Category Archives: Belgian

Lambic 3V 2

Saison Mixed Ferment 3V 1

BrewDesign

BrewDesign

Recipe Info

Style

Brewery

Mash

Boil

Fermentables

Hops

Yeast and Friends

Misc

Notes

Recipe Info

Style

Brewery

Mash

Boil

Fermentables

Hops

Yeast and Friends

Misc

Notes

May 15, 2018 hommel Leave a comment

I try to brew up a Lambic style beer every 6 months or so but I’m not always successful 🙂 . I liked how my last lambic turned out so I did a similar beer but I got my hands on East Coast Yeast ECY01 so I used that for primary fermentation.
Recipe Info
Recipe: lambic 3v 2
Style: Lambic 23D BJCP 2015
Date: 10-26-2017

	Recipe	Guideline Min	Guideline Max
OG	1.050	1.040	1.054
FG	1.011	1.001	1.010
Color	5.3	3.0	7.0
ABV	5.1	5.0	6.5
IBU	2.0	0.0	10.0

Brewery Info
Efficiency: 72 %
Attenuation: 78 %
Mash Info
Weight: 13.25 Lbs
Thickness: 1.25 Qt per Lb
Deadspace: 2.0 G
Strikewater: 6.14 G
Volume: 7.2 G
Temp: 32.0 F
Boil Info
Kettle Gravity: 1.041
Predicted Mash Run-off: 4.95 G
Target Starting Boil Volume: 8.5 G
Boil Duration: 60 min
Evaporation Rate: 1.5 G per Hour
Final Boil Volume: 7.0 G
Fermentables

Weight	% by Weight	Name	Yield	SRM
9.750 Lb	74.0 %	Pilsner (Weyermann)	80.0	1.8
1.500 Lb	11.0 %	Flaked Oats (Briess)	70.0	2.5
1.500 Lb	11.0 %	Wheat – White Malt (Briess)	85.0	2.3
0.500 Lb	4.0 %	Aromatic Malt, Belgian (Castle)	78.5	38.2

Hops

Weight	Name	AAU	Time	Use	IBUs
0.15 Oz	Hallertau	4.5	60 mins	Boil	2.0

Yeast

Amount	Name
1.000 unit	BugFarm East Coast Yeast ECY01

Misc

Amount	Name	Time	Use
0.500 tsp	Yeast Nutrient (Wyeast)	10 mins	Boil

Water
Predicted Mash Ph: 5.45

	Ca	Mg	Na	Cl	So	Bicarbonate
Water	7	3	21	30	24	30
Mash	72	3	21	92	96	30
Sparge	87	3	21	106	112	30
Final	126	5	33	157	164	48
Target	75	0	0	0	0	0

Water Profile Name: carrboro
Target Profile Name: standard
Mash Water
Total Water Treated: 6.141 G
Percent RO / Distlled: 0 %
Water Used: 6.141 G
Mash Water Adjustments
Gypsum: 3.0 g
Calcium Chloride: 3.0 g
Lactic Acid: 4.0 ml @ 88.000 %
Sparge Water
Leftover Mash Water Used: Yes
Total Water Treated: 5.000 G
Percent RO / Distlled: 0 %
Water Used: 5.000 G
Sparge Water Adjustments
Gypsum: 3.0 g
Calcium Chloride: 3.0 g
Notes
Mash at 156f for 60 mins
168f 10 Min’s
Cool to 65f and pitch

11/3/17 normal 3 Vessel brewday. cooled to 65F and pitched ECY bugfarm. big blowoff in the bathtub.
11/4/17 no visible activity
11/5/17 ruh roh. I’ll give it one more day
8pm – it’s alive!!!!
11/6/17 steady bubbline
11/9/17 has been slow steady bubbling. today ~13 sec
11/12/17 ~30 sec
11/17/17 moved to bubbler. very infrequent bubbling.
11/19/17 ~10 sec
11/29/17 ~20 sec
4/6/18 it seemed to just very slowly chug along so I just left and it kind of forgot about it. racked to secondary. pretty darn sour. starting to get some nice funky flavors but heavy on the tire / rubbber right now. hopefully that cleans up with time.

Trappist Single 3V 1

October 2, 2017 hommel Leave a comment

I really enjoyed my last Trappist Single so I figured I’d give it another go. I really did change much other than I used temperature control this time

Recipe Info

Recipe: trappist single 3v 1
Style: Trappist Single 26A BJCP 2015
Date: 07-06-2017

	Recipe	Guideline Min	Guideline Max
OG	1.049	1.044	1.054
FG	1.011	1.004	1.010
Color	3.0	3.0	5.0
ABV	5.0	4.8	6.0
IBU	35.0	25.0	45.0

Brewery Info

Efficiency: 71 %
Attenuation: 78 %

Mash Info

Weight: 13.0 Lbs
Thickness: 1.25 Qt per Lb
Deadspace: 2.0 G
Strikewater: 6.06 G
Volume: 7.1 G
Temp: 32.0 F

Boil Info

Kettle Gravity: 1.041
Predicted Mash Run-off: 4.89 G
Target Starting Boil Volume: 8.5 G
Boil Duration: 60 min
Evaporation Rate: 1.5 G per Hour
Final Boil Volume: 7.0 G

Fermentables

Weight	% by Weight	Name	Yield	SRM
13.000 Lb	100.0 %	CHÂTEAU PILSEN 2RS	81.0	1.5

Hops

Weight	Name	AAU	Time	Use	IBUs
1.8 Oz	Styrian Golding (Savinja Golding)	5.2	60 mins	Boil	28.0
2.0 Oz	Saaz	3.8	20 mins	Aroma	7.0

