Tag Archives: Beer Mentor

Refocusing the Vision: Traveler, Judge, and Brewery

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Just as the idea of craft beer is evolving, so is my focus. I’ve kind of meandered through the years and generated different categories here and there. To make moving around the Beer Mentor blog easier, I am refocusing this blog around three core pillars:

The Traveler

Beer is a journey. This pillar captures the exploration of regional styles, brewery visits from the Okanagan to Belgium, and the stories behind the people who pour the pints. Expect deep dives into the culture and geography that define world-class beer.

The Judge

Technical excellence requires a disciplined eye—and palate. Through my work with the Ogopogo Brewers Challenge Society, I will share insights into the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) standards. We will explore sensory analysis, style accuracy, and how to turn a technical score sheet into a roadmap for better beer.

The Brewery

This is the heart of the operation: Cockatrice Brewery. Here, the theory meets the kettle. I will document the trials, the recipes, and the fermentation science behind my own brews, offering a transparent look at the successes and “learning opportunities” in the brewhouse.

These three pillars represent the full circle of the craft—discovery, evaluation, and creation.

I will be adjusting my categories — stay tuned for the next “Recipe Review” from one of my “Standard 20!”

Enjoy!

Beer Mentor

Cockatrice Brewery: Morgana’s Mystical Merkin

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Entry #2 in my Recipe Review Series. The Series is about each of my basic 20 recipes of my home brewery “Cockatrice Brewery.” I brewed this beer today! (March 11, 2026).

Recipe #2: Morgana’s Mystical Merkin

Base Beer Style: (20C) Imperial Stout
(BJCP) Style: 33B (Specialty Wood-aged Beer)

Description: The base beer style is an American Imperial Stout. Originally an English-style, it has been a “craft beer” favorite in the USA almost since the kick-off of the current craft revolution. The American style will typically have more finishing hops, bitterness, and roasted character. To make mine a “specialty wood-aged beer,” I made my own White Oak staves and “charred” them on my BBQ grill. I then soaked them in Maker’s Mark Bourbon for three days (~3 ounces). I put them in at the end of my dry hopping for 3 days (I add any leftover bourbon from the soak). The name is a combination of themes / references. I live in a neighborhood called “Magic Estates” on a street named “Merlin Court.” “Morganna,” in traditional mythology, is King Arthur’s sister. Firestone Walker made an Imperial Oatmeal Stout called the Velvet Merlin (with the Barrel-aged Version called the Velvet Merkin). I modeled this version (slightly) after theirs (no oatmeal in mine), I decided to follow along with their playful name. My version is very full-bodied (I use wheat malt), slightly higher in ABV (~9 to 10%), and drier with more chocolate/roast character.

My Brewfather recipe: Morganna’s

Basic ingredients were: 1) Simpson’s Golden Promise (Pale Ale) Malt and 2) Northern Brewer / East Kent Goldings Hops.

Today, I brewed the 8th edition of Morganna’s Mystical Merkin. It looks like it’s going to come in between 10.7% and 11% ABV. Wow! Before I even got brewing today, I made a massive starter two days ago to give my yeast a chance to tackle the giant gravity I expected in this beer.

This beer always pushes my Brewtools B40 to its limit. Today, I made a slight modification to the recipe and lowered the grain bill to a measly 17-lbs grain 🙂 With my system, I mashed for approximately 90-minutes at a temperature range of 147–150°F. My final numbers show it was worth the effort! I held off until about 15 minutes were left in the mash and then added my Black Malt. Once through with the sparge, I ended up with a pre-boil gravity of 1.077 on 6.45 gallons of wort—before any extract was even added.

To move this into the “Arthurian Mystical realm of Stouts” (11% Imperial Stout), I added a total of 4.5 lbs of DME (3 lbs traditional dark and 1.5 lbs of Bavarian wheat). This is one of my changes — I replaced 1.5 lbs of Wheat Malt with the 1.5 lbs of Bavarian wheat DME. These additions put the pre-boil gravity well over 1.100. During my 90-minute boil I added a ton of hops (over 7.5 ounces!!) to help balance that massive malt bill.

Even with that add, the IBUs are still around 81 … hopefully the bourbon staves will have room to shine.

