Dank Funk Sour Beer Timeline Update and Assesment

I sampled all of my funk/sour beers recently and hear are my thoughts on those -

• Crew Jonesen - Saison Brett C - (Bottled) This is the best Saison Brett that I've ever had in my life.  Honest to god.  Fruity Pineapple, dry, mouthwateringly refreshing.  Super fruity Saison brett.
• Bart Taylored - Saison Brett L -  (Bottled) This is a close second IMO to the Brett C version.   Much more funky then the Brett C version and brett aroma's more like a Lambic.
• Riviere Rouge - Flanders Style Red - (Bottled) After 4 months in the bottle this is tasting good.  Aroma is spot on like cherry pie.  Flavor could've used a little bit more Oak complexity, and more malt body but the brett and sour are in balance.   Need to be more patient and blend better next time!
• Kripple Kriek - Kriek (3.5 gallons old | 2 gallons new) on 12 lbs of cherries.  Need to Blend this with a clean fermented wheat beer in a few months and bottle.   Whoa...the cherry aroma is amazing right now!  Worried about acetobactor as it's been in a plastic bucket for 6 months. (PH: 3.7) Bottled: Oct. 1st 2012  Tasting Notes HERE
• pLambic - Lambic ECY01-9 months old - coming along very nice.  Definitely not ready to bottle yet, but it's getting nice and tart (green apple, and lemons) and the brett character and lactic acid are really coming along. (PH: 3.3)
• (3.11.13_PH: 3.15)-updated tasting- 17 months young Wow, just like it tasted 6 months ago, and it is tasting amazing!  I think I'll definitely be blending this to add some complexity.
  
• The Wedge - Saison Brett - ECY03 -(Bottled with champagne yeast) Lots of flavors going on right now.   The ECY Saison/Brett combo is great, but the oak is overpowering right now and muddling the flavors.  This will be fantastic in 6 months once it comes together!
• Funky Bonga - Brown Porter -100% Brett (Brett L, Brett C, and Brett Drie).  (Bottled) Aged on oak for 10 days.   This has been in the bottle for a month now and probably needs another month for the oak to come together and mellow out.   
• Great Divide -  ECY02 - Flemish Golden Sour Saison (American Wild Ale) - 8 months old, This is coming along nicely in the carboy.   Not quite there as far as sourness level that I want so I'll let it sit for another 3-6 months, then bottle!  This is going to be amazing!  Slight tartness of apples and lemons, brett and fruityness.  Little bit of oak that is very complimentary.(PH: 3.4)
• (3.11.13_PH: 3.3)-updated tasting- 16 months young: Oak is the first thing I smell, a little musty in the nose, tart, not tons of brett character.  hmm...definitely less complex then last time I tasted it.
• Ithaca Brute Clone - American Wild Ale - Open Fermented English yeast then dosed with a huge pitch of Brett Drie - Despite having 23% of the grist as Acidulated malt, the acidity isn't where I want it to be.  It's a brilliant golden, yellow color.  Fairly sweet,  and that may be the reason that the acid is hidden.   I'm considering adding Lactobacillus to this one to up the acidity.   Currently the oak flavor is too strong in the carboy and should mellow out over time.   Right now it's good and the fruityness of the Brett Drie is great, but with the oak mellowed a bit, and the acid level up (PH down) and this could be GREAT! (PH: 3.8) - Bottled: January, 2013
• The Bullocks Sour Biere De Garde- 2nd Gen ECY02 - Still in the carboy at 6 months and coming along really nicely.  Not as sour as I thought it would be at this point despite being a 3rd pitch of East Coast Yeast.  I was shooting for something like Jolly Pumpkin Oro De Calabaza and I think I've almost acheived it!  AWESOME! (8.17.12_PH: 3.4)
• (3.11.13_PH: 3.4)-updated tasting - 13 months young: Brett character has become much more complex.  Complex nose of toasty malt, and fruity and funky brett.  Taste is nice tart and refreshing.  Brett comes through in the front of the palate, oak, toasty malt in the mid palate, and then finish's with tart lemon's and apples.  Very nice.
• The Runt - 100% Brett Biere De Garde - Brett Drie is extremely fruity and complements this beer great.   Too bad I only have 6-12 oz. bottles of this.   Way better then the clean version!
• Pan the Goat God - American Wild Ale with 2nd Gen ECY20 - Still young at 3 months old.  This is a crazy, crazy blend of bugs in ECY20.   A weird beer that is tasting like a slightly sour Saison right now.   English yeast, plus crazy ECY blend of  dozens of different sour and funk yeast and bacteria, all mixed with a Saison base wort.   Needs another 6 months in the carboy.(PH: 3.65)
• (3.11.13_PH: 3.5)-updated tasting- 10 months young:  Very light tasting, not a ton of sourness although it has came down in the past few months.  Tart lemons, and very thin.  Brett and Oak character are non existent currently.  Age longer!
• Bandaloop Gypsy - Flemish Golden Sour Saison (American Wild Ale) - 3rd Gen ECY02  Still young, but seemed like it was at the same stage as it's cousin Pan the Goat God.  Let rest for another 6 months. (PH: 3.3)
• (3.11.13_PH: 3.2)-updated tasting- 10 months young: kinda weird and musty tasting.  Very Light, very similar to it's cousin Pan the Goat God right now except for more tart.
  
