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First Attempt With Grains Is Good, But Not What I Expected - Ideas?
First serious attempt came out good, but not what I expected.
Hoping you old sages will impart some nuggets of wisdom.
Hoping for a rich, toasted, carmely, malty winter Belgian, but instead tastes much like the Blue Moon Belgian White.
My taste tester agreed it starts off yeasty, then you get a moment of the flavor I was hoping for, then it finishes with a dry, sour finish similar to the Blue Moon. It has a cloudiness to it as well. Not a Hefeweizen fog, but certainly not crystal clear.
30 minutes @ 150 degrees
1 lb Crystal Malt grain
1 lb CaraBelg Malt grain
(I had to measure my ingredients in ratios, because currently, I can only make 2.25 gallon batches.)
Increase to Rolling Boil
3 lbs Amber Malt dry extract
20 minutes @ Rolling Boil
1 oz Fuggle Hops
20 minutes @ Rolling Boil
1 oz Fuggle Hops
Orange Zest
Clove
Coriander
20 minutes @ Rolling Boil
1 oz Saaz Hops
Wyeast 1214 - Belgian Abbey
5 weeks at or around 68 degrees
Priming (corn) sugar directly into the bottles
3 weeks in the bottle at or around 68 degrees.
Does it sound like it was my process, ingredients, or is this too little info to diagnose?
Thanks for the help.
I think you used too high of a percentage of specialty grains especially in conjunction with the Amber extract. With that small of a batch two pounds seems like an awful lot. At the same time that doesnt fit with your description of how it turned out. When you state it had a sour finish it makes me wonder if you have a contamination issue.
Welcome to the board.
Don't belgian yeasts give off those kind of flavors too? I thought it could have been the yeast.
You also fermented it at the top end of the range for that yeast so you're going to get more surprise flavors out of it. 58-68 is the range and midpoint is safest.
DC
Sometimes I think people incorrectly use the term "sour" as a descriptor. If it is indeed sour then you may have a contamination issue. However, it could be green beer or it could be very dry giving it a tartness.
What were you original and final gravities?
I'll also second andrew's comment regarding the high use of specialty grains. 40% of the grain bill is much too high for crystal malts.
I'm going to have to disagree with DC about the fermentation temperatures. 68F is fine for that yeast and you could even go a little higher. Wyeast states it range to be 68-78 though I probably wouldn't go much higher than the low 70's except towards the end of fermentation to help finish the beer out.
I'm confused as to when you added your hops and spices as you listed them all at 20 mins. But I think the reason your beer tastes like Blue Moon is because you added orange peel and coriander which are commonly used spices in Belgian Wits.
The cloudiness you have is normal. Did you use any fining agents like irish moss or whirfloc? Is it hazy before you put the bottle in the fridge, after its chilled, or both? If its hazy after its been in the fridge then its just chill haze. Just proteins binding but they'll eventually fall out of precipitation and leave you with clear beer. Usually time and cold temps will take care of all haze issues, even hefeweizens.
One last thing regarding the possibility of contamination. You may want to create a priming sugar solution next time when bottling. Just mix your priming sugar with a pint of water and boil it for 10-15 minutes. Pour it into your bottling bucket and rack on top of it and make sure it gets mixed in well. This is one more step to decrease any infection risks.
Give it another month in the bottle, those belgian yeasts need some time to do their magic, and settle the flavors. If you where going for toasted, aroma/flavor, use biscuit malt, or Victory malt next time. ( I love the biscuit myself, and can't be impartial.) Also special B will give it a nice flavor like toasty roasty sweet caramel flavor.
I Think Jensen is right though, I would cut those ratios way down for specialy, like only use an ounce or 2 for those size batches. Also GOD DAMN BOY THAT IS ALOT OF HOPS. I believe you might be using alot of hops, I know they are low AA, but you could get buy using a quarter of an ounce of each add.
So, just leave it, it will be better in a month, I promise, and belgians are tough to get just right, so keep making them, you'll get it soon.
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