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Short cut is to post to the slideshow at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/22141071@N ... 3226/show/

Getting it all setup - some BIG yeast starters. Left side is recultured from slurry from my previous abbey brew with wyeast 1214 - but never really got going (you can see how much slurry there is and how it's starting to clear), think it was mostly trub not yeast... The midle one is a Moinette Saison Dupont I'm building up for a sison brew. On the right the BIG (and VERY enthusiastic) WhiteLabs WLP575 Belgian Ale Blend which had blown through the airlock night before - with 2 litres of active starter hopefully plenty for 2 brews.


Obligatory grain bill shots - Dubbel first with LOTS of crystal malts (carmunich, carared, biscuit with munich and pale MO as base) Trippel/Blonde second with pale MO, a little wheat and some vienna:



OK - so this is Belgian brewing, there's malt, there's hops and then there's this lot


Front row left to right: coriander, amber candi sugar (home made week before and set in muffin tins), curacao orange peel.
2nd row l > r: iPod running BrewPal (my brewing/recipe formulation magic toy), candied ginger ('secret' addition), demerera light candi sugar (same but made with demerera sugar not plain white) - following instructions athttp://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index. ... andi_Sugar,
Back row: extra malts to cap the re-mash: crystal wheat malt (not used in the end), special b, and carafa III - used to cover up any sins.

Didn't photo the hops, they're hops and look like it...

Recipes to be added below when i export them and come back and edit this post or something - next TO THE SACRED TASK OF BREWING

So if you're going to brew abbey ales, you're trying to brew like a monk - which requires more than just ingredients, yeast and technique it requires an attitude (according to Stan Hieronymous author of the EXCELLENT 'Brew Like a Monk') but we thought sod it a costume will do



Brother Benjamin stands by the brewery:


I (Brother Steven) mash in the trippel aiming for and hitting 63c, a low-temp mash keeping fermentables high and body thin which, along with large sugar addition is why these beers are so easy to drink and FAR stronger than they feel till you try and stand up...


Trippel mash set - warming up the mash tun for the Dubbel


Brother Benjamin mashes in the Dubbel - aiming for 63c again.


And then the habit is laid over the mash tun to keepeth it warm


Brother Steven re-circulates to trippel/abbey blonde after a 90 minute mash


The wort runneth into the copper where the hops are added to the first wort - giving a smoother bitterness and more hop flavour which we desireth in this abbaye blonde/trippel


Brother Steven supervises the fly sparging:



Brother Benjamin Batch-Sparges the Dubbel



We then mixed the two leftover mashes together to re-mash and make a third-runnings/table beer:


This mixed mash was then 'capped' with 200g special b (belgian dark crystal malt) and 50g carafa III (de-husked/de-bittered german dark roasted malt to cover any sins in such a weak re-mash) and 're-mashed' with a second batch sparge filling the tun to the brim and leaving for 30 minutes to allow crystal and dark malts to steep.

The dubbel and trippel boil away:


Saaz additions with 3 going at once and all manner of alarms and timers we were distracted from our task and left the trippel boiling too long giving a 45-minute and 30-minute addition rather tahn planned 30 and 15 minute additions... However first-wort hopping should help keep hop profile high.


And in goes a SERIOUS amount of candi sugar for each brew - boosting alcohol and keeping it nice and thin. Added in chunks, then worrying it could just stick and sear onto the element we moved to using a seive:


The third-runnings / 'table' beer is recirculated:


And then run off into the third boiler - on gas so as not to overload the electric:


Cooling the trippel:


Running off the dubbel and trippel



Brother Steven sampleth the wort for checking gravity:


Pitching yeast about 1 litre of wlp575 into each. The table ale was fermented with Fermentis T-58:


Serious cold breaks:

Trippel/Abbaye Blonde - temp corrected it was 1072


Dubbel - temp corrected to 1066


Table ALe - temo corrected to 1032

12 hours later - SERIOUS kreausen:


The monks habit (well actually a djellaba bought in Tataouine in Tunisia so more jedi than monk...) helps keep it WARm - 25C or up in fermentation:


The table ale was fermented down to expected FG of 1008 in 48 hours

Abbaye Blonde/Trippel

Batch size 25 litres
Boil time 105 minutes (intended 90)
Grain weight 7.5 kilograms
Efficiency 80%
Original gravity 1.072
Expected Final gravity 1.016
Alcohol (by volume) 7.8%
Bitterness (IBU) 28
Color (SRM) 6.8°L
Yeast: White Labs WLP575 Belgian Style Ale Blend

Grains/Extracts/Sugars - 7.5 kilograms
Marris Otter (Pale) 38ppg, 2.5°L 5 kilograms 66.7%
Dry Candi - Clear 32ppg, 10°L 1.1 kilograms 14.7%
Vienna 33ppg, 4°L 0.8 kilograms 10.7%
Corn (Flaked) 39ppg, 0.5°L 0.5 kilograms 6.7%
Wheat 38ppg, 2°L 0.1 kilograms 1.3%

Hops - 130 grams
Bobek (styrian goldings) hops 4.4%, Whole 75 grams
Saaz hops 3.5%, Whole 50 grams
Aurora hops 7.9%, Pellet 5 grams

Additions - 15g
Ginger Flavor 5 grams
Whirlfloc Fining 5 grams
Coriander Flavor 3 grams
Orange peel (Bitter) Flavor 2 grams

Mash - 90 minutes @ 63°C
Sparge - 25.76 litres @78°C

Boil:
First Wort: Bobek (styrian goldings) hops 4.4%, Whole 75g

Bittering: Aurora hops 7.9%, Whole 5 grams 90 minutes

Flavour: 45 minutes (should have been 30) Saaz hops 3.5%, Whole 25 grams

Aroma: 30 minutes (should have been 15) Saaz hops 3.5%, Whole 25 grams

Additions:
Orange peel (Bitter) Flavor 2 grams
Coriander Flavor 3 grams
Whirlfloc Fining 5 grams
Candied Ginger Flavor 5 grams

Dubbel Trubbel

Based on recipe in Radical Brewing with a few adaptations for what I had...

