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Having brewed the same recipe a few times over and slightly different results each time (and having done slightly different things each time too), in wondering what I need to do to try to push that "Belgian Abbey/Trappist flavour" to the max.
I'm rubbish at describing flavours and have read a variety of advice being "ferment hot for lots of esters" and conversely "ferment cooler so the esters don't mask the phenols".
I would describe strong Belgian ales as having both fruity flavours (esters) and spicy flavours (phenols) so trying to push one over the other would seem to lose the balance.
The last time I brewed this, I pitched at 20° and it rose to 24, where I held it until fermentation was done. And it had less of the Belgian character then the first awesome batch which had no temperature control (but I ferment in the utility room, so it probably followed the same upwards rise but then dropped naturally after peak fermentation).
I've also previously assumed that adding extra sugar (taking it from 7.5% to ~9%) mostly increased the alcohol without much extra flavour, so have left that out of the last 2 brews. But could the yeast fermenting that last 1.5% alcohol from raw sugar really account for a huge increase in "Belgian flavour"?
I've also read (again, not certain that this is true) that most of the fermentation character comes from the growth phase of the yeast in the first 24h of fermentation. So if this is true, surely the extra sugar in the wort wouldn't make much difference?
Oh, and if (if!) the majority of fermentation character is in the growth phase, does temperature control after the first 24-48 hours matter that much? And additionally would I get more (or less?) Flavour from pitching at something like 25° instead of 20? Or even 17°?
Similarly I've heard you need more yeast for strong brews, but then you get more esters if the yeast is stressed and under pitching (so basically the same amount of yeast for a normal strength brew) could be beneficial.
What is the secret to getting those strong Belgian Abbey flavours from the brews?
I'm rubbish at describing flavours and have read a variety of advice being "ferment hot for lots of esters" and conversely "ferment cooler so the esters don't mask the phenols".
I would describe strong Belgian ales as having both fruity flavours (esters) and spicy flavours (phenols) so trying to push one over the other would seem to lose the balance.
The last time I brewed this, I pitched at 20° and it rose to 24, where I held it until fermentation was done. And it had less of the Belgian character then the first awesome batch which had no temperature control (but I ferment in the utility room, so it probably followed the same upwards rise but then dropped naturally after peak fermentation).
I've also previously assumed that adding extra sugar (taking it from 7.5% to ~9%) mostly increased the alcohol without much extra flavour, so have left that out of the last 2 brews. But could the yeast fermenting that last 1.5% alcohol from raw sugar really account for a huge increase in "Belgian flavour"?
I've also read (again, not certain that this is true) that most of the fermentation character comes from the growth phase of the yeast in the first 24h of fermentation. So if this is true, surely the extra sugar in the wort wouldn't make much difference?
Oh, and if (if!) the majority of fermentation character is in the growth phase, does temperature control after the first 24-48 hours matter that much? And additionally would I get more (or less?) Flavour from pitching at something like 25° instead of 20? Or even 17°?
Similarly I've heard you need more yeast for strong brews, but then you get more esters if the yeast is stressed and under pitching (so basically the same amount of yeast for a normal strength brew) could be beneficial.
What is the secret to getting those strong Belgian Abbey flavours from the brews?
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