AG#5 Dunvel I (Duvel)

[brewtim]

First crack at a Belgian, so I picked a simple one (??). Have you seen the price of Duvel recently - £6.20/L in Sainsburys to £7.50/L in Waitrose, I've worked out even with using a complete vial of yeast at £6 a pop including water & electric etc, I can make it for £1/L, expensive for a homebrew, but it's all relative (excluding the shiny :whistle: ). It must be roughly the same price for those expensive Lambics you see at about £35/L :shock:

For a corny sized batch, I've got:

Grain - 5.4Kg Dingemanns Pilsner (90%)
Sugar - 600g Billingtons Golden Caster Cane sugar (10%)
Yeast - WLP570 Belgian Golden Ale stepped up to ~400 billion cells.
Water - Lactic acid in the liquor (sets the liquor @ pH3.5 and lowers alkalinity for buffering), sodium chloride in with the grains.

Stats
OG 1.069
Expected ABV 8.4%


Mash
Total liquor 36.5L
Mash in 27L @ 45 C
Step 1 45 C for 15 mins
Step 2 63 C for 35 mins
Step 3 71 C for 35 mins
Step 4 Add 9.5L @ 78 C
Step 5 78 C for 20 mins (iodine test for conversion)

Boil
90 mins.
30g Styrian Goldings 90 mins
20g Styrian Goldings 30 mins
20g Saaz 15mins
10g Saaz 0 mins

Equipment
Braumeister 50L with the 20L mash pipe, Minibrew 8G plastic conical fermenter, STC controlled Beko Larder fridge, Corny keg & CO2, Blichmann beer gun, Beersmith 2, 48 original Duvel bottles in original Duvel crates (from a workmate) :hat:

Fermentation
Pitch @ 18 C
Allow temp to rise after high Krausen prob max @ 28 C depending on how it's going (any comments on this?)
Expect the bulk of fermentation to be complete 5-7 days
Then cool to -3 and hold below zero for 3 weeks.
This last bit is a bit hazy as I'm not sure if there should be a Diacetyl rest before cooling...anyone, I usually let it go to around 10 days?

Packaging & Conditioning
Into bottles @ 20 C after lagering for 3 weeks with some sugar and possibly more yeast, I should really hold some yeast back from the starter for this, otherwise I could use some dried, nottingham maybe?
2-3 weeks carbonating @ fermentation temp
2-3 months aging @ 12 C before ready in the bottles.


Any comments welcome

 

[brewtim]

Placeholder for piccies

 

[tommidolcetto]

Hi Tim

This is one I'm planning to do in the new year, got most of the info from Michael Jackson's The Great Beers of Belgium book. Simpler mash for me - BIAB, and then a bit confused about fermentation temps! Why are you letting it go up to 28c?
Am thinking of adding half the sugar in 2nd fv before lagering which is apparently what Duvel do but do you then keep at higher temp for while so it ferments? Unsure about yeast for bottling.


Doov'l (Belgian Golden Strong Ale)

Original Gravity (OG): 1.071 (°P): 17.3
Final Gravity (FG): 1.014 (°P): 3.6
Alcohol (ABV): 7.47 %
Colour (SRM): 4.9 (EBC): 9.7
Bitterness (IBU): 26.9 (Average)

75% Pilsner
16.67% Candi Sugar, Clear
4.17% Acidulated Malt
4.17% Aromatic Malt

1.5 g/L Saaz (3.2% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil)
1.5 g/L Styrian Golding (3.6% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil)
1 g/L Saaz (3.2% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes (Boil)
0.5 g/L Styrian Golding (3.6% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes (Boil)
0.5 g/L Saaz (3.2% Alpha) @ 0 Minutes (Boil)
0.5 g/L Styrian Golding (3.6% Alpha) @ 0 Minutes (Boil)


Single step Infusion at 65°C for 90 Minutes. Boil for 90 Minutes

Fermented at 20°C (?) with WLP570 - Belgian Golden Ale

Notes: Mash out/sparge 77c

500g sugar 10 min boil

500g sugar 2nd fv

Recipe Generated with BrewMate

 

[brewtim]

Hi Tim

This is one I'm planning to do in the new year, got most of the info from Michael Jackson's The Great Beers of Belgium book. Simpler mash for me - BIAB, and then a bit confused about fermentation temps! Why are you letting it go up to 28c?
Am thinking of adding half the sugar in 2nd fv before lagering which is apparently what Duvel do but do you then keep at higher temp for while so it ferments? Unsure about yeast for bottling.

I've got most of my info from 'Brew like a Monk' by Stan Hieronymus, fermentation details from that book for Duvel, Stan writes that Duvel pitch @ 16-18 C and allow the temp to rise to 28 C. This makes sense to me to keep esters in check at the beginning phase of replication and encourage attenuation beyond high Krausen, however I'm a relative beginner at this brewing lark so I'm still learning!

Some details are omitted from the book, such as the sugar additions, I'm just going to throw all of mine in the boil @ 75 mins as I want to get the max attenuation and want it fairly dry from initial fermentation.

I noticed the single infusion temp @ 65 C was mentioned elsewhere, but thought I would try the traditional mash method as I have the easy option of doing this with the Braumeister, I'm really unsure about the 45 C step, I used this step for my Hefe for Ferulic acid production, I'm guessing the Ferulic rest adds a balance of spicy Phenolics in the final product, but then I'm using WLP570, I've no idea what the Duvel strain is!