I have brewed this recipe five times with both the extract and all grain versions. Both produce a consistent, great Flemish Red Ale Sour. This is a great recipe. I use a heat wrap to keep the temperature of the wort in the kettle at around 90 deg F during the souring step (this is just after adding the Lactobacillus bacteria to the wort but before the 60 minute boil).

When fresh this Heiress was sweet and sour – true to description but cloying. I was concerned. But six weeks of aging gave this youngster what it needed. Now, along with malt, stone fruit, and Belgian yeast character, it reveals the wonderful raisin-port aroma and flavor that blends perfectly with the sour. The description is spot-on. Five stars and then some. Must hide the rest of this batch from myself to see what it becomes in the future...and brew it again when the weather is hot to ensure a supply is on hand.

I've bought this kit a few times, and the last time I brewed it I got the best results because I did some research. I'm kinda new, so... After brewing with kits for a little over a year I know that yeast likes lower temps (55-ish to 78-ish). BUt to make this a good sour (after some research about the kit components) I did the first part of the brew, threw in the bacteria, then put it in the oven at about 95-100F. Bacteria isn't like yeast, and it does *nothing* unless it's pretty warm. Try it. Have fun.

I made this when the kit was called "The Sour Dutchman." Had some trouble figuring out get the wort to sour, but the gents at Midwest answered my question quickly. This is a kit you want to either either bottle and let sit, or let sit in a secondary for several months. Everyone who has had my first version loved it, and it's only gotten better as it's aged (bottles remaining are close to a year old). I'm going to brew this kit again soon, but this time use mango in the secondary to create a mango sour. I'm looking forward to those results.