[resto3]

I will be aging 15 gallons of Flanders Red in an Oak Barrel using the Wyeast Roselare Blend (don't recall the number). 

My question:  I plan on fermenting this beer with Wlp 001 and about 1/2 to 3/4 of the way I plan on transferring to the Oak Barrel and then pitching the Roselare Blend and age for a year.  I have 2 smack packs of this strain, is it enough for 15 gallons or should I make a starter?  Is two packs enough since I plan on leaving it in there for a year?  Will it eventually still do the job?

I have made this before using a 5 gallon barrel and I use one smack pack and after a year it worked out great.  I was hoping  two packs would be enough.

Another side question...

Say after a year I only bottle 10 gallons and leave 5 gallons in there, will I be able to brew 10 gallons of Flanders and top up the barrel and let age for a year without any ill effects?  I was wondering if the barrel needs to be emptied and cleaned out after a long aging period or can it perpetually be used year after year as I just described?

Thanks for everyone's replies!!

Cheers,

Richie

[jeffy]

I will be aging 15 gallons of Flanders Red in an Oak Barrel using the Wyeast Roselare Blend (don't recall the number). 

Another side question...

Say after a year I only bottle 10 gallons and leave 5 gallons in there, will I be able to brew 10 gallons of Flanders and top up the barrel and let age for a year without any ill effects?  I was wondering if the barrel needs to be emptied and cleaned out after a long aging period or can it perpetually be used year after year as I just described?

Thanks for everyone's replies!!

Cheers,

Richie

One thing to note is that the empty part of a barrel will tend to dry out over time and may leak when you add beer to it later.  It depends a lot on the barrel, the environment (humidity) and how long it is half empty.  Of course it will seal itself up fairly quickly when you add the beer, but you don't want to see good beer leaking out until it does.
 

[resto3]

Thanks Jeffy for your reply.  My intent was to fill the barrel right away after emptying 10 gal.  The barrel should still be wet as I top it up.  At least that my intention.

[hopfenundmalz]

As said by Jeffy, you want to keep it full.  Brew some more of that beer, and keep it in a glass carboy or keg, then use that to top up the barrel when the level goes down.

You can partialy empty, then add fresh beer.  This is called a "Solera" style beer, article linked below (Jeff Renner recently said that he had given author approval for online posting to Zymurgy and here it is).  My club has a Bourbon barrel barleywine that has been going for years.  You put 5 gallons in, then you can take 5 gallons out later, as long as there is another fresh 5 gallons to refill the barrel.  

Barrels can go sour, but the Roselare will infect your barrel, so you have no concerns with that.

 http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/attachments/0000/6021/JFzym02-Solera.pdf

[James Lorden]

be very careful of your oxygen up take - you will form acetobacter.  I like to do flanders in a 5 gallon carboys filled all the way to the top and get oak flavor from chips.  This is not traditional but it keeps most of the oxygen out.  If you look at the barrels used in flanders, they are huge - very little surface area for air intake... smaller barrels have more surface area.

I think lower pitching rate you note is fine... if anything it might take a little longer, but the extra stress on the bugs might be beneficial.  I think that adding the new beer to a small portion of the old beer is fine... like a sherry solera.

[markaberrant]

I just started year 4 of my Flanders Solera using Better Bottles.  Last year was the first year I pulled a sample, and ended up taking a silver in the 2nd round NHC.  It was ok, but not great in my opinion.

However, this fall's bottling was absolutely incredible.  I really need to do a side by side with Rodenbach Grand Cru, but when I shared my first bottle last month with some "sour freaks" (also BJCP judges) they all said it was likely the best Flanders Red they had ever tasted.  I usually don't get "giddy" when I bottle a batch, but I had a huge grin bottling this one up, I already knew it was going to be superb.

So yeah, I'm a big fan of solera brewing.

[resto3]

Very cook indeed!!  Sounds good!!  Solare Roselare Flanders Red Year 1 coming up!!

Cheers guys!!

Richie

[hopvine]

I have a Roselare question of my own.

I recently brewed a Flanders Red, and followed Jamil's recommendation of racking to a secondary vessel and fermenting for 6 months to a year with Roselare after the S.G. hit about 1.020.

My question is, how much do I need to worry about autolysis?  Because fermentation was still active when I racked to secondary, naturally I siphoned a lot of yeast that was still in suspension.  That yeast has since settled out, and will remain in contact with the beer for the next year.

How do you Flanders Red brewers usually address this?

[tankdeer]

^ no need to worry about it. The brett in the Roeselare blend will consume any byproducts released from the autolysing sacch.