Barrel Aged Americanized Oud Bruin Recipe

Having passed a couple clean beers through my two gallon wheat whiskey barrel (imperial stout and adambier) it's time to turn the barrel over to sour beer. For the whiskey barrel I wanted to do something different from my other sour projects that could stand alone as an interesting beer distinct from the other beers shaping up in my sour beer blending project or my lambic-inspired spontaneous beers. I settled on an American rendition of oud bruin, which is among my favorite sour beer styles and the only one I haven't brewed yet. My sour blending project includes an oud bruin recipe heavily adapted from the Goudenband-like recipe in Wild Brews but I wanted something in the vein of Americanized oud bruins which tend to be darker and favor a combination of roasted and caramel malts instead of letting crystal malt do all the heavy lifting. The small amounts of roasted malt brings out a different set of flavors that plays really well within the darker sour style.

Americanized Oud Bruin Recipe Design

Having settled on a style it was time to formulate the recipe. I knew my target was a beer that leaned more into the roasted malt flavors than the crystal malt. I wanted to capture the dark cherry, raisin, dark chocolate and cola flavors found in some of these beers like two of my favorites, Oud Bruin from Funkwerks and River North Oud Bruin. The color should be like the oozing center of a molten lava cake.

Working with roasted malt in sour beer is tricky. Too little and it's just a color adjustment. A small amount with a fair amount of crystal malt gets closer to the burgundy-type sour beers, like those brewed by Crooked Stave. Too much and the beer becomes ashy and in my experience lends itself to that terrible tire fire flavor. 

I sketched out an initial grain bill and then set out to check my work against more established recipes. I looked at the recipe for this style in American Sour Beer and the Rare Barrel recipe floating around online. I also checked what I know about La Folie (which is pretty much within this style) and the two mentioned above. I realized my initial recipe was pretty close to the Rare Barrel recipe (maybe I already had it floating around in my head) minus its use of spelt malt. I felt like I was on the right track and made a few minor adjustments. The rest of the recipe is pretty much in line with other beers in this style. IBUs around 25 and fermented out with my Oregon Special mixed sour culture.

My plan is to brew this beer every year in the barrel for as long as the barrel continues to produce good beer. If the time comes where the barrel gets acetic and I can't restore it then I'll probably take off a head and convert it into a small mash tun. 

Barrel Aged American Oud Bruin Recipe

Details
Batch Size: 2.25 gallon
Est. ABV: 7.3%
Est. IBU: 24
Est. OG: 1.071
Est. FG: 1.015
Est. SRM: 25
Expected Efficiency: 72%
Grain Bill	Pounds		Ounces		SRM		Pct. Grist
Pilsner malt	4		0		2		66.80%
White wheat malt	1		0		2		16.70%
Vienna malt			6		3.5		6.00%
Crystal 80			4		80		4.20%
Chocolate malt			2.6		350		2.70%
Aromatic malt			2		26		2.20%
Black patent malt			1.4		500		1.50%
Water Profile	ppm
Bru'n Water Brown Malty Profile
PH: 5.5
Calcium	60
Magnesium	5
Sodium	16
Sulfate	50
Chloride	60
Bicarbonate	85
Water Additions					Mash		Sparge
Gypsum					0.4g		0.3g
Epsom Salt					0.4g	0	0.3g
Canning Salt
Baking Soda					0.4g
Calcium Chloride					0.9g		0.7g
Chalk					0.3g
Pickling Lime
Lactic Acid
Mash Schedule	Step Temp.				Step Time
Single infusion mash
Mash volume: 7.8 qt
Sparge volume: 1.5 gal
Infuse 7.8 quarts at 167F	150F				75
Sparge 1.5 gal at 190F
Boil Schedule	Volume		Unit		Time		IBU
60 minute boil
Belma [12%]	0.25		oz		60		24
Fermentation Schedule	# Days		Temp.
Yeast: Oregon Special
Pitch 300ml slurry
Pitch at 70F	?		Ambient
Bottle to 4 vol CO2 with 2 oz table sugar

Brewday and Fermentation Notes

Brewed on 3.26.17

First runnings: 1.070
Preboil volume: 2.9 gal
Preboil gravity: 1.053
Mash efficiency: 70%

Postboil volume: 2.25 gal
Postboil gravity: 1.069
Brewhouse efficiency: 70%


Racked to barrel on 4.2.17

Racked onto 1/2 pound Turkish figs in glass on 10.8.17. Out of the approximately two gallons that went into the barrel I recovered approximately 1.75 gallons. Beer is a touch acetic. I probably left the beer in the barrel a little too long given the size of the barrel. Probably need to target racking in new beer every four months and replenish the angel's share after a couple months with some fresh wort. Intend to bottle this batch in one or two weeks depending upon how quickly I see fermentation activity from the figs.

Bottled 10.17.17 with 2.6 oz priming sugar, targeting 4 volumes of CO2.