Newbie brewing Abdij

[Steiney66]

Hi all-any advice would be gratefuly received as Im a bit new to this game - Ive just started a bouble batch of Brewferm Abdij- I used approx 1400gms of golden syrup (was that too much?) The OG was 1075, on day 8 it was down to 1014 for 2 days, I got a bit paranoid about not making the 1010 the brewers recommend before bottling & gave it a light stir with the paddle & today it appears to be at 1015. This is my first brew since I tried a barley wine about 5 years ago which was ok but Im hoping for a nice chimay type sup for the winter months (& due to the relative expense of the product hope ive not messed up). Should I bottle now or leave for a few more days to see?

Thanks in anticipation

[OldSpeckledBadger]

It certainly won't do any harm to leave it a few more days. It'll give time for more of the yeast to drop out of suspension so you'll end up with less in the bottom of your bottles.

[Steiney66]

Cheers for the swift response..will prob leave til weekend then. This leads to another question...Ive recently bought a tin of youngs definitive bitter (although reading some of the threads on here not sure thats the kit of choice!) which wilkinsons were selling cheap(no yeast sachet) & was thinking of chucking it in with the abdij trub in the bucket & hoping that will not only will that solve the fermenting prob but supply me with a drinkable session ale in a month or so - or am I taking liberties with the process with regards to the type of yeast used? Ive spent enough on bottled beer the last month or 2, & the missus wants to see what I called my 'background & research work ' come to fruition in terms of drinking my own & spending less time & money down the asda beer aisle!

[rikpo]

Hi Steiney66,

I'm thinking of having a go at Abdij myself, I hope I can find it on the shelf as I have no idea how to pronounce it.
Could you let me know what Brewferm recommend adding for fermentation, I have had a look on there site but it doesn't say.

Thanks,

Rikpo.

[Steiney66]

Hi Rikpo,
my homebrew shop had a section of Brewferm kits (as soon as I seen the trappist chap on the label I knew that was the one!). There were 2 kits of Abdij & as they only make 9l so I had em both to get a proper amount. As regards type of sugar they mention plain old white on the tin label however for a "specific & special taste" it says candy sugar or raw cane using 5% more. I had a tin of golden syrup lying around & had read on various forums that it was partially inverted which is what the belgium candy sugar is - anyway still new to all this, didnt fancy ruining one of the missus pots boiling sugar up to make brittle so got a 2nd 650ml jar of syrup from Asdas (1400ml in all went in).All went well apart from not making the 1010 FG. Hope my bottles survive secondary - looks to be just under 8%. Bottling this weekend. The bucket smells bloody great at the moment- think its going to be a long wait til winter!

cheers steiney

[Toiletbrewer]

Hi Steiney,

I've got a brewferm ambiorix on the go at the moment, my question is how long have you had it fermenting?
It says 10 days on the tin, but doesn't that seem a bit long, or do stronger ales take longer to ferment.

I think I'll have to make a few quick bitters, because otherwise the temptation will kill me.

[Steiney66]

Hi there Toiletbrewer-

I left it for 14 days in the end - bottled & done.(Apart from the drinking )I then bunged a Youngs definitive bitter on top of the abdij trub the same day (for a quick sup ale like yourself) because I had no other yeast & couldnt be bothered with washing out the fv etc again- anyway I bottled that 5 days later after settling at 1008FG for 2 days- very lively for the first 36hrs of fermentation & thats going to be approx 4.2%, just have to deal with temptation for a month! So to answer your question from a newbies experience the strong Brewferm kits seem to take alot longer all round.

Let me know how the ambiorix goes as Im going to do another brewferm after I find a decent kit lager to have a go at.

cheers Steiney

[vinceg]

Didn't think much of this. It's got a real acrid bitterness behind it - only thing I can compare it to is a substance I once tried in Hungary called Unicum
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicum

My Abdij was brewed in November, and it's never really got any better. I try one every month or so and it's clear as a bell with plenty of fizz and a good head, but just got that real bitter twang, lik when you get a paracetamol stuck at the back of your tongue....and generally the bitterer the beer, the better for me, so takes a lot for me to dislike it.

Perhaps I'll carry on with my one a month sampling and see what happens.

(By the way Rikpo, easiesy way I can think of to describe pronunciation: "op-day").

[Benson_JV]

Hi Steiney66,

I'm thinking of having a go at Abdij myself, I hope I can find it on the shelf as I have no idea how to pronounce it.
Could you let me know what Brewferm recommend adding for fermentation, I have had a look on there site but it doesn't say.

Thanks,

Rikpo.

Brewferm Abbey. I Presume Abdij is just the Belgian spelling?

[rikpo]

vinceg

Thanks, but I think I'll just stick to pointing.

Benson_JV

That was my take on it as well.
Don't you think these foreign people could learn to speak English like what we does?

Rikpo

[jat147]

Hi Steiney,

You can't go wrong with them Brewfermers' - i've made other "euro" kits with mediocre results at best, just not pucker enough.

I've done a few Abdij now, and they can be a little too bitter for some folk.
Try any of the range i'd say. I did 2x Grand Cru, and just tried it at 5 weeks old...... it's very nearly too strong to drink
You really couldn't drink it all night

I've also got a couple of Diabolo at 2 weeks, can't wait for that one!

.....wonder if you can buy a Brewferm franchise??

[Mogwyth]

Hi Steiney,

You can't go wrong with them Brewfermers' - i've made other "euro" kits with mediocre results at best, just not pucker enough.

I've done a few Abdij now, and they can be a little too bitter for some folk.
Try any of the range i'd say. I did 2x Grand Cru, and just tried it at 5 weeks old...... it's very nearly too strong to drink
You really couldn't drink it all night

I've also got a couple of Diabolo at 2 weeks, can't wait for that one!

Wait it is worth it I assure you as soon as I can get to a HB shop I plan to stock up on a few more brewferm kits

Cheers

Bill

[Benson_JV]

Mogwyth; it is definitely worth doing them indeed! I've done them all, all top notch apart from the kriek (which was due to an error brewferm made) i recommend them to all.

[Steiney66]

Hi chaps- I made the mistake of opening a bottle of the abdij/abbey last night- it tasted scarily good with a nice head for 10 days conditioning. Although Ive done 2 kits of it I may have to remove it to the shed and out of temptation or I will never get to taste a nicely mature bottle come October! On another note I sampled the Youngs Definitive Bitter that I bunged on top of the Abdij Trub the same day. Fermented lively & bottled after 5 days- 4.4% - cracked one open & although as expected looked like muddy water- the head was superb quality & for a brew hardly conditioned tasted as good as any bottled stuff Ive has recently (although it has occurred to me that my tastebuds are shot!?). I do think these type ales are not to all tastes..but the fact you can brew a real quality ale for a fraction of the price of a bottle of chimay is blinding methinks.

I will def take Jat147s advice & have a go at the Brewferm Diablo or maybe their xmas ale. (& maybe bung a another cheap bitter on top straight after to keep me going

cheers - Steiney