Yeast

Amount	Name
1.000 unit	Abbey Ale White Labs WLP530

Misc

Amount	Name	Time	Use
1.000 tablet	Whirlfloc Tablet	15 mins	Boil
0.500 tsp	Yeast Nutrient (Wyeast)	10 mins	Boil

Water

Predicted Mash Ph: 5.51

	Ca	Mg	Na	Cl	So	Bicarbonate
Water	7	3	21	30	24	30
Mash	103	3	21	145	98	30
Sparge	103	3	21	145	98	30
Final	176	5	36	248	167	51
Target	75	0	0	0	0	0

Mash Water

Total Water Treated: 6.000 G
Percent RO / Distlled: 0 %
Water Used: 6.000 G

Mash Water Adjustments

Gypsum: 3.0 g
Calcium Chloride: 5.4 g
Lactic Acid: 2.0 ml @ 88.000 %

Sparge Water

Leftover Mash Water Used: Yes
Total Water Treated: 6.000 G
Percent RO / Distlled: 0 %
Water Used: 6.000 G

Sparge Water Adjustments

Gypsum: 3.0 g
Calcium Chloride: 5.4 g

Notes

131f 10 mins
145f 40 mins
158f 10 mins
168f 10 mins

Chill to 64f and pitch
Raise to 72 over 3 days and hold

Bottle condition to 3 volumes

7/19/17 made 40g DME 400mL starter of WLP530 abbey ale
7/20/17 normal 3V brewday. gravity a couple of points high but to style so not a big deal.
7/21/17 Rippin’!!!!
7/22/17 almost blew off. still going strong
7/23/17 slowed a little but still steady bubbling
7/24/17 ~2 sec but kreusen still not dropped
7/25/17 ~3 sec
7/29/17 ~7 sec
7/30/17 no bubbling
7/31/17 roused yeast by swirling the carboy
8/7/17 bottled. 3.6 gallons. 133g of table sugar for 3.25 volumes
FG 1.008 bottled 30 bottles but still had some beer left over.
good. still yeasty and green but nice peppery phenolics and orange esters. promising.
this beer turned out really well. very similar to the last batch. not sure i would change anything. i really enjoy drinking this one and its so simple!
mine vs st bernardus 4
aroma: stb4 is mostly generic malty sweetness. mine is grainy malt sweetness with some spice/pepper and orange notes
appearance: kinda similar but mine is a hair lighter and both are slightly hazy.
flavor: well crap. the stb4 is really badly ozidized. another reason to brew this at home. i paid $14 for a 4 pack and I just threw the rest away. seems to have been stored at 90 for about 3 months. booooooooooo. nothing but caramel and cardboard. not need to continue comparison. I win 🙂

Wit 3V 1

July 11, 2017 hommel Leave a comment

Time for another nice summer beer that my wife likes 🙂 This is basically the Brewing Classic Styles recipe. I bought some really nice coriander from a local market and tried to get the ripest oranges I could (sweet looked better than valancia) and used a nice zester that I can get the zest with no pith.

Recipe Info

Recipe: wit 3v 1
Style: Witbier 24A BJCP 2015
Date: 06-08-2017

	Recipe	Guideline Min	Guideline Max
OG	1.050	1.044	1.052
FG	1.011	1.008	1.012
Color	4.0	2.0	4.0
ABV	5.1	4.5	5.5
IBU	20.0	8.0	20.0

Brewery Info

Efficiency: 71 %
Attenuation: 78 %

Mash Info

Weight: 14.43 Lbs
Thickness: 1.25 Qt per Lb
Deadspace: 2.0 G
Strikewater: 6.51 G
Volume: 7.66 G
Temp: 122.0 F

Boil Info

Kettle Gravity: 1.041
Predicted Mash Run-off: 5.21 G
Target Starting Boil Volume: 8.5 G
Boil Duration: 60 min
Evaporation Rate: 1.5 G per Hour
Final Boil Volume: 7.0 G

Fermentables

Weight	% by Weight	Name	Yield	SRM
6.750 Lb	47.0 %	Pilsen (BestMälz)	78.3	1.5
6.000 Lb	42.0 %	Flaked Wheat (Briess)	70.0	2.0
1.380 Lb	10.0 %	Flaked Oats (Briess)	70.0	2.5
0.300 Lb	2.0 %	Munich Dark (BestMälz)	76.1	12.7

Hops

Weight	Name	AAU	Time	Use	IBUs
0.57 Oz	Magnum	12.0	60 mins	Boil	20.0

Yeast

Amount	Name
1.000 unit	Belgian Wit Ale White Labs WLP400

Misc

Amount	Name	Time	Use
0.600 oz	Coriander Seed	10 mins	Boil
0.500 tsp	Yeast Nutrient (Wyeast)	10 mins	Boil
2.000	Bitter Orange Peel	10 mins	Boil

Water

Predicted Mash Ph: 5.55

	Ca	Mg	Na	Cl	So	Bicarbonate
Water	7	3	21	30	24	30
Mash	104	3	21	146	99	30
Sparge	0	0	0	0	0	0
Final	96	3	20	135	92	28
Target	75	0	0	0	0	0

Mash Water

Total Water Treated: 6.500 G
Percent RO / Distlled: 0 %
Water Used: 6.500 G

Mash Water Adjustments

Gypsum: 3.3 g
Calcium Chloride: 5.9 g
Lactic Acid: 1.0 ml @ 88.000 %

Sparge Water

Leftover Mash Water Used: Yes
Total Water Treated: 0.000 G
Percent RO / Distlled: 0 %
Water Used: 0.000 G

