[klickitat jim]

Great word

[Kinetic]

There's a burger chain called Umami Burger.  I need to go there.  It has to be good.

I really want to use the stinky cheese aged hops for the next sour.  Has anyone here used them?  I fully intended to use them last time, but a little voice inside my head said "no, not this time".

[morticaixavier]

I think the aged hops are supposed to come through and out the other side of stinky cheese before you use them. shouldn't smell like much.

[macbrews]

I've got my first Flanders Red that is about a month old.  At two weeks, I split the 10 gallons - 1/2 in a carboy with Roselare and half in a 5 gallon oak barrel with WLP665.  Tossed in dregs from Boulevard Love Child in the Carboy and Rodenbach Grand Cru in the barrel.

My question is, what do you think of topping off the barrel for the angel's share with additional charges of similar sour dregs from various bottles?  Is there too much of a good thing?  Do the waters get a bit too muddy if you add multiple top offs?  And how often is it recommended to top it off?  When I have used this barrel before I purged the dead space with a blast of CO2 after pulling a sample to try to get the extra O2 out, but I never added extra wort.

Thanks,

Mac

[ynotbrusum]

I am in pretty much the same position with my second year batch made in May 2014 and ready to be blended with some of my first year batch later this year (10 gallons in June 2013 split between glass carboy and 5 gallon bourbon barrel).  I blended portions of the first batch at about a 1:5 ratio for bottling for comps and kegging in a 3 gallon cornie.  Then I filled the barrel with the rest of the carboy - I didn't add new dregs to the barrel, but you can, if you think it isn't enough.  As the barrel ages, it likely will not need dregs, because the bugs will be in the wood.  Some guys do a lactic sour mash to prep the wort from a souring perspective, because the lacto loses some punch to the Brett and pedio over time, but I haven't found the need (I used a new couple vials of Roeselaere for the 5 gallon batch this past May).  I didn't pitch any extra Sacc, either, because the fresh vials had enough Sacc for the primary IMO.  One other thought is fruit - I have some tart cherry wine base that I intend to add into the mix on the next blend, just for grins.  Have fun and remember, it's a hobby.

[kylekohlmorgen]

I really want to use the stinky cheese aged hops for the next sour.  Has anyone here used them?  I fully intended to use them last time, but a little voice inside my head said "no, not this time".

I use aged hops in my lambic base, but I make sure they're WAY past the point of 'stinky cheese' and just smell like dried hay. They have very little odor. This is what the commercial brewers are using. I assume 'stinky' hops will make your beer taste... 'stinky'. If they stink, they probably still have too much alpha for lambic.

The aged hops do add flavor to the wort which isn't detectable in the final beer. Chad Y says brett can metabolize hop oils during aging, so they probably have some impact on the final product.

The primary reason for using aged hops is lactobacillus inhibition, so their only place is in lambic style wort. You want acidity from lacto in your Flanders-style sours, so stick with very low quantities of fresh hops (<10 IBU).

Aged hops aren't required for lambic. I use them because its traditional and I get great results with my process ("If it ain't broke..."). I'm also running low and will eventually run out, so in a few years I'll be able to tell if there is a real difference. Stay tuned...

[klickitat jim]

Sourced my fruit today. Its a two hour drive each way to save about $200 in shipping, but on the 8th I'm making a road trip to Oregon Fruit. 42 lbs of 18° plato dark sweet cherry puree and 42 lbs of 12° plato peach puree. 84 lbs for under $90. Also gives me an excuse to finally stop by Belmont Station ;-)

[HoosierBrew]

Sourced my fruit today. Its a two hour drive each way to save about $200 in shipping, but on the 8th I'm making a road trip to Oregon Fruit. 42 lbs of 18° plato dark sweet cherry puree and 42 lbs of 12° plato peach puree. 84 lbs for under $90.

Man, that is a great price for a great product.  I'm paying just a little more/lb.  Ok, a lot more. 

EDIT  -  FWIW, online and at LHBS, good purees like this are in the $5 -6/lb range.  Totally worth the drive. What a steal.

[reverseapachemaster]

That is a ridiculously good price on fruit. Well worth the four hours of driving. It's not like the drive is even a terrible one.

[klickitat jim]

Ya great price, great product. Aseptic and ready for brewing. I'll use about 10-15 pounds in each brew and the wife will make preserves with the rest.
The stuff I want is cheap, but not ALL of their fruit purees are...

[erockrph]

Hmm. I might have to brew a dubbel with Italian plums this fall...

[klickitat jim]

I cracked open the cherry flanders. Took a small taster sample. Nowhere near done of course, but it already has a nice brett farmhouse thing going on. Sour has a ways to go. Its got plenty of cherry character. No acetic.  I promise I'll leave it alone now.

[ynotbrusum]

I have a tart cherry wine base that I may add to mine soon.  Glad to hear of your success with this batch!

[HoosierBrew]

I have a tart cherry wine base that I may add to mine soon. 

Sounds great !  I'm planning something similar soon.

[klickitat jim]

It's on its way to be good for a first try. Unless the sour really comes on from behind, I think next time I will pitch lactic warm for the first week, then the roesalare. Or better yet, lactic then abbey then age on Brett.