I chilled the wort to 68°F and achieved a near-perfect Original Gravity of 1.1075. If my final gravity hits around 1.026, I’ll be pretty close to the 11% mark. I’m going to have to bottle this in small bottles. haha. I find the flavor already incredible—rich, chocolatey, and roasty.

What’s Next? My Stout is now fermenting vigorously on a healthy 410 billion cell pitch of Nottingham yeast. It will spend 10 days in primary before I move it onto the Maker’s Mark bourbon staves for a slow 5-day secondary to build that signature oak and whiskey complexity.

The first beer brewed under my new Brewery’s name! I call that a success! Biervergnügen, indeed!

Beer Mentor

The Fox in the Glaciers: A Mentor’s Visit to Cerveceria La Zorra

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Last month, my travels took me to the stunning landscapes of El Chalten and El Calafate, Argentina. Wow!

While the mountains and the glaciers are the main draw for most, for a brewer, there is always a different kind of “cool” to seek out. I found it at Cerveceria La Zorra – FABRICA.

The Human Connection: Meeting Diego

Diego and I at Cerveceria La Zorra brewery

One of the best parts of the global brewing community is the immediate connections we share. I had the pleasure of meeting the owner, Diego, who was kind enough to step away from the daily grind to show me around the “Fabrica” (The Factory).

There is a specific energy in a production facility like this—the smell of grain and sanitizer is a universal language. Seeing how Diego and his team manage a high-quality operation in such a remote, rugged part of Patagonia was truly inspiring. It’s a reminder that great beer isn’t just about the equipment; it’s about the persistence of the person at the mash tun.

The connection was amazing. Once Diego and I got going discussing yeast and brewing profiles time start slipping away! His knowledge and passion were in the forefront of our discussion … I love where he’s going with his brewery!

The Mentor’s Perspective: Technical Takeaways

From a BJCP judging perspective, I’m always looking for how a brewery handles its environmental challenges. In a place like El Calafate, temperature control and ingredient logistics are massive hurdles. As an example, take the requirement for CO2 … for me, a simple task to go to my local supplier here in Kelowna. For him, the nearest supplier is 308 kilometers away and the shipping costs are prohibitive! His solution was to install a Nitrogen generating facility and he carbonates all his beer with Nitrogen … a great solution.

He also has a similar problem with malt — It is prohibitive to try and ship trucks of malt to his production facility, so they have to rely on brute strength and get by with emptying lots of 25 kg bags. As I said the passion and the creativity are all on display here!

The Highlight: I was particularly struck by the balance in their core lineup. In many emerging markets, breweries lean too heavily into “extreme” hops or sugar to hide flaws. Not here. They have two tap rooms: one in El Chalten and one in El Calafate. Check out their beer lists here! Awesome locations and great atmosphere. You’ll see a great selection of styles and have the opportunity to sample before you buy!

  • The Evaluation: At the brewery, I sampled the American IPA — fresh out of the fermenter.
  • it was showing some hop aroma restraint, but it had a great Pacific Northwest Nose (citrus, pine) and a matching flavor of hops with just the right amount of malt in support. I’m not sure Diego was super happy with it, but I felt like it represented the style well. Of course, like most brewers, he is probably always looking to improve! They couldn’t get a better water profile—a benefit of the local glacial sources, which are naturally low in mineral hardness.

A Lesson for Cockatrice Brewery

Walking through La Zorra reminded me of why I maintain my Standard 20 recipes back home. Whether you are brewing in a world-class facility in Patagonia or a home setup in Kelowna, consistency is the ultimate goal. Diego’s focus on the “factory” side of the business—the process, the cleaning, the repetition—is exactly what I advocate for when mentoring new brewers.

I really appreciated Diego taking the time to show me around the facility. If you are in the area of Calafate, I recommend a visit to his great brewery!

🏭 Brewery Profile: Cerveceria La Zorra

FeatureDetails
LocationEl Calafate & El Chalten, Santa Cruz, Argentina
Water SourceLocal Glacial Melt (Low mineral hardness)
Carbonation MethodOn-site Nitrogen Generation (due to CO2​ logistics)
Production ScaleManual/Hand-fed (25 kg grain bags)
Core PhilosophyBalanced, approachable styles with a focus on process

💡 The Mentor’s Summary: Patagonia Grit

The Takeaway: Brewing in a remote environment like Patagonia strips away the “easy” button. When CO2​ is too expensive to ship, you generate Nitrogen. When you can’t get a grain silo, you haul bags.