Sparge Water Adjustments

Gypsum: 2.5 g
Calcium Chloride: 4.5 g

Notes

Mash
122 15 mins
Slow raise to 154 for 60 mins
Ferment 65 up to 72 for 1 week
Hold at 72 for last week
Carb to 2.8 vol

6/18/17 40g of DME in 400mL wyeast 3944
6/20/17 pretty normal 3V brew day.
+ended up with only 1oz of orange peel. 4 oranges not enough. maybe would need 8-10 to get to 2oz. that said the beer came out with a nice level of orange character so not sure I would change the amount.
+water seems to be getting back to normal. my pH was low for a couple of weeks which seems to be from some treatment they were doing to deal with some algae in our water holding lakes. much closer to prediction from my “Brewers Tool Belt” pH tool and Bru’N water.
+ended up getting pitched @62F which is a bit lower than desired but should be OK
6/21/17 1/2″ kreusen and steady bubbling
6/23/17 2″ kreusen steady bubbling
6/29/17 steady bubbling
7/3/17 no bubbling
7/4/17 racked to keg FG 1.012
very yeasty and a bit green w/ low alcohol. esters and coriander and orange are nice. no pithiness / bitterness detected. promising.
7/8/17 pulled sample. tasting really good.
7/9/17 put on 30psi@35F
7/10/17 moved to 13psi @35F to target 2.7ish volumes.
this beer turned out really well and did well in competition. i only entered it twice but both were really big comps and it score mid-30s both times and it finished 2nd in one of the comps.
comparison vs allagash white 7/12/17 (allagash is 3 months old
aroma: allagash has a nice herbal quality. background orange but coriander leads. not getting much malt. no hops. mine is very similar but mine has a bit more orange/tangerine and little less herby. same ballpark.
appearance: allagash is blond and hazy but a bit clearer than mine. low head with good retention. mine is same color. my head is better – bigger with better retention. mine is hazier.
flavor. allagash has a nice herbal quality. orange comes though a little more than in aroma. clean malt character. no hops. mine is really hard to tell apart. mine has a hair more orange but very very similar.
mouthfeel – allagash seems a hair drier. maybe a bit more bite. also a little more carb. allagash also has a bit more lingering coriander/herbal which i don’t like. dryness could just be higher carb.
overall: both are really nice beers. really really similar. maybe the most similar i’ve gotten to a beer i was targeting.

Tripel 3V 1

July 4, 2017 hommel Leave a comment

I had run out of fermentation space so I wanted to brew a beer that I could ferment in my bathtub. I have had very good luck with the westmalle strain (wlp530) in the past doing this so I thought I’d try it with a bit bigger beer and decided on a Tripel. I looked at Brewing Classic Styles and NHC beers and then came up with this recipe by taking all those into account as well as what ingredients I had on hand.

Recipe Info

Recipe: tripel 3v 1
Style: Belgian Tripel 26C BJCP 2015
Date: 03-08-2017

	Recipe	Guideline Min	Guideline Max
OG	1.080	1.075	1.085
FG	1.016	1.008	1.014
Color	3.9	4.5	7.0
ABV	8.4	7.5	9.5
IBU	32.0	20.0	40.0

Brewery Info

Efficiency: 73 %
Attenuation: 80 %

Mash Info

Weight: 14.25 Lbs
Thickness: 1.25 Qt per Lb
Deadspace: 2.0 G
Strikewater: 6.45 G
Volume: 7.59 G
Temp: 149.0 F

Boil Info

Kettle Gravity: 1.065
Predicted Mash Run-off: 5.17 G
Target Starting Boil Volume: 8.13 G
Boil Duration: 60 min
Evaporation Rate: 1.5 G per Hour
Final Boil Volume: 6.63 G

Fermentables

Weight	% by Weight	Name	Yield	SRM
14.000 Lb	98.0 %	Pilsen (Dingemans)	81.0	1.6
3.000 Lb	21.0 %	Sugar (Sucrose)	100.0	0.0
0.250 Lb	2.0 %	Aromatic Malt (Dingemans)	80.0	19.0

Hops

Weight	Name	AAU	Time	Use	IBUs
1.0 Oz	Magnum	12.0	60 mins	Boil	30.0
0.5 Oz	Saaz	3.8	10 mins	Boil	2.0

Yeast

Amount	Name
1.000 unit	Abbey Ale White Labs WLP530

Misc

Amount	Name	Time	Use
1.000 tablet	Whirlfloc Tablet	15 mins	Boil
0.500 tsp	Yeast Nutrient (Wyeast)	10 mins	Boil

Water

Predicted Mash Ph: 5.49

	Ca	Mg	Na	Cl	So	Bicarbonate
Water	7	3	21	30	24	30
Mash	93	3	21	148	70	30
Sparge	7	3	21	30	24	30
Final	94	4	30	158	79	43
Target	75	0	0	0	0	0

Mash Water

Total Water Treated: 6.453 G
Percent RO / Distlled: 0 %
Water Used: 6.453 G

Mash Water Adjustments
Gypsum: 2.0 g
Calcium Chloride: 6.0 g
Lactic Acid: 3.0 ml @ 88.000 %

Sparge Water

Leftover Mash Water Used: Yes
Total Water Treated: 2.953 G
Percent RO / Distlled: 0 %
Water Used: 2.953 G

Sparge Water Adjustments

Notes

Mash 149f 60 min
168f 10 min
Cool to 62f and put in bathtub at room temp and let ‘er rip for 3 weeks

