Flanders Red Ale Greg Hughes Recipe - Hive Mind Input Appreciated

[Furry Shark Brewery]

Dear Hive Mind

Background
I would appreciate some help here. I started this batch (my first foray into sour beer with very funky yeast, Wyeast 3763 Roselare blend) at the end of March. Fermented for 1 month (FG of 1012) then transferred to barrel for 1 month, then back into an FV for 2 months’ conditioning before adding 5 kilos of sour cherries (cost me an arm and a leg this brew and a lot of time....).

I left the cherries in there for 3 months. Just about to batch prime, add some champagne yeast and bottle in Belgian 33cl swing tops.

The Issue
Just taken a gravity reading and the SG is 1032! Sugars from the cherries. If I bottle this with the no doubt needed fresh yeast surely this is bottle bomb territory? Unless very little of this new sugar would ferment out.

Not sure what to do here. The beer looks fantastic and tastes pretty good too. After bottling it will/would be left for a year to further condition, so we’re looking at Xmas 2021. Think I’ll dabble with kettle souring next time!

Cheers!

 

[strange-steve]

I currently have a Flanders red in a carboy fermenting with the same Roeselare Blend. Mine has been there since July 2019 and it's still not ready. I think you're rushing this one, and all the racking back and forward isn't necessary. This is the sort of beer that you just pitch the yeast and forget about it. Wyeast themselves say that with this blend "aging up to 18 months is required" so I would hang back on the bottling for a while.

 

[Furry Shark Brewery]

I currently have a Flanders red in a carboy fermenting with the same Roeselare Blend. Mine has been there since July 2019 and it's still not ready. I think you're rushing this one, and all the racking back and forward isn't necessary. This is the sort of beer that you just pitch the yeast and forget about it. Wyeast themselves say that with this blend "aging up to 18 months is required" so I would hang back on the bottling for a while.

Thank you, that’s good to hear. I am just following the recipe and I agree about the racking. The reason I did it is the barrels were new and only 10 litre capacity (so a not ideal surface area to vol ratio) so didn’t want it to be in them for longer than a month.

So you believe fermentation is still happening? I doubt there is little left of the yeast since the first racking. Hmmmm, I may have bitten off more than I can chew with this one. I thought nearly 2 years (grain to glass) was long enough. I’ll leave it be and check it next year. If it is at the same SG what then I wonder? Is it worth chucking in another pack of Roselare blend although O2 will be severely depleted by this stage I would have thought? Thanks.

 

[strange-steve]

Two years grain to glass might be long enough, but I would probably have the majority of that time in the FV rather than the bottle. I suspect that fermentation probably is still happening, on a micro level at least, wild yeast and bacteria like to take their time. I checked the gravity of mine after 1 year and I reckon it still hadn't quite hit FG. I would just leave it alone now if I were you, and I wouldn't be too concerned about there not being enough yeast to finish the job. It only takes a small amount of brett/bacteria to do what it does, as anyone who has had a batch spoiled by contamination can confirm.

 

[Furry Shark Brewery]

Two years grain to glass might be long enough, but I would probably have the majority of that time in the FV rather than the bottle. I suspect that fermentation probably is still happening, on a micro level at least, wild yeast and bacteria like to take their time. I checked the gravity of mine after 1 year and I reckon it still hadn't quite hit FG. I would just leave it alone now if I were you, and I wouldn't be too concerned about there not being enough yeast to finish the job. It only takes a small amount of brett/bacteria to do what it does, as anyone who has had a batch spoiled by contamination can confirm.

Appreciate the advice. That is precisely what I will do.