For the Homebrewer: If you’re struggling with an equipment limitation in your garage, remember Diego. Consistency isn’t about the shiny toys; it’s about mastering the variables you can control—like your sanitation and your mash temp.

Beer Mentor

New Home Brewery Name Change!

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Well … I finally did it … after years of humming and hawing about it, I finally pulled the trigger and changed the name of my Home Brewery. The new name is Cockatrice Brewing! I’m pretty excited about it.

Why Cockatrice Brewing?

Cohesion with My Style: I brew structured, traditional European beer styles (like a Munich Dunkel and German/Czech Pilsners … or Lambics and Monastic Ales). These beers are perfectly suited to the classic, “Old World” authority of Cockatrice Brewing.

The Cockatrice also blends with my current work with Ogopogo: Specifically with the Ogopogo Challenge. Having my own brewery named after another mythical beast (the Cockatrice) creates a powerful, unified brand narrative.

It positions me as the curator of Legendary Beers. lol. Let’s hope!

2026 – Let’s Brew!

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I’m the kind of person who finds fulfillment in Task Accomplishment. It gives me great pleasure to not only write a task list, but then to do the task, check it off and ultimately line through it. No matter the job I need to do, I like to write it down and mark it off. Even the goal to write it down and mark it off gets marked off and lined through. 2025 was a pretty productive year, brewing-wise, for me. I hope that 2026 holds up as well. For the sake of a nice list, here is my planned brew schedule for the year …

January
1) No Name Yet (Style: Dry Cider) – This is a continuation of an experiment with about 100 pounds of apples. I’ll be uploading a final post giving the details on this one later.

2) Wald Braun (Style: Munich Dunkel) – For the last five Januaries I’ve focused on brewing either a Sahti or a Lager. Using the cooler temps to help my lager time. I’m going for a darker brown lager this time with more malt character coming through. I used the AI to help with my label this time …

February – No Brew this month … but the lager will be lagering and the Plum Lambic continuing its journey … both in the Fermentarium.

March

3) Morganna’s Mystical Merkin (Style: Imperial Stout) – This is my annual Bourbon-Oaked Imperial Stout (I try to use Maker’s Mark as my bourbon of choice … this year I’m going to use the Cask Strength one). This has 20+ lbs of grain malting in my 20 lb limit Brew System. It requires careful monitoring …but the final outcome is well worth it!

4) La Prugna (Style: Fruit Lambic-Style). This is the final product of my five year Gueuze / Lambic Experiment. Although I love the outcomes, it’s too much work or the payoff. The plums are from a local friend’s yard (Italian) … overall fermentation period of about 15 months … I’ll be bottling this one only … no brew required.

April
5) Keoni Blond (Style: Belgian-style Blond Ale). This is the sixth year for this particular beer. I began brewing it the day my first grandson was born, so it’s named after him. I really like this iteration — the WLP 550 Yeast is fantastic and has provided a great foundation for this particular beer. Looking forward to brewing it AND drinking it.

May
6) A Proper Polly Porter (English-style Porter). This is a beer I brewed on my second grandchild’s birthday. lol. It started as a Baltic Porter, but it was just too much. I dialed it back to an English-style Porter — very nice toasty flavor … I’m enjoying making these lower ABV, more malty styles currently. (I do have a balance, though, with the spicy, hoppy Belgian-styles I’ve been making).

June — This month’s beer (#7) is still to be decided. Celebrating my third grandchild’s birth, I tried a couple of different options last year. The first was a Kentucky Common — I didn’t find it to be appealing to me. My daughter and her husband asked if I would make a Cider since my grandchild’s name is “Pomona.” I did that — see entry for January above. However, it was very labor-intensive and I’m not really set up to make ciders — I’m a beer brewer. haha. As Paul Harvey used to say “Stand by for news!”

