[ynotbrusum]

I am about 9 months into a 10 gallon batch of Flanders Red - after a couple months I racked to a 6 gallon carboy and to a 5 gallon bourbon barrel.  Other than pulling off around a gallon for comp entries and tasting, it remains intact.  I am considering blending the two and bottling some more, then taking the balance of the blended portion, adding a tart cherry wine base (96 ozs.) to it and then pitching a Brett Brux starter.  The original pitch was a Roselaere slurry.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

[reverseapachemaster]

I would blend to the extent that the blended beer tastes better than the individual components.

Why pitch more brett? There is active brett already in your beer.

[ynotbrusum]

I thought that what was originally pitched may be pooped out - a la a sach yeast after this much time. I didn't want off flavors from a stressed situation with the wine base (unfermented) being added at this point...I had read that at the outset you want the Brett to be adequate and by analogy, this is the outset of the wine base.  If what is there is likely adequate, I will use the Brett elsewhere.  Just a first timer on a Flanders Red here....

[garc_mall]

I am not super advanced with my flanders red brewing, but I would recommend blending to taste, and then take the remainder, and add more wort, so you can keep the beer going. I am about 2 months into my second Flanders fermentation, and it seems to be working faster this time (already starting to show signs of a pellicle). In another month, I am going to taste test, and see where we are going. The first one took almost 18 months to keg. If I can get this down to 9mos, I will have a very happy wife.

[reverseapachemaster]

At nine months there is plenty of brett and pedio should still be active in the beer. I would not be concerned about the volume of brett available to consume the wine base, especially since you are only adding simple sugars there. Brett will live on seemingly forever in a beer. I have beers three and four years old both sour and brett that are continuing to evolve under the work of brett. When I add fruit to sour beer I often do it after a year and I've never had a problem with the brett and bacteria fermenting everything out.

[ynotbrusum]

Thanks RAM, that's what I had hoped to hear - now I can use the bugs on something else.  Maybe a Brett Brux Saison or an Oud Bruin Brett Trois, since I have both vials waiting to be made into starters...

[ynotbrusum]

Just bumping this thread to advise that the addition of the tart cherry wine base to the Flanders Solera went from good to great after another year and a half.  The Brett gnawed away at the fermentables and left the tart side of the cherry wine base intact; perhaps the pedio had something to do with the lactic pick up in this batch, also.  What was a decent young Flanders has really nice complexity now. 

Just brewed another for blending again in 6-8 months.  Those guys who encouraged a foray into the wild side really knew what they were talking about.  If this ain't heaven, it's close enough for me!

[klickitat jim]

Thats awesome! Fun to see threads like this, kinda shines light on the threads about how unfair it is to wait two weeks for bottles to carbonate...