I brewed my first flanders red about two weeks ago with an OG of 1.056 (extract/grain combo). I pitched a smack pack of Wyeast 3763 Roeselare blend into 70F aerated wort and snapped the bucket closed. I fermented at 70F and primary was vigorous right off the bat. This lasted about 4 days. After about 8 or 9 days of little to no airlock activity, I took a gravity reading of 1.020. This seems a little high still and a ways off from the estimated 80% attenuation for this yeast blend. This is my first go with Wyeast 3763 and I was wondering if this is common for this blend and if the brett and other bugs will continue to chip away at the remaining gravity to eventually finish at my target of around 1.010? Or should I try rousing the yeast? Or maybe repitch the 3763 or more ale yeast?
You need to give Brett and other bugs time, perhaps a few months. 1.020 is pretty high after the yeast is more or less done, but I suppose that the yeast in Roesalare was selected to be relatively non-attenuative to give the bugs more to munch on.
Roeselare needs time. The brett and pedio in the blend move slowly and you should expect this beer not to be finished until six months at the minimum but more likely in the 12-18 month range. It will likely hit full attenuation at 6-9 months but flavor development will reach optimal levels down the road.
Leave it alone and let it do its thing.
This. I would let your beer sit in primary on this yeast cake for 1 mos, then rack it to secondary for long term aging. I wouldn’t even touch it for a sample/gravity reading until you are about 8-10 mos in. This strain is relatively tame and takes a good 12+ mos to reach its fully acidity levels. Be patient and you will be rewarded.
On a side note, if you desire another sour beer that will acidify a bit faster, then repitch some of this slurry harvested from your first batch upon racking and add it to your next batch of cooled wort. I have observed that successive generations of this blend produce a bit faster results as the microbes become a bit out of balance.
Thanks for the great advice! I really appreciate it!
If I were to use some of the slurry for another batch of sour, how much would I use? also, would that be something I would need do the same day that I racked to secondary? In other words, can I keep the slurry around for awhile until I have some wort ready to use it with?
You could easily store some slurry in a small sanitized mason jar for a couple weeks, but I wouldn’t go any longer than that personally before pitching it directly into another batch. If you do go longer, you may want to consider pitching some neutral ale yeast with it to help get the fermentation underway.
Hydrometer or refractometer?
Good point. The yeast should have taken it down to normal FG ranges, but the bacteria and Brett need time.
Well, yes, and no. It depends on recipe and mash temps. My last Flanders I did last summer only got down to 1.015 after 1 month in primary. Have yet to take a taste of mine too. Maybe this weekend I will sneak a wine theif sample and add an oz of french oak I have aging on Merlot wine.
I’m kinda wondering the same as the OP, except mine has been in for 11 months or so already. It is around 1.018 last I checked and has only dropped a few points in the last several months.
Forget the gravity reading. How does it taste?
I wanted to follow up on this thread because I think its helpful if questions like mine are updated. I bottled my flanders on 5/6/17, roughly one year old. The FG was 1.010. The beer has a nice brett character, earthy and musty, but lacking the acidity I was hoping for. I dumped the whole yeast cake onto a second batch of flanders on bottling day, along with some bottle dregs. Hoping for some more sourness this time. cheers and thanks for the advice!
Good to hear! Your second generation repitch will sour the beer much faster.