July
8) Saint Hommel (Belgian-style IPA). Alright! Back to the Belgian styles. This beer has become a favorite for me … it will be the 5th time brewing it — it’s the one we brewed together at Kelowna Brewing Company (my friend Josh and I). It’s also the one we brewed in 2024 at Sierra Nevada Brewing in Asheville, NC. I loosely based it on the aroma/flavors I get from the Poperings Hommelbier. I think it’s pretty close … it is quite tasty!

This beer has moved up in my list of favorites. Of course, Orval is my favorite all-time — and the clone of it is for July … see below. However, I would say this beer is a close second. I love that blend of hop/yeast character. There’s just something about it that really appeals to me. The fact that I won a big bottle of it and a pair of socks the last time I was drinking it in Poperinge has nothing to do with my decision. This is all about the flavor!

August
9) Liquid Valor or Valle Dorado (Orval Clone). My all time favorite beer and my recipe is dialed in pretty close. I can’t decide on my favorite name, so I’ll update the label when I brew the beer. I’ve run out of the appropriate yeast, so it’s time to re-stock and rebuild my supply. I now have a dedicated room/fridge for brew supplies, so one of my goals this year is to get my lab / yeast propagation back in order. So much fun, so little time.

September
10) Dubbel Trubbel (Belgian-style Dubbel). Sticking with the Belgian theme, I felt it was time to get a Dubbel going again. I really like this style. Trying for a clone of the Westmalle or Chimay Dubbels. Those both come in as favorites, too. The recipe needs just a little tweaking and we’ll see how it goes!

October
11) Merlin’s Magical Elixir (English-style Barley Wine). I’ve decided for the month of “Jamestober” to transition from my Lambic experiment to a Barley Wine. I’ve never made a great one of these and I’m now up to the challenge! It’s named Merlin’s Magical Elixir since I live in “Magic Estates” on “Merlin Court.” It only makes sense, then, that it be an English-style. I can’t wait to make it!

November
11) Drunkenheimer (American IPA). This will be the second iteration of this beer. Yes, I used Ai for the beer label. Yes, a gnome and a Snow Leopard. When you drink big beers, you see strange things. haha. This was quite tasty — I’m hoping the second iteration is as good!

December
12) Weizen Bier. My final beer of the year will be a Weisse. I will be modeling it after the Schneider Weisse Tap #7 (the Original). I love their beers. The Doppelbock they make (Aventinus) is probably my 3rd favorite beer — but so dangerous. haha. I’m sticking with the standard Hefeweizen. This is going to be a challenge on my brew-in-a-bag system, but we’ll see how it comes out. Life is meant to be challenging, i think. lol

It’s a big brew year — hopefully I can keep track of it on the site as well… Enjoy!

Beermentor

Belgium, Part 3: Chimay et Orval

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My most recent visit to my favorite Trappist Breweries (Chimay et Orval) was August 2024. My first visit to both of these was fifteen years earlier in November of 2009 — see my Trappist Thanksgiving Post(s).

Although much remains the same, there have been many changes. Fortunately, they both still make the same great beers.

At first, when I drove down into the valley near Florenville and saw the Abbaye d’Orval, I thought, this is my favorite brewery location in Belgium. However, as I’ve grown older and after a few trips, I’ve found that I favor the Abbaye Notre Dame de Scourmont. I find that it is less busy with tourists now. If you book far enough ahead, you can stay in the Auberge de Poteaupre. Then walk through the forest to get to the Abbey. It has always been very welcoming and serene.

An added bonus is the Michelin-starred restaurant just around the corner! Ferme des 4 Saisons is wonderful — the food delicious, the service impeccable, and the beer — well. Chimay! Yay!

Now, make no mistake. I love the locale and the beer. But Orval is still my favorite beer, hands down. And a visit to the Valley of Gold is always in order. If you can swing a tour of the brewery, the tour is awesome. The grounds are spectacular — they have a wonderful brewery museum and another art exhibit in the cellar of the monastery. Wow. Maybe it is my favorite after all. Hmmm … so hard to choose.

I guess the best thing for folks to do is to visit both and decide for themselves.

Enjoy! Beer Mentor

112. t’Brugs Beertje, Bruges, Belgium (#79)

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I’m up to 79 places on the Growler List visits … What a concerted effort! But I am determined to complete as much of the list as I can — all in the name of good beer drinking!

