Rood BugCounty 2016

Today I'm brewing another version of my red sour ale based on The Rare Barrel's red base recipe. The first version was fermented with The Yeast Bay's Melange. The second was fermented with East Coast Yeast's ECY01 BugFarm. The first two batches are still aging in my basement. This, the third version, will be fermented with another highly sought-after East Coast Yeast blend, ECY20 BugCounty. ECY's site describes this blend as follows:

ECY20 BugCounty : SEASONAL (OCT-DEC). With over 20 different isolates combined for fermentation to overwhelm the senses, this blend is the mother-bugger for wild ales. Like the BugFarm, Brettanomyces dominants the overall population, however, other wild yeast seen in spontaneous fermentations are also included (such as Pichia  and Kloeckera ).  Several strains of Saccharomyces, Lactobacillus and Pediococcus round out this large and complex culture. 

To say the least, this is a pretty diverse blend. I think this blend contains the largest variety of strains of any I've used so far. The recipe as I'm brewing today is as follows:

6.0# 13 oz Avangard German Pilsner Malt
1.0# 3 oz Weyermann Pale Wheat Malt
7 oz Crisp Light Crystal Malt 60L
7 oz Flaked Oats (lauter)
7 oz Special Aromatic Malt
7 oz Spelt Malt
1.5-ish oz Carafa III (lauter, for color adjustment)
14.0g Aged Debittered Hops (60 min)
0.5 Whirlfloc
Wyeast Yeast Nutrient
ECY20 BugCounty

Mash at 160F for 60 mins, 90 min boil, ferment at room temp. Because of the lactobacillus in the blend, no aeration.

Brewing Notes
No issues with this brew. The gravity came in at 13.8 (1.055), just a bit higher than the previous two (13.7/1.054 and 13.3/1.053 respectively).

Update 3/12/2017
Pulled a sample today. I would describe it as having a mild Belgian saison character. Sourness is still very subdued.

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