Belgian Ale success!

[Tony Dyer]

AT the end of September I decided to make my first attempt at a temparature stepped mash. I used a recipe for De Konick Belgian ale, which uses lager ingredients but a top-fermenting ale yeast. Here's the recipe (from Wheler and Protz). I got 9 litres out of this (I was hoping for 10 - 12 litres), partly due to syphoning and general incompetance problems:
2kg Lager Malt
650g Vienna Malt
30g Chocolate Malt
30g Saaz hops (start of boil)
Irish Moss
1/2 sachet Mangrove Jacks M41 Belgian Ale yeast

Mash at 50 degrees for 30 mins and 67 degrees for 60 mins.

The initial results in the fermenting vessel were horribly murky - like Horlicks - I couldn't get it any clearer. The fermentation went well at first. It's the first time I used my new bubbler jar with an airlock instead of the old plastic bucket. It was still bubbling away after 2 weeks with a heavy sticky looking head on it. After about 19 days I racked off into a spare bucket over 60g of priming sugar solution and then bottled. I had real problems syphoning (2 hands and 1 tube) without getting loads of trub into the bottling vessel. Anyway, despite these issues I got 18 1/2 litre bottles of the stuff, all looking very murky again and 1 or 2 looking more like rough cider than beer. (I have one of those little filtering bags somewhere that fit over the syphon tube - I remembered it about 2/3 of the way through bottling). A couple of weeks on the shelf cleared it quite satisfactorily I'm glad to say.

So yesterday evening, 5 weeks after brewing and 2 1/2 weeks since bottling I tried it. A couple of hours in the fridge and the bottle opened with a refreshing pop (swing top). Poured with a nice head and the taste... well, frankly fantastic! I have never tried De Konick but mine tastes like Leffe - and I'm VERY pleased about that! So pleased that I'm going to have to try it again before Christmas to see if it was a fluke.

The OG was approx 1045 and it fermented down to approx 1003 which in my calc's works out at about 5.2%. That figure seems bout right having had a couple.

Oh, and I have an auto-syphon and bottle filling wand on order!

 

[RichardM]

Glad it has turned out well. It's on my list to try. It's on page 81 of the book, opposite Donnington SBA on page 82. That was going to be my next brew but I got carried away and change the recipe so much that I have decided to call it Special Bitter Ale.
I did have a European ale from a different book in mind to do after that but might be tempted to try the De Koninck instead.....and after reading a post on here about Pliny The Elder the other day I want to try a clone of that...too many different beers to brew.

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

Bookmarking this, thanks, as a Belgian style beer is next on my list!

 

[Tony Dyer]

Glad it has turned out well. It's on my list to try. It's on page 81 of the book, opposite Donnington SBA on page 82. ...

Ah yes, Donnington's. I used to live within range of several Donningtons pubs and SBA was always a favourite. They don't seem to sell to non-tied pubs so it's not available very widely as far as I recall.

 

[RichardM]

Ah yes, Donnington's. I used to live within range of several Donningtons pubs and SBA was always a favourite. They don't seem to sell to non-tied pubs so it's not available very widely as far as I recall.

I've never had it, but read the recipe and thought it looked good (and simple to brew). When I googled it though I found 'mixed' reviews, some people really didn't like it.

 

[Tony Dyer]

I've never had it, but read the recipe and thought it looked good (and simple to brew). When I googled it though I found 'mixed' reviews, some people really didn't like it.

Well, the real thing was nearly always good. I have thought about trying to brew the P82 recipe but I avoid recipes with added sugar - this is probably unjustified but I want to get my sugars from malted grain. My advice, if you want or need it, is to give it a go - basically it's malt, hops and water (oh ... and sugar), so what can go wrong?

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

probably unjustified but I want to get my sugars from malted grain

100% with you on that... just can’t quite bring myself to pour in the Tate & Lyle. I know it’s irrational, but it just brings back too many memories of the dreadful brews people used to do when I was a student :-)

 

[BassoonBrew]

Great stuff! I'm a great fan of Belgian style yeast, I've also used the Lallemand Belle Saison to similar effect. Fermenting higher than normal (25C+) gets lots of characteristic esters, and it ferments out very dry (90+ % attenuation).

 

[strange-steve]

I have thought about trying to brew the P82 recipe but I avoid recipes with added sugar - this is probably unjustified but I want to get my sugars from malted grain

100% with you on that... just can’t quite bring myself to pour in the Tate & Lyle.

Unjustified indeed, simple sugars play a major role in Belgian (and British) brewing, don't let old myths put you off using it.

 

[Tony Dyer]

Unjustified indeed, simple sugars play a major role in Belgian (and British) brewing, don't let old myths put you off using it.

