23B Flanders Red Ale
Flanders Red – Barrel Project 2024
ABV7.8% OG1.067 FG1.008Grain bill
| Gladfield Vienna Malt | 2.25 kg | 30.1% |
| Gladfield Munich Malt | 2 kg | 26.8% |
| Gladfield Pilsner Malt | 1.5 kg | 20.1% |
| Unmalted Wheat | 0.8 kg | 10.7% |
| Gladfield Aurora Malt | 0.36 kg | 4.8% |
| Gladfield Redback Malt | 0.36 kg | 4.8% |
| Special B | 0.2 kg | 2.7% |
Hop schedule
| Hop | 90 min |
|---|---|
| Pacific Gem | 11g |
Yeast
| Wild Culture - Baby Grand | Barrel inoculation (250L shared oak barrel) |
Water additions
| Calcium Chloride | 1.5 g |
Tasting notes
2025-12-21
About This Beer
First entry into the Valley Brewers barrel project. Brewed 30 November 2024, into the barrel on 1 December, retrieved twelve months later on barrel day, 21 December 2025.
Ten brewers each contribute 23 L of wort into a shared 250 L oak barrel on a yearly cycle. On barrel day everyone retrieves their portion of the previous year’s finished beer and replenishes with fresh wort.
The barrel runs on the Baby Grand wild culture, captured on Kapiti Island by North End Brewery and named for their commercial Baby Grand Sour Red Ale. It is maintained collectively between Valley Brewers in Lower Hutt and North End in Waikanae, passed between the barrel and the club year to year.
The wort
Built for long conditioning with a mixed culture. Vienna and Munich for depth and colour, Pilsner as the clean backbone, unmalted wheat for protein structure and body, Aurora and Redback for fruit and toffee, and a small Special B addition for deep dark fruit. Hopping minimal, a single early charge, enough bittering to discourage spoilage while leaving the barrel culture a hospitable environment.
Brew day
First time step mashing: protein rest at 54°C for 30 minutes, ramped to 69.5°C for a 60-minute saccharification, then to 80°C for a 10-minute mash out. Post-boil wort straight into a sanitised cube for transport, and into the shared barrel on barrel day.
The result
Retrieved 21 December 2025 after twelve months. Deep red, funky, malty, with a smooth sourness.
Tasted side by side against North End’s own Baby Grand Sour Red Ale, and the comparison was very close, with only slight differences that were hard to articulate. Judged better than the 2023 fill on a direct comparison at the same event.
FG and ABV are estimated rather than measured.