Sampled my Farmhouse Melange sour last night and it's really quite nice. Something "peachy" about it. At this point it is still a little mild, but really pleasant. About a month ago I transferred 2.5 gallons of a farmhouse ale directly onto the cake of a previously fermented sour with Melange. Its sitting at 1.005 and I'm tempted to just bottle it up as is and let it funk up more in the bottle. I'm guessing it will drop another point or two, so it could just carb up naturally in the bottle. If after 4 months there isn't enough carbonation then I can always open each bottle and add tablet of NB's Prime Dose.
I have two vials of Melange and plan on doing a red (OG1.057) with one and a Bruin(OG 1.065) with the other. Do you guys reccomend doing a starter for these? Or just keep it warm like TYB says for the first 24hrs?
Cheers!
Sorry, I might not of been clear on in my question. I'm looking at either doing a starter (not at an elevated temp) or just pitching one vial into each 5 gallon batch around 70 as stated on the vial. I'd rather just pitch the vial into primary if the cell count is suffiecient. These vials are only about 3 weeks old.
Sorry, I might not of been clear on in my question. I'm looking at either doing a starter (not at an elevated temp) or just pitching one vial into each 5 gallon batch around 70 as stated on the vial. I'd rather just pitch the vial into primary if the cell count is suffiecient. These vials are only about 3 weeks old.
That blend has a recommended temp of 68-78. I'd warm it up.
That blend has a recommended temp of 68-78. I'd warm it up.
I agree. Not sure how active the Saccharomyces strains will be at 60 F. That's quite a bit lower than we have ever used them. Not sure the Brettanomyces strains or the LAB will be that active either that low. Definitely warm it to the upper 60's. Also, the cell count is a little lower in this blend (29 billion cells/vial), so in ahe absence of a starter, it will take a little longer to get going.
i've got the saison/brett blend going in an optic/wheat/golden naked oats/acidulated beer (33 IBU, 1.057 before the late-added pound of sugar, if i remember correctly). i got the yeast second-hand from a fellow brewer. although i'm unsure of pitch size, the beer had a visible krausen the next morning and was ripping at 24 hours so enough cells were pitched. started off at 68, got to 74 on day two, and spent the rest of active fermentation at 78-80 which was a little warmer than i intended.
nick - any experience with the saison blend at the upper, or slightly above, its suggested range? most of the cell growth happened in the suggested range, so i have that going for me, which is nice.
after 16 days in the fermenter, i took a gravity reading last night: 1.008. i was expecting it to be a bit lower. the GNO is a type of crystal, 6% of grist, so that might have added something to the FG. beer is looking clear so fermentation looks complete, but i'm a tad nervous about bottling a brett beer at 1.008. maybe i cooled it too soon, and i should warm it up again?i've got the saison/brett blend going in an optic/wheat/golden naked oats/acidulated beer (33 IBU, 1.057 before the late-added pound of sugar, if i remember correctly). i got the yeast second-hand from a fellow brewer. although i'm unsure of pitch size, the beer had a visible krausen the next morning and was ripping at 24 hours so enough cells were pitched. started off at 68, got to 74 on day two, and spent the rest of active fermentation at 78-80 which was a little warmer than i intended.
nick - any experience with the saison blend at the upper, or slightly above, its suggested range? most of the cell growth happened in the suggested range, so i have that going for me, which is nice.
after 16 days in the fermenter, i took a gravity reading last night: 1.008. i was expecting it to be a bit lower. the GNO is a type of crystal, 6% of grist, so that might have added something to the FG. beer is looking clear so fermentation looks complete, but i'm a tad nervous about bottling a brett beer at 1.008. maybe i cooled it too soon, and i should warm it up again?
what kind of FG's are people getting with the saison/brett blend? so far i've seen 1.038 --> 1.004. anyone else? nick?
edit: came across a few more OG/FG combos here. if i estimate my beer's OG to be 1.064 (1.057 + 7 points from the pound of sugar), an FG of 1.008 gives me an apparent attenuation of 87.5% - so i'm in the ballpark. with the GNOs, that might be as good as it gets.
normally i would be in complete agreement with you. but different strains behave in different ways, and the brett in TYB's saison brett blend were chosen for how well they perform as primary strains. i've read about several folks packaging this beer well before the traditional 3+ months that one typically waits with a brett'ed beer... hence my inquiry about other folks' experiences.Sweetcell, you know this better than me, Brett is a slow attenuator, it may be several months before it's totally done. The residual gravity you're measuring right now is most likely food for Brett. Also your sugar addition inflates the attenuation a bit. I'd be surprised if it doesn't go down at least 4-6 points over time.
paging Nick BioBrewer:
have you noticed that the Saison Brett Blend continues to attenuate after primary? as i wrote here, my 5-week old 1.064 beer has stopped at 1.008 and has dropped clear. i'm not seeing any signs of activity in the primary carboy. i'm wondering if the brett will continue to chew, and hence i should rack to secondary?
I've gotten a number of messages regarding when we were restocking a some of our sour/funky products, including our Melange Blend. Just wanted to give a heads up that new stock of everything was just added for those who have been patiently waiting. Sorry again for the delay!
Rolling with some Melange in an extract lambic similar to Oldsock's recipe. How long does it usually take for krausen to hit? About 24hrs in and not much going on yet. Its sitting in a fermentation bag around 65*.
update: THP took several months to go away, but go away it did.i've bottled my saison with lochristi, which was in secondary for a little over a year.
the beer has an off-flavor that i'm pretty sure is THP, AKA "that cheerio flavor" or "mouse taint". i bottled conditioned without adding any new yeast so the brett was likely in bad shape and spit out the THP. it's been something like 2 or 3 months since bottling and it's starting to get better. i had one last night and it was almost drinkable, but still too strong to fully appreciate the underlying beer.
TL;DR: my lochristi saison is dealing with bottle shock because i didn't re-yeast at bottling. needs more time.
Rolling with some Melange in an extract lambic similar to Oldsock's recipe. How long does it usually take for krausen to hit? About 24hrs in and not much going on yet. Its sitting in a fermentation bag around 65*.
Thanks, I checked again a little later last night and the start of a nice pillowy krausen had formed, by this morning it was full bore. Had a tiny amount of blowoff through the airlock so I think we're in business.
update: THP took several months to go away, but go away it did.
what lays underneath is really nice. i definitely get a pear ester.
apparently i'm not the only one who likes it: the beer took first place in category 28 of my NHC regional... i'm going to nationals, baby
thanksShoot me an email with the recipe in the same format as the ones on the winner's circle page and I'll get you up on the site.
http://www.theyeastbay.com/winners-circle/
Congrats, by the way!
thanks
recipe sent, and it's already up. fast turnaround!
edit: looks like its not linked on /winners-circle/ yet...
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