Bottle condition to 3.5 volumes

3/14/17 starter 206g of DME in 2L starter of wyeast 3787
3/16/17 normal 3V brewday. boil off rate still not right. perplexed. had to use a bit more sugar than I planned but otherwise went well. @9pm slowly bubbling
3/17/17 2″ kreusen and big time bubbling. that night up to 4″ kreusen and really ripping.
3/18/17 3″ kreusen and still strong bubbling but starting to slow
3/19/17 ~6 sec
3/20/17 ~10 sec
3/21/17 ~14 sec
3/22/17 ~12 sec
3/23/17 moved to office which is a bit warmer
3/26/17 still slowly bubbling
3/27-20/17 ~20 sec
4/8/17 bottled. targetting 3.35 volumes. 4.25g @ 68F – 160g of table sugar. FG 1.010. wow! a hair boozy but promising. really nice ester and phenol notes.
4/21/17 tried a bottle but doesn’t seem carb’d yet. some carb but not 3.35 volumes and a little sweet. shook up all the bottles. will try again in a week.
4/29/17 tried another. seemed more carb’d but not as much as expected. give another week.
final comments: this beer was ok but a bit hot and it never bottle conditioned properly. there was tons of yeast in suspension so not sure what happened. maybe too much booze? it did finish lower than expected so maybe the extra booze did in the yeast? otherwise a pretty good beer. it did not do well in competition but i think the recipe is solid.

Saison Mixed Fermentation 3V 1

June 30, 2017 hommel Leave a comment

My friend Zach turned me on to East Coast Yeast for mixed fermentation so I have been trolling on-line sources for a bit and suddenly Dirty Dozen came up so I bought a vial. Zach recommended it in secondary saying that it is pretty clean in primary but nicely expressive in secondary. I then noticed they started selling The Yeast Bay Wallonian Farmhouse 4020 at my local homebrew shop so I figured I brew a Saison that is brett secondary friendly (high adjunct, mashed high to leave brett something to munch on). I decided to brew a batch big enough to pull off 3 gallons and do dirty dozen in secondary and bottle rest as a regular saison so I can see how Wallonian Farmhouse is on its own.

Recipe Info
Recipe: saison mixed ferment 3v 1
Style: Saison 25B BJCP 2015
Date: 12-26-2016

	Recipe	Guideline Min	Guideline Max
OG	1.054	1.048	1.065
FG	1.011	1.002	1.008
Color	4.0	5.0	22.0
ABV	5.6	3.5	9.5
IBU	27.0	20.0	35.0

Brewery Info

Efficiency: 73 %
Attenuation: 80 %

Mash Info

Weight: 18.5 Lbs
Thickness: 1.25 Qt per Lb
Deadspace: 2.0 G
Strikewater: 7.78 G
Volume: 9.26 G
Temp: 156.0 F

Boil Info

Kettle Gravity: 1.046
Predicted Mash Run-off: 6.12 G
Target Starting Boil Volume: 10.76 G
Boil Duration: 60 min
Evaporation Rate: 1.63 G per Hour
Final Boil Volume: 9.13 G

Fermentables

Weight	% by Weight	Name	Yield	SRM
11.000 Lb	59.0 %	Pilsen (BestMälz)	78.3	1.5
5.500 Lb	30.0 %	Wheat, White (Cargill)	82.0	2.9
2.000 Lb	11.0 %	Flaked Oats (Briess)	70.0	2.5

Hops

Weight	Name	AAU	Time	Use	IBUs
2.0 Oz	Styrian Golding (Savinja Golding)	5.2	60 mins	Boil	23.0
1.0 Oz	Styrian Golding (Savinja Golding)	5.2	10 mins	Boil	4.0

Yeast

Amount	Name
1.000 unit	Wallonian Farmhouse Yeast Bay 4020

Misc

Amount	Name	Time	Use
1.000 tablet	Whirlfloc Tablet	15 mins	Boil
0.500 tsp	Yeast Nutrient (Wyeast)	10 mins	Boil

Water

Predicted Mash Ph: 5.53

	Ca	Mg	Na	Cl	So	Bicarbonate
Water	7	3	21	11	24	46
Mash	93	3	21	93	119	46
Sparge	7	3	21	11	24	46
Final	83	4	29	85	113	63
Target	75	0	0	0	0	0

Mash Water

Total Water Treated: 7.781 G
Percent RO / Distlled: 0 %
Water Used: 7.781 G

Mash Water Adjustments

Gypsum: 5.0 g
Calcium Chloride: 5.0 g
Lactic Acid: 6.0 ml @ 88.000 %

Sparge Water

Leftover Mash Water Used: Yes
Total Water Treated: 4.636 G
Percent RO / Distlled: 0 %
Water Used: 4.636 G

Sparge Water Adjustments

Notes

Cool to 65 and pitch saison yeast and put in bathtub and let it free rise . When done move 3 gallons to long term storage with Brett blend and bottle the rest.

