I am about to start a Solera project with my 53 gallon Stranahan’s barrel. The barrel has served me well aging two batches of dark high gravity beers over the past 6 years, most recently a 13% Russian Imperial Stout. The barrel’s value in imparting whiskey character, however, is about exhausted, and it’s now destined for a new life as the vessel for a mixed culture saison Solera project.
To extend the life of the project and minimize autolysis, I won’t be fermenting (primary, anyway) in the barrel. I have 40 gallons of saison already waiting in kegs, and the last 20 gallons of wort just went into primary this past weekend. I'm toying with the idea of filling the barrel before the last 20 gallons fully attenuate, however, to kickstart the bugs.
The recipe is about 75% Pils, 10% wheat, 5% Victory, and 10% flaked oats. The yeast is a blend of Imperial Napoleon and White Labs Saison II, so the base saison finishes quite dry.
The barrel is pretty neutral at this point, and I’d like to use it to produce a bright, tart, citrusy saison with a bit of funk in the background. As I tried to think of a beer that represents this idea well, Jester King’s Provenance series came to mind.
I’m looking for feedback particularly on which bugs to use for initial inoculation in order to produce this result. I’ve done a few mixed culture and 100% brett beers in stainless, and probably due to oxygen exposure, a couple of those have developed highly acetic character. I enjoy that in some blends, but wish to avoid that profile in this project.
Although I’ve aged other projects in this barrel, they’ve been clean beers, so this is my first Solera project and my first mixed culture sour in wood. I’m all about learning from the success and failure of others, so any other advice and input is also welcomed!
To extend the life of the project and minimize autolysis, I won’t be fermenting (primary, anyway) in the barrel. I have 40 gallons of saison already waiting in kegs, and the last 20 gallons of wort just went into primary this past weekend. I'm toying with the idea of filling the barrel before the last 20 gallons fully attenuate, however, to kickstart the bugs.
The recipe is about 75% Pils, 10% wheat, 5% Victory, and 10% flaked oats. The yeast is a blend of Imperial Napoleon and White Labs Saison II, so the base saison finishes quite dry.
The barrel is pretty neutral at this point, and I’d like to use it to produce a bright, tart, citrusy saison with a bit of funk in the background. As I tried to think of a beer that represents this idea well, Jester King’s Provenance series came to mind.
I’m looking for feedback particularly on which bugs to use for initial inoculation in order to produce this result. I’ve done a few mixed culture and 100% brett beers in stainless, and probably due to oxygen exposure, a couple of those have developed highly acetic character. I enjoy that in some blends, but wish to avoid that profile in this project.
Although I’ve aged other projects in this barrel, they’ve been clean beers, so this is my first Solera project and my first mixed culture sour in wood. I’m all about learning from the success and failure of others, so any other advice and input is also welcomed!