Flanders Red Recipe

For the recipe inspiration, look here:  http://www.themadfermentationist.com/2008/10/plan-wine-barrel-flanders-red.html

3 lbs. Vienna

3 lbs. Munich

3 lbs. Pilsener

1 lb. Wheat

1 lb. Crystal 60 (ask Iggi if you can buy a lb of his munich 60)

1 lb of something darker, crystal 120, special b, or the like.  Please don't use something with roast characters like Chocolate, Roast Barley, Black Patent, etc...

1 oz. of low aau Hallertauer (I used mittlefruh).  Noble hops in general will work although it'd be nice to stick to the same type.  

Ferment with an english ale yeast or any other yeast that has a low attenuation range and that won't give off too many flavors.  US-04 is good.  We'll need the residual sugars to feed the souring organisms.

I came out to 1.056.  Shoot for something in this immediate range, I think mid-40s to 1056 is style guidelines.  I mashed at 155.  I think it'd be a good idea to leave behind some residual sugars for the bugs so aim above the 153 degree bar.

I've been emailing back and forth and the mad fermentationist says it's a good solid recipe.  He suggests in the article that a few people have some roselare going in their batch and also suggests adding in a completely unfermented batch at barreling to encourage growth.  I have 10 gallons done from yesterday and will be doing another ten today, and kyle will also be doing 10.  That's half the barrel in two days.  I would strongly encourage people to collaborate and brew this at the same time.  It's easy to do 10 gallons in one mash tun so a team can easily knock out 20 side-by-side.

I have a yeast cake of roselare that we can pitch.  If one other person wants to buy a packet and use in their beer, that's cool too.  Keep in mind you'll need to be careful if you're the one handling the roselare as you could possibly infect a lot of equipment.  See me if you're planning on using it.

Cheers,

Daniel