Notes:
2/6/17 1L starter w/ 100g DME and The Yeast Bay Wallonia Farmhouse Blend
2/8/17 normal 3V brewday. pitched whole starter and put it in the tub.
2/10/17 strong steady bubbling 1/2″ kreusen
2/11/17 steady bubbling
2/12/17 ~8 sec between bubbles
2/14/17 ~20 sec
2/16/17 ~35sec
2/18/17 ~45 sec still hazy w/ yeast
2/19/17 ”
2/20/17 ”
2/26 no bubbling
3/2/17 racked to keg & 3 gallon carboy w/ ECY dirty dozen. FG 1.004. interesting orange ester. pretty phenolic -> pepper and a little green pepper. a little sulfur. put keg in lagering fridge at 35F
3/7/17 racked keg to bottling bucket. 2.75 gallons. pretty hazy. targetting 3.5 volumes. cooled to 34 but racked ferment @ 75F. so used 68F since that worked w/ fruited BW. fingers crossed. so 110g of table sugar. 22 bottles.
comments on plain saison -> it turned out pretty good but has the issues I would expect. even though it is so high adjunt and a high mash temp, even finishing at 1.004 it still seems heavier then i would want for a saison. also, i like this saison strain but it does not have a traditional (ie dupont) profile so it hasn’t done well in competition. i entered it four times and it finished 1st once but not placing the other 3 times. it is pretty ester forward and it has a phenolic character but not the same as dupont. hard to describe the difference but it is noticeable. not bad. i quite enjoy it but i think most judges are looking for saison dupont and it has a different profile. for carb, the amounts i used worked out really nicely. the carb level was high and what i would expect from a saison but not an issue in regular bottles.
9/28/17 bottle the brett’d half. very brett forward. its amazing what the ECY dirty dozen did with 1.004 beer. lots of horse blanket and leather and no real “off” flavors. DRY!!!! FG 0.996. Wow. 2.8 gallons and targetting 3.0 vol so 93 grams of sugar add along with about 1/3 a packet of rehydrated EC-1118 champagne yeast.

Lambic 3V 1

June 26, 2017 hommel Leave a comment

Recipe Info

Recipe: lambic 3v 1
Style: Lambic 23D BJCP 2015
Date: 11-16-2016

	Recipe	Guideline Min	Guideline Max
OG	1.050	1.040	1.054
FG	1.010	1.001	1.010
Color	5.3	3.0	7.0
ABV	5.2	5.0	6.5
IBU	1.0	0.0	10.0

Brewery Info

Efficiency: 73 %
Attenuation: 80 %

Mash Info

Weight: 12.5 Lbs
Thickness: 1.25 Qt per Lb
Deadspace: 2.0 G
Strikewater: 5.91 G
Volume: 6.91 G
Temp: 156.0 F

Boil Info

Kettle Gravity: 1.040
Predicted Mash Run-off: 4.78 G
Target Starting Boil Volume: 8.25 G
Boil Duration: 60 min
Evaporation Rate: 1.63 G per Hour
Final Boil Volume: 6.63 G

Fermentables

Weight	% by Weight	Name	Yield	SRM
9.000 Lb	72.0 %	Pilsen (BestMälz)	78.3	1.5
1.500 Lb	12.0 %	Wheat Malt, White (Rahr)	85.0	3.2
1.500 Lb	12.0 %	Flaked Oats (Briess)	70.0	2.5
0.500 Lb	4.0 %	Aromatic Malt, Belgian (Castle)	78.5	38.2

Hops

Weight	Name	AAU	Time	Use	IBUs
0.13 Oz	Hallertau	2.0	60 mins	Boil	1.0

Yeast

Amount	Name
1.000 unit	Bugcountry East Coast Yeast ECY20

Misc

Amount	Name	Time	Use
0.500 tsp	Yeast Nutrient (Wyeast)	10 mins	Boil

Water

Predicted Mash Ph: 5.51

Mash Water

Total Water Treated: 5.900 G
Percent RO / Distlled: 0 %
Water Used: 5.900 G

Mash Water Adjustments

Gypsum: 3.0 g
Calcium Chloride: 3.0 g
Lactic Acid: 3.0 ml @ 88.000 %

Sparge Water

Leftover Mash Water Used: Yes
Total Water Treated: 3.500 G
Percent RO / Distlled: 0 %
Water Used: 3.500 G

Sparge Water Adjustments

Notes

mash at 156F for 60 min
168F for 10 min

Cool to 65F and pitch bug farm. put it in room temp and let free rise till bubbling stops and move to closet with vented bung.

2/2/17 normal brewday on 3 vessel system. no issues. cooled to 65F, racked 6G to 6.5G carboy and just put a big blow off tube in it and pitched whole vial of bug county from east coast yeast. room is ~72F. did not aerate but it splashed a lot going into fermented and i shook for about ~1 min.
2/3/17 @8am no activity
@1pm slow bubbling 🙂
2/4/17 1/2″ kreusen and steady bubbling
2/5/17 kreusen dropped but still slow bubbling
2/6/17 ~3sec between bubbles and no kreusen
2/7/17 ~5 sec
2/16/17 no activity
2/26/17 airlock still suspended. waiting for it to fall.

Trappist Single eBIAB 1

November 14, 2016 hommel 2 Comments

Beer 5 of 12 for the Skirmish. I’m really liking Gordon Strong’s style profile write ups in BYO and the May had another great one where he covered Trappist Single. I don’t agree with everything he says but I find myself nodding my head in agreement as I read his articles more often than not and I feel like I’m always picking up little nuggets of knowledge. I did some bike racing in Belgium and during that trip I of course made sure to hit up as many Belgians beers as I could. The one that really bit me hard was Westmalle. It didn’t hurt that in the part of Belgium I was in they had Westmalle Dubble on draft (on draft!!!) and Triple was served at pretty much every restaurant. Needless to say I drank a lot of Triple and it is such a beautiful showcase of their yeast that the thought of brewing a lower alcohol version of that beer immediately caught my attention. Also, I love 3787 and after years of fighting with it I feel like i have it happy and working the way I want. So, I was excited to give it another go.

