2015 Advent December 22 - Belgian Dubbel

[Lucas]

I am trying to give as much detail about my process as possible and I welcome constructive comments/criticisms! Thanks everybody, really looking forward to this advent calendar!

For a 20L batch:

Grist:
3.5kg Pilsner
0.5kg Aromatic Malt
0.5kg Melanoiden Malt
0.25kg Special B Malt

Sugars added at 10min left in the boil:
0.27kg dark candi syrup (the stuff from Everwood, 80 SRM)
0.32kg dark candi sugar (the rock-like stuff from Noble Grape)

Hops:
12g Magnum First wort hops - 75 minute boil (16 IBUs)
28g Tettnanger 10 mins (5 IBUs)

Mash water: I modified Lake Pockwock water to obtain approximately 70ppm Ca, 4ppm Mg, 14ppm Na, 70ppm SO4, 24ppm Cl, and 80ppm HCO3
Sparge water: I meant to use the same water as for the mash but I forgot to add the chalk - oops! That means the sparge water had approximately 33ppm Ca and 22ppm HCO3 instead. I don't think this will prove to be a catastrophic error.

Yeast: Wyeast 1762 - Belgian Abbey II

Brewed September 13

Single infusion mash. Added 13L water and mashed in at about 59C - lower than desired. Added boiling water and did a small decoction to bring mash temperature up to desired 63C. Let rest at 63C for 60 minutes. First runnings got very slow towards the end. Refilled mash tun with 77C water, stirred, and let rest for 15 minutes. Steadier second runnings so I fly sparged until I had 28L of runnings. ~21L into fermenter at OG 1.060 after the 75 minute boil.

Chilled to ~23C using immersion chiller. Aerated with shaking, and pitched ~1L of ~1.6L starter made from a fresh smack pack. Placed fermenter in cold water bath. Temperature bottomed out at 20.5C. There was a lot of action after the initial lag which required a blowoff tube for several days. Allowed temperature to rise to 23C once the action was under control and held there for two or three weeks before removing heater wrap and leaving it at ambient temperature (~21C).

October 24 - FG 1.007. Bottled with 208g corn sugar in 21L to achieve ~3.3 volumes. Used heavy bottles that will be able to handle the high carbonation.

The sample tasted good when I bottled this the other day so I am very much looking forward to tasting and sharing the finished product!

[LiverDance]

Having this one now and am really enjoying it. Nice mix of spicy belgian yeast with deep malt flavors as well as a slight hint of bubblegum type flavor. Great beer

[amartin]

I liked this one, I liked how the yeast didn't completely dominate like it can. I was thinking about using this for my current round of belgian beers, I might have to next time around now.

[bluenose]

This is a tasty beer... that's about all I can give you seeing as how I may have had some 'shine before cracking this

[pet lion]

Had this last night. Dark mahogany. Malty and dried fruit aroma. Nice carbonation. Really enjoyed the flavours in this.  

[MitchK]

Why the mix of candi syrup and candi sugar? Do you think subbing and going with 100% syrup would be as good?

[Lucas]

Glad people are enjoying this one so far! Mitch, I had both candi syrup and candi sugar on hand and I wanted to use them up before I bought any more of either. I don't really know if it makes a noticeable difference.

[HoweFox]

This was great. Very malty.

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[mumblecrunch]

Excellent malt flavors here. I taste quite a bit of banana and a little bit of bubblegum, but none of the esters that I have trouble with in some Belgians. Really nice beer. Thanks!!

[Broob]

I agree with Aaron on this one. No harsh esters. This is a Belgian I could drink all day. Thanks

[Woody]

Very tasty beer. Excellent carbonation and flavours. My wife enjoyed it as well. Don't think I'll share any more than a sip. I'm still playing catch up on the advent.

[GillettBreweryCnslt]

Just finished this one. It was good and malty. Boozy on the nose, warm on the way down. True to the style.

Cheers

[CartoonCod]

I'm just getting around to it as well. First off, this beer has a really long lasting head. Nice small bubbles, fantastic. Nice caramel malt aroma, with a decent amount of banana esters. Lots of rich malt flavour with notes of caramel and some dark fruit like raisins. Lots of pleasant Belgian fermentation character with no harsh hot-alcohols. Finishes nice and dry. The body is a bit thin. Very nice level of carbonation especially given the bottle type. Overall, it was a pleasure to drink. Thoughts for improvement could involve a reducing the banana esters (just a bit) and a slightly bigger body. Thanks!

[naes100]

Just had this, enjoyed it very much! Good Job

[Lucas]

I'm just getting around to it as well. First off, this beer has a really long lasting head. Nice small bubbles, fantastic. Nice caramel malt aroma, with a decent amount of banana esters. Lots of rich malt flavour with notes of caramel and some dark fruit like raisins. Lots of pleasant Belgian fermentation character with no harsh hot-alcohols. Finishes nice and dry. The body is a bit thin. Very nice level of carbonation especially given the bottle type. Overall, it was a pleasure to drink. Thoughts for improvement could involve a reducing the banana esters (just a bit) and a slightly bigger body. Thanks!

Thanks for the detailed review Adam. General question for anyone that might know the answer: do you think starting fermentation lower would reduce the banana esters? I didn't have a good way to get the wort cooler than about 20.5C at the time I brewed this (although I have one now). Ideally I think I would have started at 18 or 19. Any other ideas for reducing banana but maintaining the dark fruit ester profile? Apart from switching yeast strain, that is - I like this strain overall.

[mackay85]

finally got around to this one...tasty beer! Thanks!

[CartoonCod]

Thanks for the detailed review Adam. General question for anyone that might know the answer: do you think starting fermentation lower would reduce the banana esters? I didn't have a good way to get the wort cooler than about 20.5C at the time I brewed this (although I have one now). Ideally I think I would have started at 18 or 19. Any other ideas for reducing banana but maintaining the dark fruit ester profile? Apart from switching yeast strain, that is - I like this strain overall.

Yeah, a lower initial fermentation temp should reduce the esters. I think the dark fruit profile is not from the esters but from the malt and your dark sugar/syrup, so you should still get that from a colder ferment (it may even come through more with less esters).

[Lucas]

Sounds good!

[Keith]

Just drank this one, tasty beer. Could drink another. Needless to say it helps.... I'm cleaning kegs, growlers and moving stuff into the new beer room.

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[LiverDance]

...moving stuff into the new beer room...

The wife is heading away for a bit and all of a sudden you have a new beer room

[Keith]

...moving stuff into the new beer room...

The wife is heading away for a bit and all of a sudden you have a new beer room

Need to get my mill and other shit in there, but that's coming soon.