It's brewing time again

[cdh]

Since the Chef's Beer thread worked out so well last time around as an educational resource for homebrewers, I thought I'd let everybody know that I'm brewing again, and anybody who cares to is welcome to join in the recipe and ask any questions along the way.

This time, since it is spring and and sunny and beautiful, I've decided to brew a Belgian Blonde, which should be a great late spring and early summer beer.

Recipe follows, largely inspired by something over at the homebrew digest, a great homebrewing resource on the web (hbd.org), but trweaked to fit what my homebrew shop had handy:

4 oz Belgian Biscuit malt

4 oz Belgian aromatic malt

2 oz Caravienne

4 oz Munich malt

all steeped in 2 gallons of water at 150 F for 30 minutes and sparged with a half gallon at the same temperature.

After removing the grain, bring it to a boil, and add 8 lbs of Munton & Fison extra light dry malt extract, 8 oz of clear candy sugar and 1 oz Pride of Ringwood hops (6.5% AA) and let boil for 45 minutes.

add 1/2 oz Stytian Goldings for the last 15 minutes of the boil.

pitch with Wyeast belgian abbey type yeast, or ardennes.

allow to ferment a couple of weeks, and when yeast activity has subsided rack and prime with 1/2 cup corn sugar and 1/3 cup clear candy sugar.

Have fun brewing, and feel free to ask any questions you like.

[sylunt1]

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?

[cdh]

There are a few of us here... check out the Chef's Beer thread from a few months back.

btw, just noticed I forgot to mention that this was a 5 gallon batch, and was diluted accordingly before the yeast got pitched.

[RagallachMC]

I'm a homebrewer who wishes he had more time for it. It's been about 5 months since I completed my last brew.

I've never tried to brew a small batch like that, cdh. How does it work?

[sylunt1]

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

[paul o' vendange]

Count me in. Formerly of Goose Island Brewing Company. Moving out of Chicago to a rural area, where, finally, I can take "Ugly Betty" out of mothballs. She is called so as I am a lousy welder, but she is a workhorse. Two tiered, three converted kegs, 3 burners totalling 510K BTUS. Brew in 12 gallon lengths. Have my own micro lab as I enjoy running quality control on my beers, as well as capturing, storing and using many yeasts.

Opening a restaurant, which is the reason why my course on homebrewing here has been put on hold, but looking forward to brewing again (and posting the Q/A on homebrewing). Cheers, all.

Paul

Edited April 19, 2004 by paul o' vendange (log)

[cdh]

I'm a homebrewer who wishes he had more time for it. It's been about 5 months since I completed my last brew.

I've never tried to brew a small batch like that, cdh. How does it work?

This was a 5 gallon batch, so not so small... I'd just noticed I'd forgotten to mention that, kinda taking that size as the uniform standard that everybody would assume... then thought the better of it after the post-editing window had already closed.

So, this is a normal sized batch, at least as far as I'm concerned. I don't have a kettle that could handle a 10 or 12 gallon batch, and I only have about 12 gallons worth of bottle space readily to hand, so if I want to drink diversely, I have to brew small.

[Okbrewer]

All-grain brewer here, with a setup similar to Paul's, 2-tier, 3 converted kegs, 2 pumps, in process of converting HLT to HERMS unit. Plan to brew again in the next couple of weeks, probably one of my old standbys, a cream ale, which is a good warm weather beer and one that anybody can enjoy.

[RagallachMC]

The recipe that was posted didn't seem like enough malt for a 5 gallon batch. Let me know how it turns out.

I usually brew 7-10 gallon batches, and I fluctuate between partial mash and all grain depending on how much time I have.

I'm going to try to do an all grain wheat beer in the next couple of weeks for summer. I hope work gives me time to do it. :)

[cdh]

I have no fear that my beer will come out weak or insipid with 8 pounds of DME and another half pound of candy sugar in there... are you a barleywine brewer? Or were you reading the recipe as an all grain recipe?

I've found that British bitter type beers can be made with a pound and a quarter of dry malt extract per gallon... with nearly 2 lbs of fermentable sugars per gallon in this batch, I'm expecting it to come out in the neighborhood of 7% or a bit heavier depending on how low my Wyeast 1214 goes. Plenty strong for me.

Edited April 20, 2004 by cdh (log)

[paul o' vendange]

I'd agree, CDH, malt extracts and candi sugar should give you an OG of about 1.046, if you go with 1#/1 gallon cast out wort, so your essential doubling will give you a big beer.

Utilization percentage of the hops at 45 minutes will be fairly low, and the high OG will additionally reduce your utilization. Given your style, probably within range of bitterness.

Paul

Edited April 20, 2004 by paul o' vendange (log)

[RagallachMC]

I think I might have skimmed over the recipe and missed the 8 lbs. of DME. Silly me :)

[cdh]

Update time--

This beer's fermentation took off like crazy after about 24 hours--- very steady stream of gas coming out of the bubbler for about three days. Since I had to go out of town (and still am), I removed the brew bucket from the 70 degree ambient temperature of the room it had been in for the first few days and parked it down in the cellar, which is much closer to 50 degrees at this time of year. Hopefully by the time I get back in a few days it will be ready to bottle... but given how big a beer it is, I might just have to rack it and let it continue. We'll see once I get to sample it.