Recipe Info
Recipe: trappist single ebiab 1
Style: Trappist Single 26A BJCP 2015
Date: 08-10-2016

	Recipe	Guideline Min	Guideline Max
OG	1.049	1.044	1.054
FG	1.010	1.004	1.010
Color	3.2	3.0	5.0
ABV	5.1	4.8	6.0
IBU	36.0	25.0	45.0

Brewery Info

Efficiency: 70 %
Attenuation: 80 %

Mash Info
Weight: 12.25 Lbs
Thickness: 2.07 Qt per Lb
Deadspace: 2.5 G
Strikewater: 8.84 G
Volume: 9.82 G
Temp: 131.0 F

Boil Info

Kettle Gravity: 1.041
Predicted Mash Run-off: 7.74 G
Target Starting Boil Volume: 7.75 G
Boil Duration: 60 min
Evaporation Rate: 1.25 G per Hour
Final Boil Volume: 6.5 G

Fermentables

Weight	% by Weight	Name	Yield	SRM
12.250 Lb	100.0 %	Pilsner (Castle)	80.0	1.6

Hops

Weight	Name	AAU	Time	Use	IBUs
2.0 Oz	Styrian Golding (Savinja Golding)	4.5	60 mins	Boil	29.0
2.0 Oz	Saaz	3.8	20 mins	Aroma	7.0

Yeast

Amount	Name
1.000 unit	Abbey Ale White Labs WLP530

Misc

Amount	Name	Time	Use
1.000 tablet	Whirlfloc Tablet	15 mins	Boil
0.500 tsp	Yeast Nutrient (Wyeast)	10 mins	Boil

Water

Predicted Mash Ph: 5.43

Mash Water

Total Water Treated: 8.839 G
Percent RO / Distlled: 0 %
Water Used: 8.839 G

Mash Water Adjustments

Gypsum: 2.0 g
Calcium Chloride: 5.0 g
Lactic Acid: 6.0 ml @ 88.000 %

Sparge Water

Leftover Mash Water Used: Yes
Total Water Treated: 0.000 G
Percent RO / Distlled: 0 %
Water Used: 0.000 G

Sparge Water Adjustments

Notes

131f 10 mins
145f 40 mins
158f 10 mins
168f 10 mins

Chill to 64f and pitch

Leave at ambient (72F) with no temp control

Bottle condition to 3 volumes

Brewday notes: no styrian golding so I had to use perle for bittering. 8/16/16 made 0.5L starter of WY3787 w/ 44g DME
8/18/16 regular brewday. efficiency a little high so just a little higher gravity but fine for style. wort tasted good.
8/19/16 huge kreusen and ferocious bubbling
8/20/16 almost no bubbling. whoa!
8/22/16 no bubbling. moved from blow off tube to bubbler
9/1/16 racking to keg for gelatin FG 1.012 pH 4.39
tastes really good. clean. nice pepper and ester notes. pretty hazy. needs fining. promising. nice clean malt character.
9/2/16 added gelatin after chilled to 35F. tasted carbonated sample. other than haze, spot on style.
9/5/16 bottling day. 3.25 gallons. 117g of table sugar targeting 3.25 volumes. 28 bottles.
this beer turned out great. i feel it is spot on the style and just really great to drink. you feel like you are drinking a triple but not as full and you aren’t hammered after 2 🙂
entered in a couple competitions. skirmish in the triad results were good. 2nd place with scores in the high 30s.

Lambic eBIAB v1

July 16, 2016 hommel Leave a comment

I decided to finish filling the closet up with aging sours and brew the last bjcp belgian sour style i hadn’t brewed – lambic. i’m hoping to brew one every 3-6 months using different sets of yeasts and bugs so i can blend them for gueuze or put them on fruit or whatever I feel like doing! I’m a big fan of the sour hour and the rare barrel’s beers so jay goodwin’s golden sour recipe seemed like an easy choice. easier than doing some crazy mashing procedure to produce long chain fermentables for the bugs to nibble one. this is also the first beer i’ve brewed where i built the recipe on my new phone app – brewers tool belt. good news – it works!!! 🙂

Recipe Info

Recipe: lambic ebiab 1
Style: Lambic 23D BJCP 2015
Date: 07-09-2016

	Recipe	Guideline Min	Guideline Max
OG	1.049	1.040	1.054
FG	1.010	1.001	1.010
Color	4.1	3.0	7.0
ABV	5.1	5.0	6.5
IBU	1.0	0.0	10.0

Brewery Info

Efficiency: 70 %
Attenuation: 80 %

Mash Info

Weight: 14.25 Lbs
Thickness: 2.25 Qt per Lb
Deadspace: 2.0 G
Strikewater: 10.02 G
Volume: 11.16 G
Temp: 155.0 F

Boil Info

Kettle Gravity: 1.042
Predicted Mash Run-off: 8.73 G
Target Starting Boil Volume: 8.75 G
Boil Duration: 60 min
Evaporation Rate: 1.25 G per Hour
Final Boil Volume: 7.5 G

Fermentables

Weight	% by Weight	Name	Yield	SRM
10.000 Lb	70.0 %	Pilsen (BestMälz)	78.3	1.5
2.000 Lb	14.0 %	Wheat Malt; White (Rahr)	88.0	2.8
0.750 Lb	5.0 %	franco belge aromatic	78.0	10.0
0.750 Lb	5.0 %	Flaked Oats (Briess)	70.0	2.5
0.750 Lb	5.0 %	flaked wheat	79.0	2.5

Hops

Weight	Name	AAU	Time	Use	IBUs
0.13 Oz	spalt	2.5	60 mins	Boil	1.0

Yeast

Amount	Name
1.000 unit	Belgian Lambic Blend Wyeast Labs 3278

Misc

Amount	Name	Time	Use
1.000 tablet	Whirlfloc Tablet	15 mins	Boil
0.500 tsp	Yeast Nutrient (Wyeast)	10 mins	Boil

