Abbey Single

[barney]

Hello Barleywater, I have not tasted the brew just noted it in passing.

Recipe is
mash
4.9kg belgian pilsner
113g cara-hell

boil
227g clear candi 90
33g styrian 90
7g saaz 15
14g sweet orange zest 15
1/2 tsp corriander 15
1 tsp lemon zest 15
14g orange zest 5

Wyeast 1762

That any where near Phil? might be worth checking before anyone brews it.

[TheMumbler]

I got a bottle of Palm the other day when I was transferring at Brussels. It is more of a belgian amber/pale but is the right kind of abv. I'm hoping it will be good. The one I brewed is conditioning in the fridge at the moment I will report back.

[Barley Water]

Palm is another of those beers I have read about but never tried myself. Over here, they classify that as a Belgian pale ale, similar to DeKonick. Your assignment, should you choose to accept it, is to compare and contrast (I know it's alot to ask, drinking two beers in one sitting but I suspect you are up to the challenge). Just a little latter in the year, Whitelabs comes out with their seasonal Antwerp yeast and I will for sure snag a tube so I can do my annual Belgian pale ale, great stuff. I am not adverse to screwing around with my forumulation should you have some interesting information to pass on once you have completed your task.

[TheMumbler]

I'd never tried Palm which was why I went for that. I'd be delighted to do a side by side comparrison of De Koninck and Palm but I'll have to find a bottle of De Konninck first, I'd hoped to get some in the airport but the bars and shops didn't seem to stock it, sadly Stella was widely available.

I may well get another vial of the antwerp ale yeast when it comes out and re-do my blind attempt at making something similar to De Koninck as I've been enjoying that. I wonder whether the simple belgian pale in Radical Brewing is along the lines of Palm as RM talks about it in the preamble IIRC.

[Phil_L]

palm/De Konnick are pretty much the same thing - but if anyone quotes me on that, I will find you... The rivalry between those breweries is quite amazing!

Pale, Vienna, biscuit, CaraMunich, aromatic and crafa ii. Og, 48n TG: .10

PALM: Magnum and goldings. - 25bu, maybe less?
DK: Saaz. about the same bu?

I think there is a whitelabs DeKonnick strain. I would have a play with 70% So4 and 30% t58, dry weight blend.

[Phil_L]

Hello Barleywater, I have not tasted the brew just noted it in passing.

Recipe is
mash
4.9kg belgian pilsner
113g cara-hell

boil
227g clear candi 90
33g styrian 90
7g saaz 15
14g sweet orange zest 15
1/2 tsp corriander 15
1 tsp lemon zest 15
14g orange zest 5

Wyeast 1762

That any where near Phil? might be worth checking before anyone brews it.

1 - brew it?
2 - brew it with out the spices?
3 - brew it, and send me a bottle

I think the mash is key and the boil time - 90 min, keep it open to get good boil off (worried about the DMS from Belgian Pils malt). Spices? not a fan. and ferm temps important too.

[barney]

Hello Phil,

I am quite a novice when it comes to brewing and even more so brewing belgians. I have spiced up a few brews, also done a few without and am coming to the conclusion that spices are being added to cover the inadequacies of some yeasts. The Westmalle yeast throws the spice flavours without additions.

[Phil_L]

I think it's a mash temp and practice that gives you some of the spicy notes and yes, that Westmalle yeast is the nuts; very versatile.

I think the T58 would give you a good beer, but you need to ferment warm, and the floc is pants. I know some belgian brewers are blending the so4 or so5 with t58 to restrain it's belgian-ness. go figure?!

[Phil_L]

Well, using Goldings is a good idea, it should give the beer what I guess I would call an "earthy" character. My initial thought was to go for "spicy" but since this is my first try at a Single, I want to see what happens. I will definatley keep your suggestion in the back of my mind next time I try this. A little wheat is also not a bad idea, if nothing else it will tend to accentuate the head. Of course, if I carbonate heavily I suspect that will not be an issue. Can you give us neophytes a review of the beer so we know better what we are shooting for?

A simple homebrewer-y review of Stimulo.
Stimulo was a abbey beer before the whole shakedown into Trappist and Abbey beers, the brewery was bought by a grain merchants family, from the founders of the brewery. It's a light, foamy, yeast spicy aromatic beer, herby and good UK hop notes thru the head. Pours pale, oft hazy gold, it's only 6 and a bit%. From memory, it's got a funky grist. I think a fair amount of wheat, or something - and their site, lists Belgian hops - take it from me, and a conversation with Karel, it's goldings. And, I remember something about a crazy fermentation temperature. the bottle is refermented, on new yeast, so, perhaps it might be worth grabbing a bottle and growing it up. Reading that now, I may well do something similar for a different Project.

overall it's a tasty, light, lunchable, refreshing, hoppy-yeasty complex golden ale, that flies under many people's radars.

I'll update this tomorrow, I'll grab a bottle from work and post a vid. I may have to call Slagmulder too, so if I can, I'll ask.

P

[TheMumbler]

palm/De Konnick are pretty much the same thing - but if anyone quotes me on that, I will find you... The rivalry between those breweries is quite amazing!

Pale, Vienna, biscuit, CaraMunich, aromatic and crafa ii. Og, 48n TG: .10

PALM: Magnum and goldings. - 25bu, maybe less?
DK: Saaz. about the same bu?

I think there is a whitelabs DeKonnick strain. I would have a play with 70% So4 and 30% t58, dry weight blend.

BLAM has the De Koninck recipe simpler than yours, but getting something to look and taste right at home may require more monkeying around. The limited release antwerp ale yeast (available Nov?) is said to be the De Koninck strain. I made something that may or may not be like De Koninck with that yeast (which is fairly clean btw) and I think it turned out OK.

[Phil_L]

what is this BLAM you speak of?

[TheMumbler]

Brew Like A Monk, by Stan Hieronymous. Slap on the wrist for me for not spelling out the acronym on first usage

[Phil_L]

http://youtu.be/JHO0DyvxZmk

here's the Stimulo vid as required. Don't laugh - I hate doing these sorts of things, this was just a snag a bottle from work and pop the top of it. The head fell away very quickly, but it's nice and light and burpy. Quite chunky yeast. What has surprised me, is there is a distinct Brett nose, and it's sooo fruity. Real pineapple, I am sure this isn't intended. :-/

[Barley Water]

Acutally, your video was enlightening, thanks for going to the trouble. Now I have a good idea about the color of the beer as well as the level of carbonation (both were pretty much what I had quessed anyway but it is always good to confirm). Acutally, they could well have added Brett, I belive one strain does do the pineapple thing although the beer could also be spiced. Since the stuff is Belgian, I believe we can now proceed to pretty much do what we wish given a pretty light colored beer in the 5% range with big carbonation. If those guys can make a beer like that, so can we.

[Phil_L]

6% and it's normaly not brett'd - i guess from the age of the rig there... :-/