Planning a big brewday, and trying to make two beers in one go... Thinking of brewing a 10 gal batch with dried cherries (possibly oak?), pitching yeast and pulling half off to sour with Roselare Blend. Grains are a little rough at the moment, but here's the basic idea: Dubbel/ Oud Bruin 10 Gal Batch OG: 1.069 IBU: 20 SRM: 17-18 ABV: 7.5% (ish) 90 Minute Boil Grains: 18# Pilsner Malt 4# Munich 2# Sucrose 1# Flaked wheat 1# Special B .5# Honey Malt .5# Caramel Wheat .25# Black Patent 3oz Saaz @60 1oz Saaz @ 20 Yeast: RVA 204 (Rochefort) 90 Min boil.. Primary Fermentaiton for 3 days Fermenting around 68ยบ. After 3 days split batch, add 1# dried cherries to each fermentation, and pitch Roselare into 1/2 to age up to a year. Silly?
I would honestly leave them to ferment to terminal together, then split half onto cherries and the other half onto the Roselare. Pulling them 3 days in might cause some fermentation issues on the straight batch, and the cherry contribution in the Bruin will fade over the 6-16 months that it sours. You can always add the cherries to the Bruin after it sours. EDIT: Also, the honey malt, caramel wheat, and black patent feel out of place. The honey and carawheat might be okay and add some depth to the malt, but I would be concerned that the sometimes smoky/ashy black patent character might clash with the clove/pepper/spice phenols of the yeast.
I actually didn't have the black patent in, but threw it in in place of chocolate after looking at Jamil's recipe. He has a similar amount in his Oud Bruin Recipe. I was debating just letting them ferment out before splitting, but was slightly concerned about the higher abv for the roselare. Although looking at the spec sheets it says it can handle up to 11% so I guess that's not really a concern. I agree that the honey and caramel seem out of place but I was trying to add a little depth to it.
Special B seems light, personally for 10 gals I'd use 3'ish pounds. Consider Munich II or Melanoidin Malt for depth. Agree about the ferm profile, would be uneasy splitting at 3 days. While your typical Belgian brewer would probably bitter with Saaz, I find it makes more sense to use something economical like Magnum (or hop extract) . . . save the good stuff for late.
I'd disagree with this, but it is a personal thing. I think it boils down to one's love of special B. For me, I want those extra dark crystal malts in more of an accent role. I never exceed 0.5 lbs per gallon and am more often down in 0.25 lbs per gallon range. Since the dark candi syrups became available, I rely on those more than special b, in dubbels. But for something getting some long term age with Rosaleare blend, I might use special B with the thought that some dextrins from the crystal malt might survey the sacch strains and give the bugs a little something.
Not sure I'm following your math here . . . for a ten gal batch you're using 2.5 lbs? In the past I used Special B at the 2-3% level and never really noticed its presence. My last Dubbel I bumped it to 6% and was still disappointed. As a simple-minded brewer my thoughts are to boost some more. Have never used candi syrup . . . are you getting caramel/malt/fruit flavors from it?
The specialty malts seem a bit high for a dubbel. I typically only use pils and candi sugar, with less than half a pound of specialty malts in mine. Roselare is notorious for not souring on a first generation pitch, and with the ibu the way you have it currently I think it's safe to assume the beer will not sour at all. You'l want to keep ibu under 5 if you want any sourness at all. And that will likely cause your dubbel portion to be a sweet mess.
I have not heard that about roselare, the only other time I have used it was in a brew with 22IBU, and it is plenty sour.. Interesting.
I haven't had any issues with 17-25 IBUs souring if given the time. I personally have never used Roselare (or any lab produced blend other than ECY Bug County). I add dregs from great commercial sours and prior batches of my own, and they always turn out great. No reason this beer shouldn't fair well. I would add the Roselare if you already have it, and add dregs as you age it as well for added complexity.