Notes

5g gypsum, 7g calcium chloride
4ml 88% lactic acid
mash @ 155F 60 min, 168F 10 min

7/13/16 normal brew day with no issues. hit all my numbers on the nose. racked to 5G plastic fermenter and pitched lambic blend (no starter). it is old (nov 2015) so hopefully some stuff is still alive in there! i didn’t oxygenate, just shook it a bit.
7/14/16 no activity
7/15/16 small kreusen and slow bubbling
7/16/16 no kreusen but some weird looking bubbles on top (kinda like soap bubbles) and the wort is wicked cloudy with bugs. bubbling strong and steady. very different looking from roselare blend.
7/17/16 starting to drop clear and ~2 sec bubbling
7/18/16 ~7 sec
7/19/16 ~10 sec
7/20-24/16 ~13 sec
7/25/16 ~17 sec
7/26/16 ~21 sec
7/27/16 ~23 sec
7/30/16 ~27 sec
7/31/16 moved to a bubbler. not much bubbling but a little
8/15/16 it is STILL bubbling a little. just chugging along. will wait till not bubbling to move to vented silicon bung.
9/2/16 moved to closet with vented silicon bung.
7/22/17 racked to keg for long term storage. 1.012 -> seems high
OK but not great. some nice esters but very light on the phenols, not sour, bland and just not very interesting. gonna probably try a few different bugs on this beer to try and take in the right direction especially since there is left over sugar.
9/19/17 i talked with a few different brewing friends and decided on pedio to get the sour level i want then “the yeast bay” beersel blend ( i couldn’t get the lochristi blend) which i plan to build up a big starting to high kreusen and pitch. i have 4 gallons of worts so i’m trying 4 vials of white labs pedio damnosus which i’m pitching today and will try in a month to see if it is souring it at all. or at least thats the current plan 🙂

Oud Bruin eBIAB 1

July 16, 2016 hommel Leave a comment

I made a flanders red not too long ago and I decided to keep rolling with the classic belgian sours and brew and oud bruin. not many recipes out there so i mostly went with jamil’s. i tweeked it a bit – i lowered the ibus and used chocolate instead of black malt. but same ballpark as his recipe.

Beer Name: oud_bruin_ebiab_1
Style: Oud Bruin
Date: 2-15-16

Original Gravity: 1.058
Final Gravity: 1.012
Color: 21.6
Alcohol: 6.1 %
Bitterness: 7.6 IBUs

Efficiency: 70
Attenuation: 80

Mash Fermentable Weight: 17 Pounds
Mash Thickness: 2.0 Quarts per Pound
Grain Temp: 72 F
Strike Water Qty: 10.5 Gallons
Mash Volume: 11.86 Gallons
Strike Water Temp: 165.5 F
Mash Temp: 156 F

Kettle Gravity (start of boil): 1.050
Predicted Mash Run-off Volume: 8.97
Target Starting Boil Volume: 8.75
Boil Duration: 60 Minutes
Evaporation Rate: 1.25 Gallons per Hour
Final Boil Volume: 7.5

Weight (Lbs)	% by Weight	Name	Yield	SRM
13	76.5	Weyermann Pilsner; German	80.0	1.8
2	11.8	Weyermann Munich Type II	78.0	8.9
1	5.9	Weyermann Caramunich III	73.0	56.8
0.5	2.9	Castle Special B	76.0	114.0
0.5	2.9	Crisp Chocolate Malt	77.0	415.0

Weight (ozs)	Name	AAU	Time (mins)	Use	IBUs / Addition
1	Hallertauer Pellets	3.0	60	Boil	7.6

Amount (Milliters)	Name
1 pouch	Wyeast Labs 3763 Roselare Belgian Blend

Amount	Name	Time
1	Whirlfloc Tablet	15
0.5 tsp	Yeast Nutrient (Wyeast)	10

Salt and Acid adjustments:Mash Salts:
Gypsum: 5.0 gram
Calcium Chloride: 5.0 gramMash Acid:
Sparge/Boil Salts:
Predicted Mash pH of: 5.48
Mash Ions (ppm):
Ca: 70.6 Mg: 3.0 Na: 21.0 Cl: 71.7 So: 94.2
Boil Ions (ppm):
Ca: 70.6 Mg: 3.0 Na: 21.0 Cl: 71.7 So: 94.2
Mash 156F for 60 mins
168F for 10 mins
Ferment @ 70F for 2 weeks then put in ambient storage for 6 months
bottle carbonate to 2.3 volumes
5/24/16 normal brew day on colorado brewing 15 gallon ebiab system. just pitched roselare blend packet no starter. pitched @ 11:30am @ 70F and set fermenter to hold at 70F
5/25/16 @ 8pm still no activity
5/26/16 @ 8am a very sporadic bubble. @noon 1/2″ kreusen and bubbling along
5/27/16 @8am big kreusen and vigorous bubbling
7/7/16 moved to closet w/ venting silicone bung for long term storage. likely bottle around 3 months.
9/2/16 bottled FG 1.012 pH 3.68
solid sourness and maybe a bit too sour for this style. really nice malt character. a little funky. promising.
4 gallons bottled w/ 96g of sugar to target 2.5 volumes. used half a packet of lalvin EC-1118 to ensure good bottle conditioning.
I need to sit down with this beer and a leifmans or some other classic example. my guess is that the malt character is not right. it doesn’t come across as a “brown” but more like a flanders red. based on the judging sheets i’ve gotten back others seem to agree. I really enjoy this beer but i don’t think it fits the style well.
results from skirmish in the triad 11/5/16

Belgian Blonde eBIAB v2_1

July 16, 2016 hommel Leave a comment

It had been a while since I brewed a Belgian style beer and I felt like brewing a new style so considering the summer heat a Blond seemed like the way to go. Most Belgian Blond recipes that I looked at (Jamil, NHC winners) seem to be pretty similar. Pilsner malt and a portion of sugar. My buddy recommended trying Gambrinus Honey Malt so I decided to add a bit to mix things up. I stuck with Styrian Golding but the only variety I can get is called “celeia”. no complaints. it comes across pretty similar to willamette to me. a low earthy note and a nice herbal character with just a hint of spice. subtle but nice and a good fit for this beer. I used my favorite belgian yeast, the westmalle strain. I really like its pepper character and nice orange, tangerine notes.