I was able to visit t’Brugs Beertje, number 112 on the list, during a recent trip to Belgium. With around 300 different Belgian beers, it’s a pretty good place to find a winner–the Orval in this picture was a 2013 version … tasty (and was made the last time I visited Orval, which made it even more special)! This place is definitely worthy of a spot on the list.

But, really, if you are going to visit Belgium, I would recommend the other spots on this list first: 1) Orval, 2) Halve Maan Brewery, 3) Cantillon … maybe even the Grand Place in Brussels. Don’t get me wrong, this is a great bar … but that’s what it is. There are other bars in Bruges that we found to be as intriguing and well stocked with beer:

  1. Le Trappiste Brugge

27 beers on tap and a pretty extensive bottle list. Cool cellar bar.

2. De Garre

This place, down a narrow alley, is well worth the visit!

Very cool venue, excellent beers, and great presentation!

There are so many good places with great beer in Bruges. Even sitting on the patio of our hotel, we enjoyed a refreshing beverage and checked out the views.

We didn’t even make it to Halve Maan this trip …

I loved #112 … the bar is quite eclectic, and the beer selection was phenomenal. What a treat to visit Bruges, and this place in particular. If you have a chance to visit here, these places are well worth the visit. Make sure you spend some time walking around the city and taking in the sights — this will make the great beer taste that much better! 🙂

Beer Mentor

2025: Cockatrice Brewery “Schedule”

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So far, 2025 has started out pretty well in the Cockatrice Brewery! Although not really beer-related, we had a great Burns Supper evening in January to kick off the year. Our featured Scotch was the Ardbeg “Heavy Vapours.” I had to substitute since I couldn’t find it and went with the Ardbeg “An Oa.” Delicious.

As I had mentioned in a previous post, I’m pretty well setup with my Brew Equipment (Brewtools), Recipe Tracking Software (Brewfather), and 20 Standard recipes and a good brewing process.

This last year, I adjusted my 20 Standard Recipes and have decided to add an additional 10 Flex Recipes. I realized my Standard Recipes were all Strong Beers (mostly). My 10 Flex Recipes are lower ABV (<= 5%) and will really challenge my skill in producing a flavorful beer with fewer ingredients. First, here is the list of my Standard Recipes:

  1. Belgian Lambic-style Ale (Name: Hefenebel [Translation – Yeast Galaxy]).
  2. Belgian-style Blond (Name: Keoni Blond).
  3. Belgian-style IPA (Name: St Hommel).
  4. Belgian-style IPA (Name: St Hommelganger). The Dark Version of #3.
  5. Orval Clone (Name: Liquid Valor)
  6. Monastic-style Dubbel (Name: Dubbel Trubbel).
  7. Monastic-style Tripel (Name: Die Drie Draken) 
  8. Belgian/Monastic-style Dark Strong Ale (Name: Drakengeist)
  9. English-Style Barley Wine (Name: Merlin’s Magical Elixir). 
  10. English-Style Porter (Name: Proper Polly Porter).
  11. Bourbon-oaked Imperial Stout (Name: Morganna’s Mystical Merkin) 
  12. American-style Brown Ale (Name: Big Brown Beer)
  13. (Imperial) American-style IPA (Name: Wedding IPA).
  14. German-style Pilsner (Name: OK Premium Pils). 
  15. German-style Weizen Doppelbock/Eis-bock (Name: Frosty Billy). 
  16. German-style Kölsch (Name: Malz de Quixote).
  17. Irish-style Red Ale (Name: Auburn Sunset).
  18. English-style Strong Bitter (Name: The Finger).
  19. American-style Kentucky Common (Name: TBD)
  20. German-style Pale Kellerbier (Name: Ziggy Zwick’l)

Here are my Flex Recipes:

  1. Finnish-style Sahti (Name: Surreal Sahti).
  2. French-style Saison (Table-Strength) (Name: TBD).
  3. Monastic-style Single (Name: TBD)
  4. English-style Dark Mild (Name: TBD)
  5. German-style Altbier (Name: TBD)
  6. Scottish-style Heavy (Name: TBD) (Not really heavy in the sense of ABV).
  7. Irish-style Stout (Name: TBD) (My Beamish Clone!)
  8. German-style Weizen (Name: TBD) (A Schneider Clone!)
  9. German-style Munich Dunkel (Name: TBD)
  10. German-style Dunkel Weizen (Name: TBD) – possibly my Smoked Pecan version)

I owe a few more updates on the blog — I have a couple of beer trips on which I’m way overdue in posting. I also owe an update on my Gueuze Process (I think a successful one!). I will be stepping through each of my Standard Recipes as an informative post.

