Home Brew Forum

I've just finished up today's brew. All went well, apart from ending up with 19.5L at 1052 instead of 21L at 1049. So I diluted it back to the right volume and SG, so no real problem.

This is what I did in the end:

Ca Plane Belgian Singel

Grist:
4Kg Lager Malt
1Kg Munich Malt

Hops:
40g Goldings FWH 4.6AA
50g Saaz at 15 mins 3.5AA
20g Saaz at Flame Out 3.5AA
(I couldn't resist an aroma addition in the end - the Saaz hops smelled so nice)

Yeast: 2l starter of Wyeast 1214 Belgian Abbey - Chimay yeast apparently

Water: I just knocked the alkalinity down to about 20mg/l with CRS and then added a teaspoon of Gypsum to the mash and another to the boil.

Here's the porn:


2l yeast starter went on earlier in the week. It was nicely fermented out by last night.


Grain - Lager malt and Munich


Mashed in. 65.3C - I plan to leave this for 3 hours, by which time it should be down to 62C or so to give a highly fermentable wort.


Mash pH - about 5.1-5.2


Another mash pic


First wort hops (Goldings) and a teaspoon of gypsum


First runnings


These Goldings smell great


And the Saaz for the later additions


Getting up to the boil. I can't take rolling boil shots as the camera can't focus through the steam....


Running off through the chiller and pump into the FV


Hopsntrubnstuff...


Yeast pitched, a bit of yeast vit and a good old aeration session with a (sanitised) paint mixer on a drill


Final amount - its a bit more than my 21L planned brew length as the yeast starter still had some liquid left in it. This yeast didn't settle right out after fermentation like others have, so I couldn't pour off all the starter beer - I ended up with about 1l of liquid from the 2l starter.


And finally - the result. This is about 1052, but I was aiming for 1049 so I diluted the wort in the FV down to 1049 at 21L.

Anyway.....another one bites the dust! Time for a beer....

Looks good that one! I have finally branched away from "normal" ales today with my first wheat beer, but someway down the line I'll have to give a Belgian beer a try. Stir plate must come in handy for growing the yeast up, though!

Do you first wort hop the Golden Virginia or is that an aroma addition?

Looks good adm, i'll be keeping a close eye on this and it's big brother. Hope all goes well.

I bet the hops don't smell as good as the GV Nice one adm

I just went to check the gravity on this....and it's fermented out to 1009 so far, which is 81% attenuation. It's very cloudy right now, so i'm going to leave it another week to finish off and settle out.

However - the hydro sample was a revelation - that yeast is exceptionally flavourful. The beer already has a definite Belgian taste to it. I get mainly bubblegum and clove flavours from it along with some peppery spiciness. Very nice indeed - I think this will be a good "summer afternoon on the patio beer".

I'm drinking this beer now at three and a half weeks and it's rather lovely. Carbonated at 35psi, so very fizzy - but with a lovely soft feel to it and tiny bubbles. Spicy nose - clean and crisp from the Saaz I think. It tastes really refreshing almost like a wit. The main tastes are bubblegum, banana and cloves with a pleasant lingering tangy bitterness.

It's not at all clear, but then it's not a flocculent yeast although it would most likely get clearer if I left it another couple of weeks. It's also not as pale as I had expected - I wonder where the colour came from as the wort seemed lighter before I pitched the yeast.

Great thread adm. I'm quite keen to do this - couple of q's?

- was the lag time OK / 2 litre starter enough?
- did you get any hint of DMS from the lager malt?

Cheers,

Matt

Hi Matt,

Glad you like it - I've been drinking this for the last week or so and it's nearly gone now.. Which is a shame as it's lovely - just the kind of beer I can imagine a trappist monk glugging back from a foaming tankard at the end of a hard day....

(Although I am just back from the LHBS with 25Kg of lager malt and another pack of the yeast....)

To answer your questions, the 2L starter worked perfectly. I can't remember the lag time, but it wasn't long enough to stand out in my mind, although Wyeast say this can be a slow starter. It was certainly less than 24 hours.

I didn't seem to get any obvious DMS from the malt either - I certainly didn't notice any, and there's none apparent in the finished beer.

All in all, I'm going to brew this again, and not change a thing! It's not often I can say that about one of my beers, but this one is going to be a "house" style for the summer I think. It's also drinkable quickly, which helps!

Good luck with it!

Thanks for the info adm. I've just done Yashimacat's Aurora golden ale and a TEA, so something a bit more cosmopolitan is in order and this fits the bill perfectly. I'll be brewing this circa mid May - will post up when I get a chance. Time to dust off the stir plate

Cheers,
Matt

Right. That's that one finished up then. Four and a half weeks from mash to all drunk.

This beer changed quite a lot over the last week. I started drinking it very young, but it was delicious with a lot of suspended yeast remaining. Over the last few days it has cleared down completely and the last few glasses were crystal clear. So I think I drank it too young, but it was great!

Once clear, the taste evolved to a more "grown up" pale ale style, with less yeast influence and more malt and hop character. Still very good, but to be honest I think I preferred it a week ago bursting with all the bubblegum and banana from the yeast - almost like a Wit in some ways.

I've got some more of this yeast and will definitely make this beer again in the very near future.

Hi Adm

I have been watching your brewdays with much interest

where are you getting all your recipies for german and belgium beers from?

Frisfur,

I'm basically making the recipes up as I go along! I've got a copy of "Brew Like a Monk" which is good reading on Belgian styles and I'm taking info from there and everywhere else I can find it, then just mixing it up and trying to make recipes the way I want the beers to taste. Sometimes, it even works!

Thanks Adm

I will order it from the library and see if its worth buying!

Getting up to the boil. I can't take rolling boil shots as the camera can't focus through the steam....

If its a snappy camera you have, set the camera on landscape, half press the button while you focus on the rim (or other constant) then re-frame your shot with the button still half pressed - then snap it

It may also help if you can set a single central focus point.
Having the scene mode on landscape will ensure you get a longer depth of field and have more of your scene in focus.

If you're using a creative compact or a DSLR it should be simple enough.
Spot focus, small aperture (higher f number)


What camera is it?

Hi

Thanks adm for the Abbey Single post.

I brewed up a version of this at the weekend using yeast harvested from a bottle of Chimay Red.

To FV about midnight Friday night. OG 1050 20C
In truth I'd made the 2L starter too early and it had peaked before I added it to FV so yeast was a bit sluggish.

Little activity Saturday but on Sunday, lovely white yeast head. (increased temp to 21C)
Monday smell of bananas wafting out out brewing fridge when I opened it. Lovely. (increased to 22C)
Tuesday morning now and down to 1015 already. (increased to 23C ...)

Main aim for this is to build up yeast for a stronger Chimay-like brew.

First brew with yeast harvested from commercial beer. Planning one from Duvel yeast soon..
ATB
John