If you have brewed a few batches already and want to try Flanders Red Ale Recipe, this is a straightforward, all-grain route to it. The backbone is Vienna Malt, with East Kent Golding 5.5% doing most of the work in the boil.
Recipe at a Glance
Recipe at a Glance
| Style | Flanders Red Ale Recipe |
| Batch Size | 5 gallons (19L) |
| Boil Time | 60-90 minutes |
| Original Gravity | 1.030-1.050 |
| Final Gravity | 1.004-1.012 |
| ABV | 3.5-5.5% |
| IBU | 3-12 |
| SRM | 3-8 (pale gold to pink) |
| Difficulty | Advanced (souring process) |
Brew Day, Step by Step
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1
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Mash · ~60 min Mash the grain bill, led by Vienna Malt, at a steady temperature to build the fermentable sugars this style needs. Sparge slowly so you do not lose efficiency. |
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2
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Boil · ~60-90 min Bring the wort to a boil and work through the hop schedule, starting with East Kent Golding 5.5%. This is also where you will add any fining agent for a clearer finished beer. |
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3
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Ferment · 22C (72F) Pitch Wyeast 3763 Roeselare Ale Blend once the wort has cooled to fermentation temperature and hold it steady. Primary fermentation is the most active week, do not rush it. |
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4
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Condition · 3 weeks at 12C (54F) Rack to secondary (or leave in primary if your recipe calls for it) and let the beer round out at a cool, steady temperature. This step does more for the final flavor than people expect. |
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5
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Package · 1 day, then wait Bottle or keg once gravity has held steady for a few days in a row. Give it time to carbonate and, for bigger styles, additional time to mellow before your first taste. |
That’s the shape of brew day and the weeks after it. For the exact grain bill, hop schedule, and full step-by-step instructions with amounts, use the recipe card below.
What You Will Need
Sourcing your own ingredients locally is always fine, but if you want to skip a homebrew store trip, here is what’s in stock in our shop right now:
- Base and specialty grain: Grains & Adjuncts (e.g. Briess BJ-5U8M-8RRM Chocolate Malt 1 lb., Brown)
- Bittering and aroma hops: Brewing Hops (e.g. Magnum Hop Pellets 1 oz)
- Yeast: Brewing Yeast (e.g. Safbrew T-58 (3 Count 11.5 g Packs))
- Secondary fermenter for conditioning: Fermenters & Carboys (e.g. FASTFERMENT Floor Stand for FastFerment 7.9 Gallon Conical Fermenter)
- Priming sugar for bottling: Priming Sugar (e.g. Mr Beer Homebrewing Carbonation Drops)
- General kit and tools: Homebrew Equipment (e.g. Monster Brew Home Brewing Supplies Home Brew Ohio Complete Beer Equi)
- Pour it right when it’s ready: a tulip glass shows off the color and holds the aroma better than a straight pint glass
Serve It Right
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A Flanders Red Ale Recipe is best served in a tulip or flute, it fits the body and carbonation of this style better than a straight pint glass. Here is one from our shop: |
Ingredients & Gear for This Batch
Grain / Adjuncts Brewmaster – 42931-MB Flaked Corn (Maize) – 5 lb Bag (Pack of 2) |
Hops |
Yeast |
Fermenter |
Priming Sugar |
Equipment |
Full Recipe: Grain Bill, Hops, and Instructions
Flanders Red Ale Recipe
Equipment
- 1 Large brewing pot
- 1 Large mash tun
- 1 Thermometer
- 1 Fermentation vessel
- 1 Bottling equipment
Ingredients
For the Mash – Liquor 14 Litres (24 1/2 Pints) – Mash Time 1 hr – Temperature 65 °c/149 °F
- 7.1 lbs Vienna Malt Quantity 3.2kg
- 3.8 lbs Pale Malt Quantity 1.6kg
- 9 oz Wheat Malt Quantity 250g
- 10 1/2 oz Special B Quantity 300g
- 10 1/2 oz Caramunich ||| Quantity 300g
For the Boil – 27 Litres (47 1/2 Pints) – Boil Time 1 hr – 10 mins
- 1 1/2 oz (Hops) East Kent Golding 5.5% When to add – At start of boil (IBU 20.7)
- 1 tsp Protofloc Other – When to add – For last 15 mins of boil
To Ferment – 22°C (72°F) – Conditioning 6 month at 22°C (72°F)
- 1 Wyeast 3763 Roeselare Ale Blend Yeast
Instructions
- Heat 14 liters (24 1/2 pints) of water to 65°C/149°F in your brewing pot.
- Combine all of the grains in your mash tun, and pour in the heated water. Stir until the temperature is consistent throughout, and maintain the temperature at 65°C/149°F for 1 hour.
- After 1 hour, drain the wort (the liquid) from the grains into your brewing pot.
- Heat 27 liters (47 1/2 pints) of water in your brewing pot, and add the wort from the mash tun.
- Bring the mixture to a boil and add 1 1/2 oz of East Kent Golding hops. Boil for 1 hour and 10 minutes, and add 1 tsp of Protofloc for the last 15 minutes.
- After boiling, cool the mixture to 22°C/72°F and transfer it to a sanitized fermentation vessel.
- Add the Wyeast 3763 Roeselare Ale Blend Yeast to the vessel and seal it.
- Allow the beer to ferment at 22°C/72°F for 28 days.
- After fermentation, bottle the beer and store it at 22°C/72°F for 6 months before sampling.
- Enjoy your delicious Flanders Red Ale after at least a year of ageing!
Get the fermentation temperature right on Flanders Red Ale Recipe and most of the rest of the process takes care of itself.
What Makes Flanders Red Ale Recipe the Style It Is
Flanders Red Ale Recipe sits in a well-established style family, and the version most homebrewers land on today reflects decades of small adjustments by brewers chasing balance rather than novelty.
Expect a beer that leans on vienna malt and east kent golding 5.5% once it is finished conditioning. Wyeast 3763 Roeselare Ale Blend is the yeast strain behind that profile, so keep an eye on your fermentation temperature.
Style Characteristics at a Glance
- ABV: 3.5-5.5%
- Bitterness: 3-12 IBU
- Color: 3-8 (pale gold to pink)
- Serving temp: 40-45F (4-7C)
- Glassware: a tulip or flute
- Food pairings: fresh fruit, soft cheese, light seafood
Common Questions
Do I need a dedicated sour setup?
Not necessarily, but keep any souring culture and equipment separate from your regular ale gear if you can. Cross-contamination between a sour culture and a clean yeast batch is the most common way homebrewers ruin an otherwise good beer.
Can I scale this recipe up or down?
Yes, the grain bill and hop schedule scale linearly with batch size. Just make sure your equipment, mash tun and boil kettle both, can actually handle the volume you are scaling to.
What is the biggest mistake homebrewers make with this style?
Rushing the schedule. Pulling a beer off yeast too early or skipping conditioning time is the most common way to shortchange a recipe like this one.
Can I substitute a different yeast strain?
You can, but expect the flavor profile to shift. Stick close to the same yeast family (English ale, American ale, Belgian, lager, etc.) if you want a result close to what this recipe is aiming for.
Keep Exploring
Once you have this one down, here are a few more homebrew recipes worth trying next:
- Raspberry Mosaic Berliner Weisse Recipe
- Cherry Lambic Recipe
- Peach And Green Tea Kettle Sour Beer Recipe
Browse the full homebrew recipe collection for more styles, or if you are just getting into the hobby, start with one of our homebrewing starter kits for new brewers.
This recipe is for adults of legal drinking age. Please brew and drink responsibly, and always sanitize your equipment thoroughly to avoid infection.