I hope you enjoy this year!

Stumblingpiper … Ziggy Brau

Morganna’s Mystical Merkin (M3): A Bourbon-Oaked Imperial Stout

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Today I brewed the M3. This is the sixth iteration of this one. My friend, Mike, and I brewed the original of this one back in 2018. This was on my old brew set up. His recipe was out of this world. We really enjoyed that beer … my only problem was I couldn’t find the recipe the next time I wanted to brew it! Haha.

I didn’t get around to brewing it in 2019 (I was still enjoying all the bottles from the previous batch). I used Maker’s Mark Bourbon in this first batch and all following batches. In that first one I used “small french oak” blocks I was given from a local supplier. I soaked the chips (but didn’t char them).

In 2020 and 2021, I crafted a recipe and bounced it off Mike. He said it sounded good–I used my French Oak Blocks again in 2020 but I made a mistake and bought pre-soaked (bourbon) chips for 2021. I found that I had the wrong kind of oxidation in that batch. They both were so big that they blew out the fermenter each time! I brewed these two batches on my old system. I think the 2021 batch was the last one before the new system arrived!

In 2022, I brewed it for the first time on the new system. This time, I made my own “oak staves.” I bought some American Oak, cut them to length, and then charred them on my grill. I soaked them in Maker’s Mark and then dropped them in to the secondary fermentation. I found that 3 days was just about the right length of time for that. I used those staves in 2023 and plan on using them again on this batch.

In 2022, I put 20 pounds of grain in my new brew system to make the Imperial Stout–it was too much! I was lucky to have some DME to use in the boil to boost up my gravity to make it an imperial stout. Last year and this year, I used around 18 pounds of grain (still too much) and added 3 pounds of Traditional Dark DME.

This year’s batch definitely has the viscosity appropriate for an Imperial Stout. The gravity was up around 1.095 … pretty happy all the way around.

About 3 weeks, and the sixth iteration of the Merkin will be available for all to enjoy! 🙂

Beer Mentor

La Prugna — A Lambic-style Beer with Plums

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As stated in a previous post, I started brewing a lambic-style beer in December 2021. In December 2022, my friend gave me a bag of Italian Plums from the tree in his backyard … I used a couple of gallons of my wild-fermenting lambic-style beer as a base and, bottled in March 2023, La Prugna was born! Another 6 months later (October 2024), and it was ready to drink. Here it is March 2024 and I’m down to two bottles remaining. However, no need to worry that I will run out … I’ve bottled the next batch! This batch is from the December 2022 wild-fermenting lambic-style beer. Unfortunately my friend’s plum tree didn’t produce in 2023–again, no worries–I was able to obtain some locally grown plums again!

Here’s a couple of photos of the “initial pitch” of plums … It’s sitting in my “Lambic Cellar (under the stairwell).” It looks pretty plain with some initial fermentation activity — this was from 13 Dec 2023.

In the background of the photos you can see my “wood staves” to be added to my lambic (my simulated cask staves …)

I pulled the fermenter out of my Lambic Cellar a couple of weeks ago planning on bottling it, but it kept fermenting. I felt the gravity could go a touch lower, so I left it sitting in my “brewery.”

You can see the plums are pretty “squishy” looking — I know I got full sugar conversion on them, even without cutting them up or pulping them. I didn’t pit them either — my friend thought it would help with a “tannic” characteristic.

I bottled it on 16 March 24. Ended up with close to 1.75 gallons (about 18 33cl bottles). Really like the color and the flavor of this Fruit Lambic — the brett is evident but well supported by the plum. Now to wait 90 days or so for it to carbonate …

I hope you enjoy the process discussion!

Beer Mentor