Tesco - good news/bad news
-
wetdog
Tesco - good news/bad news
just been to Tesco today, the good news is they've got loads of the cheap kettles in, the bad news is a small bottle of Leffe is up from £1.05 to £1.38, a rise of 33p! now what was the rate of inflation again...?
-
TC2642
- Even further under the Table
- Posts: 2161
- Joined: Wed Aug 08, 2007 6:11 pm
- Location: Somewhere between cabbaged and heavily cabbaged
Re: Tesco - good news/bad news
Even better news is that you can make your own Belgians for about 33p and after a bit of practise I assure you will be able to make something far superior to Leffe.wetdog wrote:just been to Tesco today, the good news is they've got loads of the cheap kettles in, the bad news is a small bottle of Leffe is up from £1.05 to £1.38, a rise of 33p! now what was the rate of inflation again...?
Fermenting -!
Maturing - Lenin's Revenge RIS
Drinking - !
Next brew - PA
Brew after next brew - IPA
Maturing - Lenin's Revenge RIS
Drinking - !
Next brew - PA
Brew after next brew - IPA
-
maxashton
Re: Tesco - good news/bad news
CPI or RPI?wetdog wrote:now what was the rate of inflation again...?
-
mysterio
-
agentgonzo
Re: Tesco - good news/bad news
I've just made myself 5 gallons of a Leffe Blonde clone. It should be ready in about 2 months, but from a taste of it when it went into the bottles, it was remarkable close.TC2642 wrote:Even better news is that you can make your own Belgians for about 33p and after a bit of practise I assure you will be able to make something far superior to Leffe.wetdog wrote:just been to Tesco today, the good news is they've got loads of the cheap kettles in, the bad news is a small bottle of Leffe is up from £1.05 to £1.38, a rise of 33p! now what was the rate of inflation again...?
-
agentgonzo
This was the recipe I used. Modified from another one that I found on the 'net to suit what ingredients I could get hold of. In the end it came out too strong (OG 1070 when I was aiming for 1060-65, so maybe loose a lb or two of the pilsner).
12lb Belgian Two-row Pilsner Malt
4 OZ. (113 g) Belgian Biscuit Malt
4 oz. (113 g) Belgian Aromatic Malt
4 oz. (113 g) Munich Malt (Can use vienna if you can't get hold of munich)
2 OZ. (57 g) caraplis/caraamber Malt (I used cara-amber)
Mash at 153-149°F (I get about 4°F drop over the mash in my MT)
8 oz. (226 g) Belgian light Candi Sugar (though I ommitted this from the boil as it was already higher gravity than I planned for)
1 oz. Styrian Goldings (60')
1/2oz Saaz (15')
Irish Moss (15')
fermented with recultured Chimay yeast (which I think is the same as wyeast/wlabs belgian abbey)
Brewhouse efficiency was about 80% from memory, so adjust as you need to.
The original recipes that I found were:
11.75# Belgian Two-row Pilsner Malt
4 OZ. (113 g) Belgian Biscuit Malt
4 oz. (113 g) Belgian Aromatic Malt
4 oz. (113 g) German Munich Malt
2 OZ. (57 g) Honey Malt
Mash at 152F (65.6C).
Bring the water to a boil, remove from the heat and add:
8 oz. (226 g) Belgian Clear Candi Sugar
2 OZ. (57 g) Malto Dextrin
1/2 OZ. (21 g) Pride of Ringwood at 9.3AA (4.7 HBU) (bittering hop)
Boil for 45 minutes then add:
1/2 OZ. (14 g) Styrian Goldings (flavor hop)
1 tsp. (5 ml) Irish Moss
Boil for 15 minutes.
Chill and pitch.
1st choice yeast: Wyeast 1762 Belgian Abbey II; Ferment at 68-72F (20-22C)
2nd choice yeast: Wyeast 3522 Belgian Ardennes; Ferment at 68-72F (20-22C)
Primary for 7 days, then rack to secondary.
