Changes

While most beer styles are fermented using one culture of ''Saccharomyces cerevisiae'' or ''S. pastorianus'', Flanders Red Ales are fermented with a [[Mixed Fermentation|mixed culture fermentation]] and sometimes with a [[Spontaneous Fermentation|spontaneous fermentation]]. At one brewery studied by Martens et al., two beers were produced using mixed fermentation and blended together. The first "light beer" was 11°P and was less acidic, while the second "heavy beer" was 13°P and served as an Old Ale if unblended. Both beers were inoculated with an acid washed yeast slurry that was harvested from a previous fermentation of the "light beer", and contained about 5% lactic acid bacteria. The fermentation of these beers followed three stages: 1. a seven day ethanol fermentation that is dominated by ''Saccharomyces'', 2. a four to five week lactic acid fermentation that was dominated by ''Lactobacilli'', and 3. a twenty to twenty-four month fermentation that was dominated by ''Brettanomyces'', ''Lactobacilli'', ''Pediococcus parvulus'', and acetic acid bacteria. The development of the ''Brettanomyces'' and ''Pediococcus'' stage was similar to the development of these microbes in [[Lambic]] fermentation. The "light beer" was never allowed to go through the third phase of fermentation, and was instead chilled to 0°C and then used to blend with previous batches of the "heavy beer" <ref name="Martens">[http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/j.2050-0416.1997.tb00939.x/abstract MICROBIOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF A MIXED YEAST—BACTERIAL FERMENTATION IN THE PRODUCTION OF A SPECIAL BELGIAN ACIDIC ALE. H. Martens, D. Iserentant andH. Verachtert. 1997.]</ref>. Interestingly, and perhaps frustratingly, Flanders red and brown ales have been the subject of published studies far less than Belgian lambic beers, so the following information is based off of the Martens et al. study (see reference).