 

1 Gallons Dreg Series - haven't sampled these but will probably bottle all in a month or so

• 3rd runnings from Saison- Wyeast Lacto and three Bretts from Funky Bonga (Ph: 4.3)
• 3rd runnings from Saison- Crooked Stave WWBY dreg
• Blonde Ale base - Jolly Pumpkin Oro de Calabaza
• Blonde Ale base - Boulevard Saison Brett
• Blonde Ale base - Cuvee Rene 

Potential Blends -1 Gallons old Lambic, 3 gallons Sour BdG, 1 gallon new clean BdG

Barrel Project Update - Lactic Phase kickin!

Pellicle after topping off.  3.5 months in the barrel and the Lactic Acid is pumping in this beer right now!   We used some aggressive yeast and bacteria blends and it shows!  Way better then any sour beer I have going in a carboy or bucket.

Eight of the members of the Nordeast Brewers Barrel aging project came over to my place on Saturday and sampled the barrel and here are my thoughts on how it’s coming along.   It tastes AMAZING and I couldn’t be happier with the direction it’s going.    It feels really great to have so much time, consideration, and collaboration, all come together and turn into something amazing!   

Tasting notes

Appearance – completely still because it’s pulled from the barrel.   Yellow color with a hint of brown that’s definitely a contribution of the oak.

Aroma -belgian esters, bready malt, tartness, and slight oak is evident.

Flavor - Starts out and hits you with a nice lactic tartness, the middle is slighty malty and the oak sneaks up on you after a few sips.  It’s hard to pull it out, but the oak is definitely starting to come through.   The finish is dry, yet it has an interesting sweetness that hits you at the very end of the sip.   Gravity is at 1.002 so we feel that the sweetness is most likely coming from the sugars in the wood either from the oak itself, or from the Honeywine that previously was in the oak, or both.  Mouth waters and brings you back for more!  Tiny bit of acetic bite on the finish.

Mouthfeel - Tart, thin – medium body

Overall - Damn…this is a fucking fantastic beer already!  We are planning on letting it sit for another 3 months to get some additional brett characteristics going, and to let it become more intensely sour.   
(PH: 3.4)

Homebrew Contest | American Wild Ale | 100% Brett

My Homebrew Club is putting on a Homebrew Contest in the upcoming months and registration is RIGHT NOW!   Since it's our first competition we are hosting we gave an extra long window for people to submit their entries.   For those of you that like to freak on the funk like I do, we'll be having TWO SPECIAL CATEGORIES!    First one is AMERICAN WILD ALE!   Please submit your American Wild Ales that you want feedback on.  Maybe you were trying for a Flanders Red, but ended up with a Flanders Blondish Ale and it doesn't quite fit into any 'style'.  Maybe you just went crazy and created the most amazing sour, funky beer in the planet and want to be recognized for it.   We want to recognize you for it!    Look at your cellar...and submit some funk people!    We'll have great judges for this event as the very next day is an amazing funk event "Where the Wild Beers Are".   There will be a bunch of BJCP judges in Minneapolis attending this event and I plan on getting a few of them to judge the American Wild and 100% Brett categories!  The second special category is 100% BRETT!   Yes, 100% Brett beers are all the rage right now!   Especially with us lazy brewers who decided to embrace brett and just stop trying to fight it!  I kid, but a lot of people have brewed 100% brett beers now, and we'd like to reward those that are pushing those flavor boundaries as well!   Submit your clean beers, submit your funk beers, and please pass the word on about our competition.  Click the image below and you'll get brought right to the website to enter your beers!  

Evolution of a Kriek | Add more Cherries | Think about blending

I thought I should put an update about my Kriek.   It's been quite the process of patients with my Flanders Red Ales that has been going on for almost 2 years now.   This Kriek is 2 parts young Flanders (1 year) and 4 parts old Flanders (19-months old).   It has been sitting on 4 lbs of local tart cherries and it seems to be really tasty right now.   The thing is, I blended my first Flanders Red with these two base beers and the resulting carbonated beer is lacking body.   Going through a blending session really makes you appreciate what the professional Lambic, Gueze, Flanders, American Wild Ale brewers and blenders do!   Because I know I'm going to have to blend this Kriek when I finally bottle it (probably with a Brown Porter)  I decided that I wanted to add a bunch more cherries because it's going to get diluted.

Summer Solstice is here! I guess is time to brew a Saison!

This time of year it just makes sense to brew a Saison!    I'll be brewing up a 10 gallon batch of Saison Brett in the next few days utilizing the long evening to light up my brew sculpture and the high heats in my upstairs attic to truly make a refreshing seasonal drink!

The plan is to do  Saison Brett with Pale, Pilsner, Red Wheat, Unmalted Wheat and Vienna malts..  Amarillo and Strisselspalt hops and split the batch two different ways.   Both will get a small dose of Wyeast French Saison 3711 yeast.   One will get a healthy dose of White Labs Brett C, and the other will be a healthy dose of Brett Drie!   Should be some tasty beers in about 3-4 months and will age well for 2 years!  I highly recommend using a traditonal Saison step mash when brewing Saison's to get a nice huge rocky head.  Here's what I do with much success!