Bottle when fermentation is complete, target gravity is reached and beer has
cleared (approximately 3 weeks) with:
1/2 cup (120 ml) Corn Sugar and 1/3 cup (80 ml) Belgian Clear Candi Sugar
that has been boiled for 10 minutes in 2 cups (473 ml) of water.
Let prime at 70F (21C) for approximately 5 weeks until carbonated, then
store at cellar temperature.
-----
5.7 kg Pilsner Malt
.45 kg Munich Malt
.15 kg Caraamber
.10 kg Melanoidin Malt
.30kg Cane sugar
38g Styrian Goldings 5.5%AA (60 min)
20g Saaz 3.5% (15 min)
Wyeast 1762 Abbey Ale 2
12lb Belgian Two-row Pilsner Malt
4 OZ. (113 g) Belgian Biscuit Malt
4 oz. (113 g) Belgian Aromatic Malt
4 oz. (113 g) Munich Malt (Can use vienna if you can't get hold of munich)
2 OZ. (57 g) caraplis/caraamber Malt (I used cara-amber)
Mash at 153-149°F (I get about 4°F drop over the mash in my MT)
8 oz. (226 g) Belgian light Candi Sugar (though I ommitted this from the boil as it was already higher gravity than I planned for)
1 oz. Styrian Goldings (60')
1/2oz Saaz (15')
Irish Moss (15')
fermented with recultured Chimay yeast (which I think is the same as wyeast/wlabs belgian abbey)
Brewhouse efficiency was about 80% from memory, so adjust as you need to.
The original recipes that I found were:
11.75# Belgian Two-row Pilsner Malt
4 OZ. (113 g) Belgian Biscuit Malt
4 oz. (113 g) Belgian Aromatic Malt
4 oz. (113 g) German Munich Malt
2 OZ. (57 g) Honey Malt
Mash at 152F (65.6C).
Bring the water to a boil, remove from the heat and add:
8 oz. (226 g) Belgian Clear Candi Sugar
2 OZ. (57 g) Malto Dextrin
1/2 OZ. (21 g) Pride of Ringwood at 9.3AA (4.7 HBU) (bittering hop)
Boil for 45 minutes then add:
1/2 OZ. (14 g) Styrian Goldings (flavor hop)
1 tsp. (5 ml) Irish Moss
Boil for 15 minutes.
Chill and pitch.
1st choice yeast: Wyeast 1762 Belgian Abbey II; Ferment at 68-72F (20-22C)
2nd choice yeast: Wyeast 3522 Belgian Ardennes; Ferment at 68-72F (20-22C)
Primary for 7 days, then rack to secondary.
Bottle when fermentation is complete, target gravity is reached and beer has
cleared (approximately 3 weeks) with:
1/2 cup (120 ml) Corn Sugar and 1/3 cup (80 ml) Belgian Clear Candi Sugar
that has been boiled for 10 minutes in 2 cups (473 ml) of water.
Let prime at 70F (21C) for approximately 5 weeks until carbonated, then
store at cellar temperature.
-----
5.7 kg Pilsner Malt
.45 kg Munich Malt
.15 kg Caraamber
.10 kg Melanoidin Malt
.30kg Cane sugar
38g Styrian Goldings 5.5%AA (60 min)
20g Saaz 3.5% (15 min)
Wyeast 1762 Abbey Ale 2
-
adm
-
Barley Water
- Under the Table
- Posts: 1429
- Joined: Tue May 22, 2007 8:35 pm
- Location: Dallas, Texas
I am very interested in doing a "Leffe like" ale, I appreciate you posting your formulation. Exactly what temperature did you ferment and did you let it get higher as things went along?