Beer Name: belgian_blonde_ebiab2_1
Style: Belgian Blond Ale
Date: 4-7-16

Original Gravity: 1.067
Final Gravity: 1.013
Color: 4.3
Alcohol: 7 %
Bitterness: 23.4 IBUs

Efficiency: 70
Attenuation: 80

Mash Fermentable Weight: 17.5 Pounds
Mash Thickness: 2.14 Quarts per Pound
Grain Temp: 72 F
Strike Water Qty: 11.36 Gallons
Mash Volume: 12.76 Gallons
Strike Water Temp: 157.7 F
Mash Temp: 149 F

Kettle Gravity (start of boil): 1.058
Predicted Mash Run-off Volume: 9.7875
Target Starting Boil Volume: 9.75
Boil Duration: 60 Minutes
Evaporation Rate: 1.25 Gallons per Hour
Final Boil Volume: 8.5

Weight (Lbs)	% by Weight	Name	Yield	SRM
17	85.0	Castle Pilsner; Belgian	80.0	1.6
2.5	12.5	Sugar	100.0	0.0
.5	2.5	Gambrinus Honey Malt	83.0	25.0

Weight (ozs)	Name	AAU	Time (mins)	Use	IBUs / Addition
2.5	Styrian Golding Pellets	3.7	60	Boil	19.2
1.5	Styrian Golding Pellets	3.7	10	Boil	4.2

Amount (Milliters)	Name
1 pouch	White Labs WLP530 Trappist Ale

Amount	Name	Time
1	Whirlfloc Tablet	15
.5 tsp	Yeast Nutrient (Wyeast)	10

Bicarbonate

Sparge

Target

Liquid Yeast Pitch – Stirplate Starter
First Starter
Quantity of Yeast: 1 vials / pouches (100B cells per)
Quantity of DME: 147 grams
Starter Size: 1.5 liters
Salt and Acid adjustments:
Mash Salts:
Gypsum: 6.0 gram
Calcium Chloride: 6.0 gram
Mash Acid:
Lactic Acid: 6.0 ml @ 88 %
Sparge/Boil Salts:
Predicted Mash pH of: 5.45
Mash Ions (ppm):
Ca: 77.7 Mg: 3.0 Na: 21.0 Cl: 78.5 So: 102.0
Boil Ions (ppm):
Ca: 77.7 Mg: 3.0 Na: 21.0 Cl: 78.5 So: 102.0
mash @ 149F for 60 mins
168F @ 10 mins
cool to 64F to target a pitch @ 66F. raise to 72F over 8 days and hold through 2 weeks.
carb to 3 volumes
Notes:
5/3/16 made a 2L starter of 200g DME and 1 pouch of WLP530 on stirplate
5/5/16 normal brew day. pitched decanted starter @ ~2pm and bubbling away at 8pm
beer pitched at 65F. put in a fridge set to 70F. i didn’t use a thermowell like I normally do. I find with westmalle yeast it is better to put it in an ambient of 70 and let it do it’s thing. I put a temp probe in the thermowell just so I could record what the ferment looked like. here is the graph:
blond

you can see that it got up to 73.5F at it’s peak.
5/6/16 big kreusen and ferocious bubbling
5/7/16 ~2 sec apart steady bubbling
5/8/16 ~7 sec
5/9/16 ~11 sec
5/10/16 ~11 sec
5/11/16 ~11 sec
5/17/16 ~30 sec
5/18/16 ~30 sec
5/20/16 ~65 sec
5/23/16 no bubbling with blow off tube
5/27/16 moved to bubbler and very occassional bubbling and still cloudy with yeast. going to wait to bottle.
had accident that kept me from brewing for a bit. so this beer sat for longer than it normally would.
6/26/16 finally racked to keg. decided not to bottle because with injury kegging is easier.
FG 1.006
clean with no infections or off flavors
noticeable alcohol but not harsh
esters (orange) and phenols (black pepper) noticeable but not overwhelming. very nice.
very promising.
I bought a Val-Dieu Blond which is a BJCP commercial example for this style and did a side by side.
Aroma: mine: low, grain sweet. low herbal hop. orange notes. low alcohol. nice pepper/spice. med-low.
vd: candy sweetness. sweet orange w/ hints of cherry. odd off nose -> burnt rubber.
Appearance: very similar color. gold. similar head size and color. mine is a bit clearer than the vd but similar.
Flavor: me: grainy sweet malt. low herbal hop. orange ester, black pepper phenol. noticeable but clean alcohol.
vd: honey sweet malt. ester forward. tangerine. low pepper. a bit of burnt rubber.
mouthfeel: similar. both are med-high carb. nice but not over carbonated.
Overall Impression: vd – not very good. appears to be old and oxidized. very sweet. rubber off flavor is very off putting.
me: definitely too style although a bit high on the alcohol scale. would maybe tune that back a bit. maybe a hair boozy. malt, hop and yeast character is spot on.