Batch size 24 litres
Grain weight 6.51 kilograms
Efficiency 80%
Original gravity 1.066
Expected Final gravity 1.015
Calculated Alcohol (by volume) 6.8%
Bitterness (IBU) 40
Color (SRM) 17.8°L
Yeast: White Labs WLP575 Blelgian Style Ale Blend

Grains/Extracts/Sugars 6.51 kilograms
Marris Otter (Pale) 38ppg, 2.5°L 3.8 kilograms 58.4%
Munich (Light) 34ppg, 10°L 1.16 kilograms 17.8%
Dry Candi - Amber 32ppg, 70°L 0.7 kilograms 10.8%
Biscuit 35ppg, 25°L 0.3 kilograms 4.6%
CaraRed 35ppg, 40°L 0.3 kilograms 4.6%
CaraMunich 34ppg, 50°L 0.2 kilograms 3.1%
Special B 30ppg, 140°L 0.05 kilograms 0.8%

Hops 70 grams
Aurora hops 7.8%, Whole 70 grams

Additions - 10 grams
Whirlfloc Fining 5 grams
Coriander Flavor 3 grams
Orange peel (Bitter) Flavor 2 grams

Mash
Target 63°C = 17.43 litres @ 69°C

Sparge 25.71 litres @ 78°C

Boil 90 minutes,
Aurora hops 7.8%, Whole 35 grams - 90 minutes

15 minute additions
Coriander Flavor 3 grams
Orange peel (Bitter) Flavor 2 grams
Whirlfloc Fining 5 grams

Abbaye Table

Batch size 15 litres
Boil size 21.35 litres
Boil time 90 minutes

Original gravity 1.032
Expected Final gravity 1.008
Calculated Alcohol (by volume) 3.1%
Bitterness (IBU) 16
Color (SRM) 18.6°L

Yeast: Fermentis Safbrew T-58

Grains/Extracts/Sugars
Re-mash of sparged grains used in trippel and dubbel.
Capped in tun with:
Special B 30ppg, 140°L 0.2 kilograms 10.8%
Dry Candi Sugar - Amber 32ppg, 70°L 0.1 kilograms 5.4%
Carafa III 30ppg, 600°L 0.05 kilograms 2.7%

Hops
Goldings (Kent) hops 5.1%, Whole 15 grams
Spalter hops 4%, Whole 10 grams

Additions
Ginger Flavor 5 grams
Whirlfloc Fining 5 grams
Orange peel (Bitter) Flavor 2 grams
Coriander Flavor 2 grams

Mash
Fill mash tun up with sparge water at 78C - approx 20l

Boil
60 minutes,

Goldings (Kent) hops - 60 minutes
Spalter hops - 10 minutes

Additions at 15 minutes:
Ginger - 5 grams
Coriander - 2 grams
Orange peel (Bitter) - 2 grams
Whirlfloc Fining 5 grams


NOTES: Fermented out in 36 hours (!!!!) may well prime with honey or use a syrup when serving...

Awesome brewday! May the lord be with you.

Araa, a brewday the Gods will remember for eternity. I see I am going to up the ante with these Belgium brews. And get me-self a brew dog. The Saison re-cutler looks good as well. Mine’s back on a slope for another day.
I too thought about the ginger stuff as well, could you let me know what it adds. That is the taste and scents during the fermentation.
And this is your fault. Been thinking a lot about hard boiled sweet for the candi. Could just pop a pineapple chunk in for priming. It’s clean, easy and I could even try cola cubes. Or even those banana things or aniseed balls. I think have a cunning plan, must go on the double. kp2.

I hope you had some appropriate music playing????

I'm not sure what disturbs me more the fact you have a Monk Outfit or the Sandles & Beard Combo

Looks like you had fun I think Candi Sugar making is getting higher on my list of priorities

Wow, I like your style. I can honestly say that I have never donned a costume to brew, very over the top of you. Now what you need to do is go out and collect a bunch of Belgian 750's and bottle all that good stuff up with cork closures and wire cages (just like the "brothers" do over in Belgian). Just a tip for what it's worth concerning the Saison, that yeast can be really quirky, do not let it get too cold otherwise it will stall out on you and the beer will be too sweet. It can get very hot here in Texas and I know a guy who got his almost fermented then stuck the whole deal in his garage for a few days (at over 100F). It really dried the beer out (which is what you want, most examples just don't attenuate enough) and he did very well in a major contest. I will be trying that technique a little latter this summer, apparently that particular yeast likes it hot.

As an aside, what the hell happened on the pitch the other day? I didn't see the entire game but it looked to me like you guys were outplaying us pretty well. I fully expected we would get out butts kicked, I guess it is better to be lucky than good.

This thread has the awesumsauce.

I was in equal measures Bog Eyed and Captivated at the whole ObiWan/BLAM mashup.

Excellent work. You will of course have a brief spell in purgatory for not using the Westmalle/WY3787!

pdtnc wrote: I think Candi Sugar making is getting higher on my list of priorities

Have a go. It's easy peasy, lemon squeezy!

Looks like a superb day.