Looking for the original Bar Towel blog? You can find it at www.thebartowel.com.

We have a trivia question in order to register to prevent bots. If you have any issues with answering, contact us at cass@bartowel.com for help.

Introducing Light Mode! If you would like a Bar Towel social experience that isn't the traditional blue, you can now select Light Mode. Go to the User Control Panel and then Board Preferences, and select "Day Drinking" (Light Mode) from the My Board Style drop-down menu. You can always switch back to "Night Drinking" (Dark Mode). Enjoy!

What're you brewing right now?

Post your own tasty recipes or homebrewing advice here.

Moderators: Craig, Cass

User avatar
markaberrant
Seasoned Drinker
Posts: 1664
Joined: Fri Nov 16, 2007 4:28 pm
Location: Regina, SK

Post by markaberrant »

We did a big East Coast Yeast order last spring. I have a batch of Flanders Red aging with the ECY02, can't recall offhand what if any other ale yeast I might have added.

Had a couple guys over to do some barrel blending last night, and they loved the carbed up sample of watered down tripel/quad with the Crooked Stave yeast.

But they really went bonkers for my DIPA that was aged on Brett Brux for 3 months, then dry hopped with .5oz each of Simcoe and Citra.

Regarding sour stout, back in 2010, I soured 5 gallons of Sierra Nevada Golden Ticket Baltic Porter with my usual Flanders Red culture. Delicious stuff, and really blew some people's minds.

atomeyes
Beer Superstar
Posts: 2153
Joined: Fri Oct 14, 2011 1:39 pm

Post by atomeyes »

markaberrant wrote:
Had a couple guys over to do some barrel blending last night, and they loved the carbed up sample of watered down tripel/quad with the Crooked Stave yeast.

But they really went bonkers for my DIPA that was aged on Brett Brux for 3 months, then dry hopped with .5oz each of Simcoe and Citra.
.
planning on doing a few more fun things with the CS yeast. i simply have too many sours on the go. bottling my brett brux blonde that i just racked onto sour cherries come August. bottling my saison with CS yeast some time in July. i have an all-brett stout that may or may not be a drainpour. its been going since December. debating what to do with my 1st attempt at a lambic (reaching its 1 year anniversary next week). so yeah, lots of carboys tied up.

but...i have the Cantillon Iris strain to play with. was debating about an all-brett IPA. just unsure if i want it to have any sweetness or which hops i'll use (traditional Belgian hops? new world hops?)

icemachine
Beer Superstar
Posts: 2637
Joined: Mon Mar 12, 2007 11:20 am
Location: Aurora, ON
Contact:

Post by icemachine »

Managed to cultivate a pretty healthy looking starter from the dregs of a bottle of SN Brux, now I need to figure out what to brew with it.
"Everything ... is happening" - Bob Cole

User avatar
markaberrant
Seasoned Drinker
Posts: 1664
Joined: Fri Nov 16, 2007 4:28 pm
Location: Regina, SK

Post by markaberrant »

icemachine wrote:Managed to cultivate a pretty healthy looking starter from the dregs of a bottle of SN Brux, now I need to figure out what to brew with it.
Hopefully something better than they did with that yeast. I thought it was an extremely boring beer.

I love Brux as a secondary yeast with some sort of slightly hoppy/bitter ale, I would suggest going that route.

icemachine
Beer Superstar
Posts: 2637
Joined: Mon Mar 12, 2007 11:20 am
Location: Aurora, ON
Contact:

Post by icemachine »

Thanks Mark, I appreciate the advice. Was thinking of doing a Strong Belgian Pale and then using the brux for secondary

I enjoyed the bottle of Brux I had, it was about 10 months old when we drank it, IIRC. It did seem a bit thin, but that is to be expected. The beer was probably over hyped, but ignoring that it was a rather tasty treat.
"Everything ... is happening" - Bob Cole

atomeyes
Beer Superstar
Posts: 2153
Joined: Fri Oct 14, 2011 1:39 pm

Post by atomeyes »

icemachine wrote:Managed to cultivate a pretty healthy looking starter from the dregs of a bottle of SN Brux, now I need to figure out what to brew with it.
world's yer oyster.
finish a stout with it to get a peppery/barny edge.
use it as a primary for an IPA.
try a high ABV blonde with it.
finish a saison.
just go easy on the bittering hops.

as an aside, there's no harm in harvesting the dregs from that. but, in theory, it should just be what you get from the commercial strains of brett brux

User avatar
J343MY
Posts: 321
Joined: Mon May 02, 2011 12:40 pm

Post by J343MY »

atomeyes wrote:
6 months ago, i managed to get my paws on some East Coast Yeast Flemish Ale. made a Flemish red with it with, i believe, your recipe you sent to me (with a few tweaks) and the sour stout.

sour stout had some wood chips soaked in Wild Turkey 81 added to it. tasted it a month ago and it was absolutely incredible. like, you'd go nuts if you could buy this commercially. and i give all the credit to the bug mix. it is spectacular.

i took the yeast cake from secondary, added a starter of WLP's abbey yeast to get the high attenuation and let it ride.
fermentation was nuts after 1 day in my basement.
if you want to risk it, i'll send you some of the primary yeast cake. but the amount of sacc versus bugs means that you'd have to build a starter and be patient for it to balance out.
if you want it, let me know.
I'd love to get some of that slurry if you wouldn't mind. I would of course give you homebrew in return.

icemachine
Beer Superstar
Posts: 2637
Joined: Mon Mar 12, 2007 11:20 am
Location: Aurora, ON
Contact:

Post by icemachine »

