sylunt1

RagallachMC - How are you used to brewing? Do you do all grain, extract, partial mash?

Sounds like an interesting recipe. Tho I have never done a partial mash with so little grain - I may have to try that. I just bottled 10 gallons this evening, a honey porter and a hoppy red. Made a huge mess of the kitchen and myself, but that's a story in itself. Are there a lot of homebrewers here?

Not to pick nits... but Achelse is in the Netherlands.

Agreed, all grain is the way to go for the maximum control. Paul has some excellent comments as well. Don't forget about dry hopping. While it doesn't add much, if anything to the flavor it sure does give you a wonderful aroma. Paul, if you want to send me the spreadsheet and if you would agree - I could possibly post it on my site. Thanks, Chris

I know it's available in CA - beverages and more has it. You may want to try http://liquidsolutions.biz - if they don't have it - ask. They ship. Tell them Chris at Brew-monkey sent you. :)

There are a few balanced brews out here... somewhere. But most are rather highly hopped - too much kills my palate. Possibly because most of the hops in the US are grown there? What's your choice for a well balanced brew?

Brouwerij Huyghe ah yes... they make excellent beer. Delerium Nocturnum is the dark version of tremens. I recommend both if you can find them. They come in 750ml and 300ml (I think) - one of the 750s and you're set for the night. I think tremens was my intro to Belgian beers - what a way to start.

Try here... they ship and have a rather interesting selection of brew. Liquid Solutions

I will take a stab at this one... Sierra Nevada and Anchor Steam, I tend to classify as typical Pacific Northwest style American ales. Hoppy. Most of the hops in the US are grown in the Pac NW (Yakima valley is a HUGE hop producer). A lot of beers from CA, OR, WA are hoppy. Notably Stone, Lagunitas, Rogue, and North Coast to name a few. Ommegang and Chimay have almost zero hop flavor, as typical of Belgian style brews. There are a number of Belgian styles out there: wit, dubbel, tripel, lambic, saison, strong golden, strong dark, gueuze and so on. Their flavors run the gammut as well. Chimay is a trappist ale, meaning it is made in a monestary/brewery by monks. There are only 6 of these such places in the world that can rightfully use the term trappist. Other beers of the style must be called abbey ale. Belgian beer usually has a slight malt flavor, can be somewhat sweet (due to higher alcohol) and a have a lot of fruity esters (except lambic and sour beers - which use bacteria to get the desired flavor profile). You may see that Belgian beer uses candi sugar - some do. This doesn't make a beer sweet directly. As the yeast eats the sugars during fermentation it removes the sugar and creates alcohol - thus giving the beer a dryness. Belgian beers can be considered to be some of the finest in the world and very different from other styles. Wow... I rambled... um the short answer is they are very different. SN and Anchor = hoppy, belgian = not hoppy and somewhat fruity and typically higher in alcohol - to be served warmer and a lot of times, sipped like a cognac (partially due to the fact that slamming a strong Belgian beer can prove to be a waste not to mention intoxicating). Harp on the other hand is reminiscent of soft malt, easy to drink, and not very complex (imho). Did that answer the question?