Recipe critique...My Belgian Thing

[brewinhard]

Looks FANTASTIC! Let us know how brewday goes....

[brewinhard]

Looks FANTASTIC! Let us know how brewday goes....

[jm]

Did a two-step mash with a 15 minute rest at 122ºF then on up to 154º. Epic amount of break material. Ended up bumping the gravity to 1078 just to make sure there'd be plenty of residual sugars post-primary. The color is very close and I think after the addition of currants will be even closer. Brew day was mostly uneventful besides the leak in the water out side of the Therminator (but the barn floor is as clean as its ever been). First round of Brett. B. should be here just as primary is nearing completion. Need to find a nice Northern California Cabernet now.

[brewinhard]

Where did you get the currants from (red or black)?

[jm]

Where did you get the currants from (red or black)?

Whole Foods; black.

[jm]

Currants, Brett. B. and Bugfarm V went in today. All the currants have pretty much fallen straight to the bottom and formed a big lump. Any ideas on how to get them roused without introducing excess oxygen (or would any O2 introduced just end up scrubbed by the bugs/critters)? Or should I just let them be?

[brewinhard]

Just let them be. The wild ones will go to town on the currants very shortly. Did you mash them up a bit or freeze them first to help break the cell walls for the bacteria/yeast to feast more easily? I typically do both to ensure a good second fermentation from the fruit. If you did not, then no worries, but the fermentation might just take a bit longer to begin and complete. I bet by the time you read this you will have already seen some activity. Yes?

[jm]

Just let them be. The wild ones will go to town on the currants very shortly. Did you mash them up a bit or freeze them first to help break the cell walls for the bacteria/yeast to feast more easily? I typically do both to ensure a good second fermentation from the fruit.

Had'em in the freezer for a few days; hopefully that was enough. Next time I use fruit I'll add mashing to the prep. as well.

If you did not, then no worries, but the fermentation might just take a bit longer to begin and complete. I bet by the time you read this you will have already seen some activity. Yes?

There is a bunch of airlock activity and a good bit of foam up top. I guess that's just CO2 escaping solution due to all those currants and oak cubes acting as nucleation sites. It's gonna be a fun beer to watch/taste develop over the next year or so. After primary it had a nice dark fruit aroma and flavor, burnt plums or something like that. I think the base recipe sans-brett/bugs/fruit/oak with a proper pitch of yeast for primary would make a pretty decent BDS. May have to give that a go in the meantime.