American Wild Barrel-Aged Brown

Today I'm brewing the first in my barrel-aged sours using my recently acquired whiskey barrel. The RIS that's currently in the barrel is progressing nicely, so I wanted to get going on this one so that it's ready when we bottle the RIS.

This beer is based on The Rare Barrel Bruin base recipe. This will primary with the INISBC-913 Brett Barrel III then I'll secondary in the barrel with my Roeselare-based sour blend. Here's the recipe as I brewed it today. This is for a 10 gallon batch:

15.75# Weyermann Pilsner
2.0# 11oz Rahr White Wheat Malt
13 oz Crisp Crystal 60
13 oz Briess Chocolate 350L
13 oz Flaked Oats
13 oz Special Aromatic
13 oz Spelt Malt
3 oz Carafa III
1 oz Aged Hops (60 mins)
INISBC-913 Brett Barrel III
Yeast Nutrient

Mash at 154F for 60 mins, 90 min boil, ferment at room temp.
Note: I decided to go with a 154F mash even though I'm doing a 100% brett primary. This is because the brett I'm using has a reputation for fermenting very dry, so I'm trying to ensure there's a fair amount of complex sugars in this beer.

Brewing Notes
No issues to speak of. OG came in at 1.063 (15.6). I was going to use Whirlfloc, but spaced it off. It shouldn't matter too much as this beer will age for a while.

Update 11/10/2015
This yeast is voracious. I woke up yesterday morning to very active fermentations. Both fermenters had a couple inches of krausen and very active airlocks. I considered hooking up blow-off hoses but there seemed to be plenty of headspace so I skipped it and went to work. About an hour later I got a text from my son that read , "It's exploding" and a picture showing krausen pushing up through one of the airlocks. I ran home for lunch and hooked up blow-off tubes, and it was just in the nick of time as one of the fermenters had started building up pressure. Crises averted, but I'll remember to use a blow-off from the beginning the next time I use this yeast.

Updated 12/6/2015
This beer went into the barrel today. I forgot to pick up a pack of Roeselare, so I'll have to pick one up and pitch it tomorrow.

Updated 12/6/2015
I pitched a very fresh Roeselare pack tonight, manufacture date of 11/22/2015.

Update 5/14/2016
I pulled a sample yesterday and this beer has soured much faster than I expected. IMO, it's about ready to go now. pH on this beer is down around 3.18, but it doesn't seem like it should be that low. I'm trying to decide if I'll turn this into a solera by racking off a portion, then refilling with a fresh beer.