Fair enough - and I've used sugar crystals in my Christmas brew - but Donnies is basically malt and fuggles and I'd have thought that the 3% of sugar they add could be found from a bit more malt.

 

[moto748]

Bookmarking this, thanks, as a Belgian style beer is next on my list!

Likewise!

 

[Maxonian]

Glad it worked out well for you. I go down Belgian beer rabbit holes from time to time. I get hold of a yeast I like and brew a bunch of different styles with it over a few weeks like some kind of mad monk. Then I’ll fancy something pale and hoppy and all I’ve got are dubbels, tripels, saisons and bière de gardes. Ah well.

 

[Tony Dyer]

Co-incidentally, I've got another batch of this fermenting right now. It's the same recipe as above with a bit more malt and slightly adjusted to match amounts specified by my calculations. Oh and about 150g of Biscuit Malt as I didn't have enough Vienna. It's bubbling away nicely.

I tried my own variation a short while ago, adding some Carapils to make it darker and some Styrian Goldings late in the boil for a bit more flavour. I wouldn't do that if I were you - it didn't improve it and the extra bitterness was actually quite unwelcome. I still drank it all though

 

[moto748]

Got this mashing away right now. Very interested to see how it turns out.

 

[Tony Dyer]

Good luck! Look forward to your report

 

[moto748]

I'm a bit perplexed, really. You said you got 9 litres, but were expecting 10-12, So I aimed for a target of 11, in the middle of your range. But, based a small sample I cooled, the FG of the wort was only a disappointing 1035 ish. I've never had a reading so low before. But I actually ended up with 12 litres, not 11, so 10% out there. And a much lower brewhouse efficiency than usual, just under 50%. I know these efficiencies are by their nature approximate, but plugging your 9 litres in, I was getting about the same efficiency for you as me. So now, I'll wait until the morning till it's all cooled and re-check the FG, but I can't see it'll be much different. Maybe I just needed to mash for longer. I have some brewing sugar in the cupboard. Perhaps the best option would be to stir some of that in before pitching to get the FG into the right ballpark.

 

[moto748]

Or perhaps light DME, I have some of that too.

 

[Tony Dyer]

I'm a bit perplexed, really. You said you got 9 litres, but were expecting 10-12, So I aimed for a target of 11, in the middle of your range. But, based a small sample I cooled, the FG of the wort was only a disappointing 1035 ish. I've never had a reading so low before. But I actually ended up with 12 litres, not 11, so 10% out there. And a much lower brewhouse efficiency than usual, just under 50%. I know these efficiencies are by their nature approximate, but plugging your 9 litres in, I was getting about the same efficiency for you as me. So now, I'll wait until the morning till it's all cooled and re-check the FG, but I can't see it'll be much different. Maybe I just needed to mash for longer. I have some brewing sugar in the cupboard. Perhaps the best option would be to stir some of that in before pitching to get the FG into the right ballpark.

Well, I always found it hard to get the water quantities and therefore OG right. Since I did that brew I've got better but still have trouble reaching my target OG with the right amount of beer. So apologies if I've led you up the garden path! I base my calcs on an assumed mash efficiency of 65% but I reckon I'm achieving less for some reason. I sometimes wonder if brewing 1/2 batches (10 - 12 litres, 2.5 - 3.5 kilos of grain) results in less efficiency. I may try a full 25 litre brew sometime (i.e. when I buy a bigger FV) to see.
One thing is that the Belgian Ale yeast is a hungtry so and so and last time took it down to 1002, so you get a bit of strength back from that.

 

[moto748]

I'm sure you haven't led me up the garden path! But I did neglect my own rule, though, which is to treat "mash for one hour" in a recipe as a minimum, on the basis that mashing longer cannot hurt. Anyway, I decided that there's little point in a low-alcohol version of this time of beer, so I bunged in 300 g of DME before pitching, which brought the gravity up around 1045. It's bubbling away merrily now.

it is strange, cos I'm never been so far off the mark with an expected gravity reading before. But on paper, there is plenty enough grains there to achieve the gravity asked for.

I have to say, I've done a fair few smaller brews lately (including 5 litre ones), and I haven't found efficiency worse, in fact, slightly better, if anything. I've been getting around 68-69% lately, and considering I'm just working with a plastic bucket and a few demi-johns, and no clever fermentors or anything like that, I'm pretty satisfied with that.

 

[Tony Dyer]

The total mash time should have been 90 mins (30 + 60)...? Anyway, I hope it works out for you.

I also am a bucket and bottle brewer. I can't see so much entertainment in a super wizzo system that does it all for you. I like to make my own mistakes I guess (and I do!).
Cheers!