Big Bad Barrel #4

>> Monday, August 07, 2017

I brewed a beer for our club barrel yesterday. This is intended to be a clone of Hill Farmstead's Mimosa. This is a 10 gallon recipe with a target OG of 1.077. I'll do the primary at home then it will go into the barrel for extended aging/souring.

16.0# 14oz Avangard Pilsner
7.0# 12oz Flaked Wheat (or equivalent raw wheat)
1.0# 4.8oz Vienna Malt
56g Aged hops (60 min)
Wyeast Nutrient
Brettanomyces Claussenii
TBD dry hop with Citra and Galaxy - before packaging
18g Fresh tangerine zest - before packaging

Mash at 160F, 90 minute boil, ferment at room temp

Water: Nothing fancy, carbon filtered tap water diluted with distilled at a ratio of 4.5:1.

Brewing Notes
Gravity came in a bit low at 1.070. No other issues

Update 8/8/2017
I got started on the yeast starter a little late, so I didn't pitch the yeast until about 24 hours after filling the fermenters (so last night). There seemed to be some acetic character in the starter which isn't unheard of when brett is exposed to lots of oxygen. I decanted as much starter liquid as possible then split the remainder between the two fermenters. Some people report longer lag times with brett, but I've also seen some of it take off like crazy (e.g. Inland Island Brett Barrel Yeast III). This morning I'm seeing positive pressure in the airlock so hopefully I'll see more active signs of fermentation by tonight.

Update 8/9/2017
Things didn't look much different last night when I got home from work; just positive pressure in the airlock. However, this morning there's a nice 3/8" if krausen in both fermenters.

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