienna malt
3 oz Caramunich
3 oz Special B
2 oz Carapils

Boil #1 (20 min):
1 lb Golden Light DME
4 oz sugar

At this point, no hops are added.  Follow all of the normal processes (partial mashing, boil, cooling the wort). Once the wort is cooled, I added 2 Good Belly Straight Shots to the fermenter and then racked.  Then, I moved the fermenter to a warming plate and wrapped it in a towel; I now need to let it sit for at least 48 hrs.

Boil #2 (20 min - 10 Sept):
20 min boil to kill the bugs.  Cool the wort following the boil, using normal processes, pitch the yeast.

Hops: 7 g Styrian Goldings hops (@ 20 min)

Yeast: T-58

Cooled the wort and pitched the yeast via the usual method(s).

Addendum, 22 Sept: Racked to secondary.

Addendum, 6 Oct: Bottled tonight, using 2.5 T of table sugar dissolved in 1/2 c boiling water.  The beer smelled really good during transfer; I got 8 good brown bottles out of it, plus one former Sprite bottle that I "repurposed".

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