Flander's Red Question / Roselare Yeast...

[resto3]

Flander's Red Question.

I have a Flander's Red aging in a small 5 Gal Oak Cask. It's been in there for over 4 months now and it's just stating to mellow out really nicesly and there is a hint of Sour but not over powering. I was told that I would need to keep it there for a whole year before the Roselare really does it's thing. My question is if I do that I should top the Oak Cask up as I'm probably losing some of the beer due to evaporation.

If I top up the beer do I top up with unfermented beer, fermented beer, or fermented beer but not all the way fermented out?

Should I try to locate an other Roselare yeast packet and through it in the cask when I top up or are there enough bugs in the cask where it is really not necessary?

Hope to hear from some of you guys!!

Thanks!!

Richie

[brewinhard]

Great question...I have not yet brewed one, but as I have posted earlier I have done quite a bit of research on these beers. Have you opened your cask just to see if a pellicle has started to form? If so, the pellicle will protect your beer from the oxygen above the beer remaining in the empty space in the cask. Depending how much you have lost to evaporation will totally determine if you need to top up...
If you do plan on topping up, I would recommend using your last option/idea which was to add partially fermented beer with a neutral ale yeast (ie California ale). I do not think you will need to add extra Roselare since it is already raging in the cask. This topping up process will probably add extra aging time to your finished product because of the new partially fermented wort you topped off with will take time to sour as well.
A third option (and possibly easier) would be to let your Flanders finish in the cask (@ 12 months) and brew a second flanders red with just the neutral ale yeast and then blend the two to taste at packaging time. Just a thought....