#70 Typhon II (Spiced Belgian Pale Ale) - Duvel Yeast -PICS

[floydmeddler]

Was time for another Belgian so I brewed this again: viewtopic.php?f=24&t=35516&hilit=typhon. I've named it after Typhon, the Greek father of all monsters. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhon

I was hoping to repeat it exactly so took lots of gravity readings throughout to (hopefully!) ensure I got the O.G bang on and I did! Bang on 1080. Very happy.

Had to boil for near 3 hours though as one of my elements died and the one I was running on needed a bit of a clean... lesson learnt!

The only change was to reduce the yeast starter from 2L to a mere 800ml. This was because recent experience with underpitching Duvel yeast REALLY threw up the Duvel flavours I was after.

This brew is sitting at 21c now and I'll raise it to 28c over the next 7 days - 1c a day.

RECIPE AND PICS

Typhon II
16-E Belgian Specialty Ale

Size: 24 L
Efficiency: 80%
Attenuation: 87.0%

Original Gravity: 1.080 (1.026 - 1.120)
Terminal Gravity: 1.010 (0.995 - 1.035)
Color: 7.28 (1.0 - 50.0)
Alcohol: 9.17% (2.5% - 14.5%)
Bitterness: 26.6 (0.0 - 100.0)

Ingredients:
6.5 kg Belgian Pale
100 g Torrified Wheat
1 kg White Table Sugar (Sucrose)
35 g Bobek - TTS (4.5%) - added during boil, boiled 90 min
20 g Czech Saaz (3.5%) - added during boil, boiled 90 min
20 g Czech Saaz (3.5%) - added during boil, boiled 10 min
18 g Crushed Coriander - added during boil, boiled 10 min
8 g Grains of Paradise - added during boil, boiled 10 min
8 g Ginger (fresh) - added during boil, boiled 10 min
800ml Duvel starter - Decanted


THE MASH


RECIRCULATING




ADDING FLAVOURING HOPS


CORIANDER SEEDS AND GRAINS OF PARADISE


AFTER A WHIZZING


GINGER ROOT


YEAST ADDED


RUNNING VERY CLEAR


Great brew day! This beer is superb. Should be ready to enjoy in August.

Need to get that element cleaned

[WishboneBrewery]

Cool stuff, good pics
I think I'll be sticking with Whitelabs yeast, I wasn't a fan of that Duvel yeast I used back in http://pdtnc.wordpress.com/2010/07/24/a ... ans-candy/

[leedsbrew]

crystal bloody clear that floyd! nice one! looks like a cracker!

what flavours are you expecting from the grains of paradise?

[floydmeddler]

Cool stuff, good pics
I think I'll be sticking with Whitelabs yeast, I wasn't a fan of that Duvel yeast I used back in http://pdtnc.wordpress.com/2010/07/24/a ... ans-candy/

Nice little blog there!I've got you to thank for trying Duvel yeast initially. You should give it another try but underpitch and stress it with heat. Seriously amazing Belgian flovours. SERIOUSLY! This is fermenting big time as of this morning. Really eager and hungry yeast.

[floydmeddler]

crystal bloody clear that floyd! nice one! looks like a cracker!

what flavours are you expecting from the grains of paradise?

Oh it is. I'll brew this every year now. The grains of paradise will give a slight peppery note. Huyghe Brewery use them in Delirium Tremens. That's where I got the idea from.

[piet_v]

18 g Crushed Coriander - added during boil, boiled 10 min
8 g Grains of Paradise - added during boil, boiled 10 min
8 g Ginger (fresh) - added during boil, boiled 10 min

That is - a lot of - spices !?

[floydmeddler]

Hey piet-v,

Yes it is a little more than what Delirium Tremins use. I love these spices so increased them slightly.

[floydmeddler]

I haven't had to use my temperature controller as this beer has been rising steadily all by itself. It's at 25c now. Fermentation is well under way. Come on Duvel yeast - give me those delicious Duvel flavours!

[floydmeddler]

15 days on and this baby is at 1014. I'll leave it for another week or so then rack to a Better Bottle with gelatine and let it age. I want to be drinking git by mid August.

Smells superb. Just like its predecessor!

So far so good.

[jmc]

Hi Floyd

Sounds like you had a cracking fermentation.

A couple of questions..
What did it smell like while it was brewing?
What temp did you raise it to?