My experience with Chimay yeast (I use WLP500) is that you can get very different beers depending on how you manage fermentation. I just got done fermenting my version of a Dubbel and the yeast did a very wierd thing. I started at 64F and let the temperature go up 2F every day for a week. Fermentation kicked off right away (inside of about 12 hours) and looked normal (I did a decent sized starter due to high gravity). I started increasing the temperature and frankly did not bother looking at the beer after the first couple of days (because I figured that I was at full krausen at about day two). When I got around to checking on things near the end of the week I found the stuff had just gone wild and blew off the fermentation lock (no damage, just a little mess). Anyway, I racked this stuff a couple of days ago and boy is it ever spicy. I also went a little wild with the sugar so it's also alcoholic as hell but I didn't taste any hot/solvent type flavors so I think things are ok. I really don't consider this style a good quaffing ale anyway so I am ok with high octane in this case.
I was thinking about doing a Leffe type beer using a similar formulation to yours however I was thinking about adding a little lemon peel just to make things interesting, how do you think that would work out? I was also considering letting things ramp up temperature wise so it would be spicy, do you have any suggestions?
My experience with Chimay yeast (I use WLP500) is that you can get very different beers depending on how you manage fermentation. I just got done fermenting my version of a Dubbel and the yeast did a very wierd thing. I started at 64F and let the temperature go up 2F every day for a week. Fermentation kicked off right away (inside of about 12 hours) and looked normal (I did a decent sized starter due to high gravity). I started increasing the temperature and frankly did not bother looking at the beer after the first couple of days (because I figured that I was at full krausen at about day two). When I got around to checking on things near the end of the week I found the stuff had just gone wild and blew off the fermentation lock (no damage, just a little mess). Anyway, I racked this stuff a couple of days ago and boy is it ever spicy. I also went a little wild with the sugar so it's also alcoholic as hell but I didn't taste any hot/solvent type flavors so I think things are ok. I really don't consider this style a good quaffing ale anyway so I am ok with high octane in this case.
I was thinking about doing a Leffe type beer using a similar formulation to yours however I was thinking about adding a little lemon peel just to make things interesting, how do you think that would work out? I was also considering letting things ramp up temperature wise so it would be spicy, do you have any suggestions?
Drinking:Saison (in bottles), Belgian Dubbel (in bottles), Oud Bruin (in bottles), Olde Ale (in bottles),
Abbey Triple (in bottles), Munich Helles, Best Bitter (TT Landlord clone), English IPA
Conditioning: Traditional bock bier, CAP
Fermenting: Munich Dunkel
Next up: Bitter (London Pride like), ESB
So many beers to make, so little time (and cold storage space)
Abbey Triple (in bottles), Munich Helles, Best Bitter (TT Landlord clone), English IPA
Conditioning: Traditional bock bier, CAP
Fermenting: Munich Dunkel
Next up: Bitter (London Pride like), ESB
So many beers to make, so little time (and cold storage space)
-
agentgonzo
Managing fermentation temperatures is something that I don't do. I don't have the equipment (heating belt/dedicated fridge etc) and don't yet have the inclination as there are so many other things that I'm trying to get right.
Basically my fermentation regime goes as far as putting it on the landing in winter or in the utility room/garage in summer to try and keep it about 20°C. That's what I did with this one (utility room). It gets a bit cooler at night (maybe drops to 15°C) but I'm OK with that.
I'd probably recommend keeping this a bit cooler than if you were fermenting a trappist-style beer as leffe's no way near as spicy as those, so fermenting cooler should keep those flavours down. As for the lemon zest, give it a try. I don't taste any citrus flavours in leffe blonde so I wouldn't use it if I was going to try and get an close clone, but it will probably give it another dimension as long as you don't overdo it. Give it a try and let us know how you get on.
Basically my fermentation regime goes as far as putting it on the landing in winter or in the utility room/garage in summer to try and keep it about 20°C. That's what I did with this one (utility room). It gets a bit cooler at night (maybe drops to 15°C) but I'm OK with that.
I'd probably recommend keeping this a bit cooler than if you were fermenting a trappist-style beer as leffe's no way near as spicy as those, so fermenting cooler should keep those flavours down. As for the lemon zest, give it a try. I don't taste any citrus flavours in leffe blonde so I wouldn't use it if I was going to try and get an close clone, but it will probably give it another dimension as long as you don't overdo it. Give it a try and let us know how you get on.
