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Author Topic: Pitching Roselare Blend Slurry  (Read 1681 times)

Offline ASLO

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Pitching Roselare Blend Slurry
« on: May 02, 2017, 11:49:54 am »
Hello,

I'm planning to use the slurry from a flanders red fermented with Wyeast Roselare Blend to make another flanders . I've never done this so I was hoping for some advice. I'm planning to rack the current beer (bulk aged for 10 months in a glass carboy) off the yeast cake, swirl the slurry and pour it into a sanitized mason jar. How much slurry should I use for a 5 gal batch of flanders wort ~OG 1.060? I like my sour beers pretty sour and funky. Thanks in advance!

Offline ynotbrusum

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Re: Pitching Roselare Blend Slurry
« Reply #1 on: May 02, 2017, 03:44:04 pm »
Well, this one was recently asked by another brewer.  I would question whether the yeast cake is the best route for 2 reasons:

1)   Wyeast says it is not a good idea, because the percentages of the yeasts and bugs changes from the original pitch.

2)  The age of the slurry is probably old enough to be suspect (either autolysis or Brett eating the sach and others present, just because it can).

That said, what the heck, if you think you have a "Mother Funk" working and want to send it on to a new generation, go ahead and send it.  I have an over 5 year old Solera in a 5 gallon bourbon barrel that has had probably 5 or more iterations of Flanders Red blended within it.  I use it to blend with a "new" Flanders (5 gallon batch) and an intermediate Flanders (varying amount available and held in glass), each time using proportions of each that result in a taste that I prefer, scaled up to become a 5 gallon serving batch.  The new Flanders is typically the bulk of the blend and each time I start the new Flanders with a new pitch (just 1 smack pack).  So give it a try if you want, it likely will be good beer regardless, but you may want to help out that sach yeast a bit by pitching some new Wyeast Roeselare.
Hodge Garage Brewing: "Brew with a glad heart!"

Offline jweiss206

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Re: Pitching Roselare Blend Slurry
« Reply #2 on: May 03, 2017, 01:37:01 am »
I'm the other brewer ynotbrusum mentioned. This is the thread I started a few weeks ago.

https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=29221.0

In a nutshell, I had a similar inquiry as you. I brewed a Flanders Red with Roeselare. After 14 month's I bottled it while simultaneously brewing an Oud Bruin. I racked that Bruin directly on the yeast cake within three hours after bottling. It took two weeks, but the yeast cake started furiously fermenting away. I'm perfectly willing to see what happens despite the fact that the balance of the Roeselare bugs will definitely be altered on the second use. I haven't pulled a sample yet, but what escapes the airlock indeed smells funky.

The Mr. Malty calculator ( http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html ) will aid in letting you determine the amount of slurry you would need for your second brew if that is indeed the way you wanted to go. I chose not to add that extra step and rather rack right onto the yeast cake. So far, so good. Best of luck whichever way you go.

Offline dbarber

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Re: Pitching Roselare Blend Slurry
« Reply #3 on: May 03, 2017, 08:07:33 am »
I have found the first generation Roeselare used in a Flander's red was not nearly as sour as I would like.  IIRC I pitched a sach strain and then added Roeselare in the secondary.  My second batch of flanders I dumped directly on the yeast cake from the first batch and the results were much more sour, not Rodenbach Grand Cru sour, but pleasantly sour.  That beer took a silver at the NHC in 2012.
Dave Barber
Orwigsburg, PA
AHA Member, BJCP National

Offline ASLO

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Re: Pitching Roselare Blend Slurry
« Reply #4 on: May 03, 2017, 12:05:32 pm »
Thanks for the advice.  I'll let you know how it turns out!