Flanders Brown

[klickcue]

I am going to post pictures as this beer moves along.

Brewed 9/26/2010 OG 1.056
12 gallon batch
Fermented in 15.5 gallon keg. Complete blow off twice.
Transferred to Secondaries with Swagman tubes 10/9/2010 FG 1.015 - 73% ADF
At 10/12/2010 the funk started to form

The only O2 the wort received was the whirlpool while building the hop cone and any O2 that was picked up moving the wort into carboys with the March pump.

9 lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter
9 lbs Pilsner (2 Row) Ger Best
2 lbs 8.0 oz Munich Malt - 10L
2 lbs Wheat Malt, Ger
1 lbs 5.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L
5.0 oz Special B Malt (147.0 SRM)
4.0 oz Carafa III (525.0 SRM)
2.0 oz Black (Patent) Malt
3.00 oz Hallertauer [3.00 %] (60 min)
2.80 oz Hallertauer [3.00 %] (30 min)
2 lbs 4.0 oz Corn Sugar (Dextrose)
1 Pkgs La Roja Belgian Blend (Jolly Pumpkin #bottYeast-Ale
2 Pkgs California Ale - Sierra Nevada - SLANT (WhYeast-Ale
2 Pkgs Roselare Belgian Blend (Wyeast Labs #3763)Yeast-Ale

[Jdl973]

Chris,

What are we looking at in the picture?

Jason

[meisel]

Chris,

What are we looking at in the picture?

Jason

Looks like a carboy with pellicle forming. A truly beautiful sight

[Tom Turnbull]

Chris,

What are we looking at in the picture?

Jason

Looks like a carboy with pellicle forming. A truly beautiful sight

Looks like a sanke with a clear hemispherical top with yeast leavings in two rings around the lower edge of the top

[meisel]

Chris,

What are we looking at in the picture?

Jason

Looks like a carboy with pellicle forming. A truly beautiful sight

Looks like a sanke with a clear hemispherical top with yeast leavings in two rings around the lower edge of the top

The OP said the batch was transferred to carboys. Have never seen a sanke fermenter with a clear hemi-top, not sure how that would work really. That powdery skin on the surface is definitely a pellicle forming.

[Tom Turnbull]

The OP also said "Fermented in 15.5 gallon keg."

Not sure how that would work either...just looks like the top part of a carboy that has no neck.

[meisel]

The only O2 the wort received was the whirlpool while building the hop cone and any O2 that was picked up moving the wort into carboys with the March pump.

[klickcue]

Lee has it down pat It truly is a pellicle forming.

A few of my growler that have bug starter in them have some really pretty pellicle.

It is interesting to watch the pellicle form and then later drop as the beer finishes in the starter solution.

[klickcue]

As you can see in this picture of a starter, a nice pellicle has formed. In this small volume, the pellicle will soon fall as the bugs run out of food. Not so quick in drinking volumes. It might take up to a couple of years or more before the beer goes through the pH changes and different bugs take over



In this photo, a moving forward of the original picture. A nice grain of pellicle is forming in the ring plus the mucus is completely across the top of the beer (getting sick):



In this photo from a different carboy, the sickness is strong and not allowing the CO2 bubbles to break. The grain of the pellicle is not as apparent:



Both of these fermentations are restarts as each bug finds a new pH, ethanol, starch and etc... to work with and consume.

[meisel]

Great pics! Very informative. It's great to have a group of bug-heads in the guild

[klickcue]

The saga continues.

The carboys are now putting off a rotten egg smell (hydrogen sulfide, H2S). This should pass with time as the yeast and bugs consume the by-products. The next steps should be alcohol and acid conversion.

The original picture of carboy 1:



Carboy 2:

[sam]

That's crazy awesome, Chris!

Keep us posted.

[klickcue]

Well, after all the great run of fermentation, it is only down to 1.010 FG from a starting gravity of 1.056 SG. This still pretty good at 82% ADF. I would have expected a higher ADF even though the grain was mashed at 154 dF. I may pitch some Brett B and L, which should have in the original yeast mix and see if more time will drive the beer even lower in gravity.

I was off on the final gravity because I did not boil off enough but was lower on the finishing gravity than was predicted.

Always interesting working with bugs since the final is like shooting at a moving target

Tastes good from the sample.

12 gal
Date: 9/26/2010
Style: Belgian Specialty Ale


9 lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM)
9 lbs Pilsner (2 Row) Ger Best (2.0 SRM)
2 lbs 8.0 oz Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM)
2 lbs Wheat Malt, Ger (2.0 SRM)
1 lbs 5.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM)
5.0 oz Special B Malt (147.0 SRM)
4.0 oz Carafa III (525.0 SRM)
2.0 oz Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM)
3.00 oz Hallertauer [3.00 %] (60 min) Hops 16.5 IBU
2.80 oz Hallertauer [3.00 %] (30 min) Hops 7.9 IBU
2 lbs 4.0 oz Corn Sugar (Dextrose) (0.0 SRM) Sugar 8.41 %
1 Pkgs La Roja Belgian Blend (Jolly Pumpkin #bottle harvested) Yeast-Ale
2 Pkgs California Ale - Sierra Nevada - SLANT (White Labs #WLP001 - 1056) Yeast-Ale
2 Pkgs Roselare Belgian Blend (Wyeast Labs #3763) Yeast-Ale

Beer Profile Estimated Original Gravity: 1.062 SG (1.030-1.080 SG) Measured Original Gravity: 1.056 SG
Estimated Final Gravity: 1.018 SG (1.006-1.019 SG) Measured Final Gravity: 1.010 SG
Estimated Color: 18.5 SRM (3.0-50.0 SRM) Color [Color]
Bitterness: 24.4 IBU (15.0-40.0 IBU) Alpha Acid Units: 17.4 AAU
Estimated Alcohol by Volume: 5.72 % (3.00-9.00 %) Actual Alcohol by Volume: 6.00 %

[klickcue]

I have decided to wait before adding extra bugs.

Checked batch #85 where I pulled off two 1 gallon jugs before moving to corny kegs.

One jug is crystal clear and formed a pellicle and the other is cloudy with a scum forming on top of the beer.

Interesting that the cloudy jug was clear a couple of weeks ago but was thick and the chunks would not move around..

Swirled the batch #86 beer x 2 carboys last night and both showed signs of fermenting more today.

Like the jugs, both the carboys look different also.

Moving targets