Return Of The Oud Bruin

So two weeks ago I partnered in a belgian brown brew that we'll enter to be had in the local Brewing Guild's booth at the Summertime Brews Festival. It was my style to push, and neither Atwell was as familiar with the style or recipe. It came from wanting to make something like the Allagash brews or Unibroue Chambly Noire (which turns out to be a belgian style black ale), but ended up being a Flemish Brown - Oud Bruin - style. Not terribly unlike Flemish Red/Sour, it's a bold and complex beer that will also have oak aging and liquor adjunct (the first one has port-soaked oak, the second will use brandy). We ended up modifying the recipe provided from Sam Calagione's book Extreme Brewing

The second one comes inspired by the want for us to have a version of it that won't be given away, and the ability to reuse some components.

It's a 6% ABV belgian brown ale:
6 lb pale DME
1.5 lb 2L carappils
4 oz black patent
1 lb dark brown sugar
4 oz molasses

First iteration used Goldings hops at 60 (oz) and 20 (1/2 oz), and Saaz at 10 (1/2 oz), the second will use fuggle 1st/2nd and Saaz at the end. First beer used 1lb dark candi sugar, 2nd will sub table sugar.

Both beers will have used White Labs Belgian Golden; the first got a 5th day pitch of lactobaccillus, the second beer will use the lacto/belgian golden slurry from the first one pitched at day 5.


Along the way in brewing the first one, got to try Kasteel Rouge (oud bruin aged with sour cherry and brandy) and brought a Liefmans Goudenband (the staple of the style), which helped inspire where we were going with the beer.


For my personal version of this beer, I would like to take out the dark adjuncts, leave the black patent or replace with 3 oz Pale Chocolate malt, switch in a pound of table sugar, and possibly add in 4 oz Belgian Aromatic malt. I really don't like the molasses in there, personally.


So with a third of the share of this, and the APA going strong still (still bubbling at ~8 seconds after a week), I'll have plenty of homebrew left around. Next after this will be a wit I've been working on the recipe to brew with, though it'll probably be a half-batch;