Molasses, date syrup and muscado

[Pennine]

I'm not. I pitched at 20C, which was the temperature of the yeast slurry and I've wrapped the fermenter up in towels. The heat of fermentation has brought it up to 22 already and I expect that to level out around 24C. The yeast isn't phenolic and seems quite well-behaved for a Belgian, so I'm just letting it take its course. I had a taste of the cloudy 6 I had just transferred to secondary to clear and it tastes lovely. My case of 12 is hot off the production line and I wasn't all that impressed. It was too sweet for one thing. I've stowed it in the garage and I'll give it a year before trying another. I've no shortage of beer, thankifully.

Which yeast did you use?

Yeah 12 is definitely sweet, which I prefer. Also contributes to my liking of crystal malts.

It does get better over time up to at least 3 years, after that the yeast starts to come off the bottom and mix in with the beer which makes it taste more meaty.

 

[An Ankoù]

Which yeast did you use?

Yeah 12 is definitely sweet, which I prefer. Also contributes to my liking of crystal malts.

It does get better over time up to at least 3 years, after that the yeast starts to come off the bottom and mix in with the beer which makes it taste more meaty.

There were 4 of us and we each had a bottle of 6. I had already prepared a culture flask so the bottoms went straight into the flask. Then we two blokes tried the 8 and 12 as neither of our wiives like dark beer. I didn't mix in the yeasts from the 8 and 12 incase they were different. In fact I think they're all the same.

The 6 was surprisingly bitter and, while enjoyable seemed a little coarse and then we followed it with a bottle each of Poperings Homelbier, which, by comparison was overprocessed and insipid. Very odd, I normally like homelbier. I guess the 6 needs to settle down for a few months, too.

 

[Pennine]

There were 4 of us and we each had a bottle of 6. I had already prepared a culture flask so the bottoms went straight into the flask. Then we two blokes tried the 8 and 12 as neither of our wiives like dark beer.

Nice, I am curious if they still get their yeast from Westmalle or if they culture their own now. It's nice oppurtunity to try all three offerings all at once. I have been there 4 times and was only able to get crates of 8 and 12 when I managed to get an appointment, the cafe was never open when I was there for me to try the 6. Which was ok I guess, becuase I always swung by De Struise instead and picked up many more interesting things.

 

[Pennine]

Ok I think I settled on 80g of each of the syrups and sugar, that will get me to 10% of the total fermentables. Molasses has less sugar than the other two which are pure sugar so there may be a difference from fermentability and alcohol content.

 

[An Ankoù]

Nice, I am curious if they still get their yeast from Westmalle or if they culture their own now. It's nice oppurtunity to try all three offerings all at once. I have been there 4 times and was only able to get crates of 8 and 12 when I managed to get an appointment, the cafe was never open when I was there for me to try the 6. Which was ok I guess, becuase I always swung by De Struise instead and picked up many more interesting things.

I wondered if they used Westmalle yeast as they also use the same bottles. I tried a bottle recently, it was cheap as chips- about €1,45 in the supermarket. I must get some more as i thoroughly enjoyed it. To be frank, i've been put off Belgian beers by the phenolic character in a lot of the abbey styles, which I don't like at all. But I'm going to revisit the authentic Trappist beers.

 

[dad_of_jon]

I have used some dark sugar to boost the abv in an imperial stout....

I do this all the time I thought it was illegal not to

 

[Pennine]

I do this all the time I thought it was illegal not to

Actually the other way around, impy stouts should be all grain all the time.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Actually the other way around, impy stouts should be all grain all the time.

Should tell Barclay Perkins and other brewers of it, who all used ~10% sugar :
https://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2020/06/lets-brew-wednesday-1937-barclay.htmlhttps://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2022/01/lets-brew-wednesday-1924-barclay.htmlhttps://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2018/10/lets-brew-wednesday-1918-whitbread.htmlhttps://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2019/08/lets-brew-wednesday-1914-courage.html

 

[Pennine]

Should tell Barclay Perkins and other brewers of it, who all used ~10% sugar :
https://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2020/06/lets-brew-wednesday-1937-barclay.htmlhttps://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2022/01/lets-brew-wednesday-1924-barclay.htmlhttps://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2018/10/lets-brew-wednesday-1918-whitbread.htmlhttps://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2019/08/lets-brew-wednesday-1914-courage.html

Yeah I was just kidding around. But that is a good question do you think brewers are using ny more for imperial stouts? I read on Ed's blog about how little Ragus sells now.

 

[Pennine]

Edit by the way I did brew these up, here are some pics in my brew day.

pennine's brewdays

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Yeah I was just kidding around. But that is a good question do you think brewers are using ny more for imperial stouts? I read on Ed's blog about how little Ragus sells now.

The tax system means that minimal amounts of beer are sold in the UK over 7.5% ABV, so the amount of invert going into big beers has always been negligble. The reason for the decline of invert is partly about the change in styles that use it like mild to lager that doesn't (but may use other adjuncts). And also other sugars being used - the Fuller's Imperial Porter had nearly 15% sugar, but it was mostly glucose with a bit of treacle and <1% invert.

And also it reflects the growth of other uses - like Lallemand, Ragus is essentially a bakery supply company with a small sideline in brewing.