So going to give a try at an Orval inspired beer tomorrow, will add my Brux culture to secondary after FG hits 1.017 on the Ardennes yeast


OG: 1.065
FG: 1.013
ABV: 6.3%
Bitterness: 30.3 IBUs (Tinseth)
Color: 10 SRM (Morey)

Fermentables
Weyermann - Pilsner Malt Grain 3.000 kg
Weyermann - Bohemian Pilsner Malt Grain 3.000 kg
Weyermann - Abbey Malt Grain 1.000 kg
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L Grain 100.000 g
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 120L Grain 100.000 g

Hops
Simcoe 13.0% 28.000 g 40 min
Styrian Goldings 4.5% 14.000 g 10 min
Styrian Goldings 4.5% 14.000 g Flame out
Styrian Goldings 4.5% 28.000 g Dry hop

Yeast
Wyeast - Belgian Ardennes Ale
Wyeast - Brettanomyces bruxellensis
"Everything ... is happening" - Bob Cole

User avatar
grub
Seasoned Drinker
Posts: 1403
Joined: Fri Sep 15, 2006 3:16 pm
Location: Biergötter Homebrew Club, Brantford
Contact:

Post by grub »

icemachine wrote:So going to give a try at an Orval inspired beer tomorrow, will add my Brux culture to secondary after FG hits 1.017 on the Ardennes yeast
looks tasty!

tomorrow we officially fire up all the new toys. new brew stand (single tier 2x 110k btu + 1x 230k btu natural gas), pump, big ass 60 plate chiller, hopback, 120qt tun, tri-clamps all around. brewing a slightly bigger version of our old ale and a nice hoppy xpa, 10gal each. should be fun! And i'm officially planning this as the day that gets me off my ass and starts the blog rolling again. woot!
@grubextrapolate // @biergotter // http://biergotter.org/

User avatar
markaberrant
Seasoned Drinker
Posts: 1664
Joined: Fri Nov 16, 2007 4:28 pm
Location: Regina, SK

Post by markaberrant »

grub wrote: tomorrow we officially fire up all the new toys. new brew stand (single tier 2x 110k btu + 1x 230k btu natural gas), pump, big ass 60 plate chiller, hopback, 120qt tun, tri-clamps all around. brewing a slightly bigger version of our old ale and a nice hoppy xpa, 10gal each. should be fun! And i'm officially planning this as the day that gets me off my ass and starts the blog rolling again. woot!
Sounds awesome Grub!

I just got myself a Blichmann Burner. Very, very nice piece of equipment, absolutely love it.

User avatar
grub
Seasoned Drinker
Posts: 1403
Joined: Fri Sep 15, 2006 3:16 pm
Location: Biergötter Homebrew Club, Brantford
Contact:

Post by grub »

markaberrant wrote:
grub wrote: tomorrow we officially fire up all the new toys. new brew stand (single tier 2x 110k btu + 1x 230k btu natural gas), pump, big ass 60 plate chiller, hopback, 120qt tun, tri-clamps all around. brewing a slightly bigger version of our old ale and a nice hoppy xpa, 10gal each. should be fun! And i'm officially planning this as the day that gets me off my ass and starts the blog rolling again. woot!
Sounds awesome Grub!

I just got myself a Blichmann Burner. Very, very nice piece of equipment, absolutely love it.
i considered those, but ended up going with jet style burners from bayouclassicdepot.com. can't beat the price, and i was able to unscrew and plug some of the jets to dial down the burners I'll use for mash+boil. the blichmann gear is damn sexy though. I had the stand made large enough that it'll accommodate their biggest pots and/or the biggest ones psychobrew sells - basically allowing for growth up to 2bbl on this gear.
@grubextrapolate // @biergotter // http://biergotter.org/

User avatar
J343MY
Posts: 321
Joined: Mon May 02, 2011 12:40 pm

Post by J343MY »

Brewed this today:

61.9% 2-row
15% Acid malt
7.7% white wheat
7.7% red wheat
7.7% unmalted wheat

1 oz citra at flameout

Belgian Ardennes yeast primary
Brett brux trois secondary

will be aged on home grown peaches and a tiny bit of American oak.

User avatar
J343MY
Posts: 321
Joined: Mon May 02, 2011 12:40 pm

Post by J343MY »

I had a small sample of the durian saison today as i was bottling it. I'll reserve final judgment until it is carbonated and ready to drink, but tentatively I'm going to file brewing durian beers under things that are not good ideas.

atomeyes
Beer Superstar
Posts: 2153
Joined: Fri Oct 14, 2011 1:39 pm

Post by atomeyes »

J343MY wrote:I had a small sample of the durian saison today as i was bottling it. I'll reserve final judgment until it is carbonated and ready to drink, but tentatively I'm going to file brewing durian beers under things that are not good ideas.
at least you tried.
now you have what i call "guest beer". you know, beer that you can give to guests so they don't plunder your good stuff.



i received 6 lbs of sour cherries. washed and froze them. debating what to brew with it and whether to go light or dark. definitely going to go sour. any thoughts, anyone?

User avatar
markaberrant
Seasoned Drinker
Posts: 1664
Joined: Fri Nov 16, 2007 4:28 pm
Location: Regina, SK

Post by markaberrant »

I added sour cherries to a portion of my Flanders Red blend in 2011. Definitely stands out as one of the best beers I have ever made.

I also make sour cherry mead. Very good stuff.

I use 2lbs/gallon.

I got 27L of 1.070 mead going yesterday. Once it ferments out in 2 weeks, it is going in a freshly dumped whiskey barrel.

Brewing a lambic on Tuesday night. It is getting tossed in a whiskey barrel that has no character left.

Post Reply