BTW: last week I bottled my Belgian Strong Golden also using Duvel yeast.
(Great yeast. It got down to 1004-1006 after honey brewed out in secondary)
I'm eagerly hoping my brew gets the Belgian flavours you've succeeded in getting.

ATB
John

[floydmeddler]

Hi Floyd

Sounds like you had a cracking fermentation.

A couple of questions..
What did it smell like while it was brewing?
What temp did you raise it to?

BTW: last week I bottled my Belgian Strong Golden also using Duvel yeast.
(Great yeast. It got down to 1004-1006 after honey brewed out in secondary)
I'm eagerly hoping my brew gets the Belgian flavours you've succeeded in getting.

ATB
John

Hey John. The smell is quite sweet and pear like. Pretty powerful in fact!

I pitched the slurry from an 800ml starter and started from 21c and brought it up to 28c over 8 days. My experience with Duvel tells me that underpitching and higher temps really bring out those Duvel characteristics. It basically stresses the hell out the yeast.

1004-1006? Excellent. That sounds about right for the grain bill, sugar and honey that you used. I'm expecting this to finish up at around 1009. Still a while to go yet. I said in my post above that it was sitting at 1014. However, it is at 28c so it's actually at 1018. I'll give it another week then remove the element and the following week, I'll rack to secondary.

I hope you get those flavours too. If you do, you'll use this yeast again and again!

[floydmeddler]

OK... I think this under pitching has bit me on the ass. This thing is stuck at around 1014 (1017 calibrated). The last batch dropped to 1012 in no time then dropped to 1010 in the bottles after a while... this has had a month! Have tried rousing and cranking the heat up to 30c for a few days. No avail...

What are my options here? The only difference between this batch and the original is the yeast starter size. So I'm thinking that this should also be the solution??

I'm thinking about creating a yeast starter tonight, getting this beer into a Better Bottle, then next week when yeast starter is ready, pitch the slurry into the fermenter along with around 100g of sugar and a few tsp of yeast nutrient. Only thing I can think of really.

Any thoughts on this?

Cheers.

[jmc]

Hi Floyd

Sorry to hear you're having trouble.

I'm assuming there's not going to be much easily fermentable sugars left in the stopped brew.

One option to help new yeast would be to add the brew to the starter in stages.
In essence like building up a yeast starter.
Idea would be to make sure starter is coping with added brew-volume before adding more.

Mixture of fresh yeast and adding it in stages may help.

In the couple of brews I've used Duvel yeast with, its only really kicked in at 22C+, so I'd make sure starter & brew at that temp to ensure yeast at its most active.

Gook Luck

ATB
John

[floydmeddler]

Cheers John. WIll give this a think. I may even add it in 2 halves. Cheers!

[Barley Water]

Well, my initial suggestion would be to add your simple sugar near the end of primary fermentation. The thing about beer yeast is that they are lazy (as are we all). They will tend to ferment the low hanging fruit first. Sometimes when they do this, they don't bother going after the other more complex sugars and you end up under attenuated. It may also be the case that the particular yeast you used was not in the best shape for whatever reason and perhaps that is what caused the problem. I underpitch heffe yeast all the time with no problem but I am not sure I would employ that tactic on a high gravity beer, especially not one that I wanted especially dry. If you want more yeast character there are other options you can try, of course you can ferment a little warmer (a good option especially if you want really good attenuation), use a fermenter which is relatively more wide than deep and finally try an open fermentation. Be especially careful if you opt to ferment warmer, if you start generating fusels, which you will if you go too warm, you will get the hot, medicinal flavors which mess up the taste of the beer (and will also give you a hell of a headache). All this is just you getting to know your yeast however and the knowlege you have gained will serve you well in subsequent batches so don't dispare (remember it took the monks many years to get their brews down, if this was easy, everyone would do it).

To get the current batch down to the gravity you want, try over yeasting with a clean fermenter which can handle the high alcholol enviornment you have created. I think I would then just go ahead and bottle it since I am sure you want the stuff pretty fizzy anyhow (you do have bottles that can handle the pressure don't you?). With a beer this big, I would always over yeast anyway just to make sure I didn't have problems with carbonation (been there, done that and have the t-shirt and it really pissed me off by the way). Should this not work, call your current batch a Triple and enjoy.