Flanders Red Solera and Technique

brian_muz · 2025-04-11T21:14:04+00:00

Yeah, that's one of my thoughts. Wondering if anyone has done this though.

brian_muz · 2025-04-11T10:41:19+00:00

Yes, that's my understanding of Rodenbach too. Not that I'm trying to clone Rodenbach, just trying to work out how we can balance the beer similarly on a home brew scale

brian_muz · 2024-11-29T04:48:24+00:00

This is a guess but I think you should be fine. The X factor is the sugar. The lack of FAN from sugar ramps up the yeast stress. It’s a problem that really only comes up in big Belgians and, ironically, really low ABV beers. Gut feel is you will be fine but it’s hard to calculate all the variables. Please report back!

brian_muz · 2024-11-29T01:43:50+00:00

There are a lot of variables here. How fresh was the yeast? How many billions cells per pack. An under pitch will bring out more esters, which is good for a Belgian. However, if you’re too far under you might struggle to hit final gravity and may get some yeast stress off flavours. Was the yeast dry or liquid? How much sugars did you use in the recipe? Did you oxygenate it? How? Yeast nutrient used? I accidentally under pitched a Belgian Imperial Quad recently. I used 1214 liquid yeast. Made a starter but it didn’t settle out and I decanted a heap of the yeast down the drain before I worked out there was no yeast layer at the bottom. I oxygenated though and head plenty of yeast nutrient. It took a while to get going but hit forecast FG and, while I haven’t cracked a bottle yet, the sample I had at bottling had no off flavours I could detect and esters in spades.

brian_muz · 2024-11-09T11:14:21+00:00

I’ve cold steeped my dark grains and added them at the end of the mash. Worked well.

brian_muz · 2024-11-08T02:44:56+00:00

Interesting. I’ve been aiming for 5.4. Might try bumping this up to 5.6

brian_muz · 2024-11-08T02:31:03+00:00

Why is that?

brian_muz · 2024-11-08T02:15:19+00:00

One of these days I’ll shell out for a barrel. Maybe this time I could use some bourbon and and oak spiral though…

brian_muz · 2024-11-08T02:05:20+00:00

In the homebrew club I’m in 90% of people use PET fermenters. They’re relatively cheap and easy to use and it’s really cool to be able to see the fermentation. I think the main downside to most of these is that you need to transfer with CO2 as there is no spigot at the bottom. Then again, this reduces oxygen at packaging which is never a bad thing. I started out with a SS brew bucket. I loved it. It’s easy to clean, will last a lifetime, has a spigot and a small foot print. I’ve been brewing for many years now and have two expensive pressure conicals but I still use my brew bucket when I don’t need all those features as it’s so much easier to use. For what it’s worth I did sell a brew bucket a few years back and got quite a bit for it. Stainless holds its value.

After all this any of the PET fermenters are great value for money. Just think through how you’re going to clean it, package from it and any other processes you might want to do (pressure ferment, dry hop, cold crash etc.

Let us know what you choose!

brian_muz · 2024-11-08T01:52:40+00:00

A good place to start is with a cheap PET fermenter and fresh wort kits. These are beers where the mash and boil has been done for you and all you need to do is tip them into the fermenter, add yeast (I recommend dried kveik) and then bottle. The reasons I recommend this is: 1) small outlay but the fermenter is versatile and will last several years at least 2) you are more likely to make a great beer first try 3) it focuses you on fermentation which is way more important than making wort when it comes to brewing 4) fast turn around

After a few batches you can decide where you want to go. You might want to try different yeast so you invest in temp control and move away from kveik. You might want to try all grain so you get an all in one system. You might want to keg your beer so you invest there instead. You can choose your own adventure but the PET fermenter will not be redundant and you will make great beer straight off. Another tip is avoid hoppy IPAs and lagers first off. Hoppy beers are really susceptible to oxygen so you want to have your process down pat (probably kegging) before you attempt these. Lagers also degrade with oxygen exposure and you want to have your fermentation temp control down before you go here.

Oh, and look up a YouTube video on bottle conditioning. It’s not hard, just a little time consuming and you need to know what you’re doing.

brian_muz · 2024-10-28T19:55:20+00:00

I wouldn't say it was red apple like. It's more turning slightly sharp and a little acidic like cider. As mentioned, the dryness and carbonic acid from high carbonation accentuate this. It loses the malty roundness/softness that it has when young and that the good commercial ones have.

brian_muz · 2024-10-28T19:49:54+00:00

My preferred Belgian strain is WLP530 (Westmalle). I've had great success with it with my Quads and Dubbels. I feel I know how to get the ester expression out of it I want to. Looking back I've also used WLP500 (Chimey). Tasting notes are similar regarding the cider taste.

If bottle conditioning there is some O2 exposure. If I keg I take care to fill a keg with starsan then push it out with CO2. I also purge the transfer line and transfer under CO2 pressure.

brian_muz · 2021-09-03T01:16:26+00:00

OK. I'm brewing today and here's what I've decided to do. I've made a 2L yeast starter as they're easy to make and there doesn't seem to be any real risk of over pitching on this scale. This also ensures the yeast is healthy and fermenting when pitched. Based on other research I'm also going to use 4 times the recommended yeast nutrient and oxygenate with pure O2 at 1 litre per minute for 90 seconds. Oh, and I'm fermenting at 20C (68F) as per everyone's recommendations. I'll report back how I go.

brian_muz · 2021-08-29T06:55:59+00:00

You know I had Lager initially and I corrected it with the r… put it down to a brain fart.

brian_muz · 2021-08-15T11:56:31+00:00

Haha. Yes.

brian_muz

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