Finally had a chance to sample my Belgian Ale & I must admit it tastes pretty damn good for being such a young beer. What I mean by “young” is that it has only been in the bottle for one month, this beer should be bottle conditioned for at least 2-3 months to mature. I will keep you all updated when I sample once again.
This past Saturday I primed and bottled the Belgian Abbey Ale mentioned below. My effeciency was crap on this one (around 55%) and I will be revisiting this recipe soon. This beer should have turned out much stronger than it did.
With an OG of 1.055 and a finish of 1.010 this should result in just above 5% ABV. I’m not too concerned about the ABV really, it’s just that this style reflects a certian taste and alcohol strength that I wanted to match. I love Belgian Ales and will get this one right! Practice makes perfect!
Although I still think this beer will turn out great, it’s just not what I was shooting for.
Belgian Abbey Ale
Size: 5.16 gal
Efficiency: 75.0%
Attenuation:75.0%
Calories: 424.78 per 22 fl oz
Original Gravity: 1.069 (1.026 - 1.120)
Terminal Gravity: 1.017 (0.995 - 1.035)
Color: 12.1 (1.0 - 50.0)
Alcohol:6.85% (2.5% - 14.5%)
Bitterness: 40.38 (0.0 - 100.0)
Ingredients:
1.0 lbs American Munich
4 lbs American 2-row
1 oz American Black Patent (490L)
6.6 lbs Liquid Light Extract
1 oz Willamette (5.0%) - added during boil, boiled 60 min
0.5 oz Chinook (12.2%) - added during boil, boiled 60 min
1 oz Willamette (5.0%) - added during boil, boiled 0.15 min
1 ea White Labs WLP500 Trappist Ale
After buying the ingredients it shows that my ingredients are slightly different than what I wrote in the post below. I am using a Trappist Yeast (WLP500) and added a half ounce of Chinook only because it was leftovers from my previous batch. This did not affect the recipe hardly at all and needed to be used so I figured what the hell! Also replaced the 1oz of Chocolate Malt with leftover Black Patent.
I’ve been wanting to try a new recipe lately and thought a Belgian style would be fun. Here is the recipe and ingredients list:
Yeast: Wyeast 1214 or White Labs WLP500
Original Target Gravity: 1.062
Final Target Gravity: 1.008
IBU:24
Boiling Time: 70 minutes
Grain (partial mash):
6.6 lbs. light LME
4 lbs. American 2 Row
1 lbs. Munich Malt
1 oz. Chocolate Malt
Mash for 1 hour at 154 degrees
Hops:
1 oz. Mt. Hood at 60 minutes
1 oz. Mt. Hood at 15 minutes
Picking up the ingredients this week and will update when ready to brew!
My new beer label for my bastardized Kolsch recipe courtesy of Greg Barnett over at http://www.rocknmotion.com and http://www.thestudiobar.net/index2.php
Thanks again dude! Cheers to you!
Bottled my bastardized Kolsh on February 10th and will post an update after the first sampling in a week or two. As far as my American Style Bock is concerned (see below), it may be a bust. I used the Munton’s yeast that came with the kit and should have known better. I believe the off flavor, sour bitterness comes from that yeast strain. Next extract kit that I make, I will be sure to replace the cheap dry yeast with a good strain or simply go with a White Labs liquid yeast strain. I am holding on to hope wit the Bock and will sit on the bottles for another month or two to see if the sour bitterness settles out. Time will tell!
The Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP), released the new 2008 style guidelines, the first revision since 2004. They are available in several different formats for you to download including a small, pocket sized guide, check it out here!
I’ve been meaning to post my update on my bastardized kolsch recipe for a while now but have been out of commision with the flu lately and haven’t really been inspired to write. Now that I’m feeling better and have some energy, here are the details straight from beertools:
Kolsch in da hood
6-C Kölsch
Size: 5.0 gal
Efficiency: 46.57%
Attenuation: 78.9%
Calories: 345.28 per 22 fl oz
Original Gravity: 1.057 (1.044 - 1.050)
Terminal Gravity: 1.012 (1.007 - 1.011)
Color: 13.4 (3.5 - 5.0)
Alcohol: 5.89% (4.4% - 5.2%)
Bitterness: 22.47 (20.0 - 30.0)
Ingredients:
3.0 lbs American 2-row
0.5 lbs Caramel Malt 120L
6.6 lbs Liquid Light Extract
1 oz
1 ea White Labs WLP029 German Ale/Kölsch
.5 oz
.5 oz
Notes:
Mashed for 1 hour at 148 -152 Added 1/2 gallon of heated water at 1/2 hour mark to get temp back up after hitting 148< New temp start 164 with 20 minutes left in mash
Mash volume 1.5 gallons for 3.5 lbs of grain
Rinse with additional 1.5 gallons for 10 minutes at 170
Started boil at 1:20pm
Added 1 oz Mt Hood at 60
Irish Moss 15
1/2 oz Mt Hood at 10
1/2 oz at end
Cooled wort to in ice bath @ 2:20 afer over 40 minutes, was down to 100; poured top off water into fermenter & added wort, temp dropped to 80. Will pitch at 75
Pitched yeast @ 77; attached blowoff tube @ 3:30
Waiting for fermentation to start
Refracto reading was 14 which converts to 1.054 pre fermentation
Took refracto reading on 01/30/08 (10 days into fermentation) and converted to 1.017/Took Hydro reading as well which read 1.012 without adjusting for temp
02/04/08 - Dumped the yeast/trub
02/05/08 - Took refracto once more - 8 brix; steady at 1.012 and ready to bottle
Results generated by BeerTools Pro 1.0.29
I am a regular over at www.homebrewtalk.com and found this forum to be a great resource for everything related to the homebrewing hobby. I’ve been wanting to hack up my beverage cooler after the first use when I did the Arrogant Bastard Clone. Give it a bit of an overhaul so to speak. I found a great thread with vivid instructions on how to assemble your own mash tun, here are the results:
Tested with plain water (4 gallons for 3 hours) no leaks! May test with rice hulls or oatmeal flakes next.
