Wow- Belgian golden strong
Wow, this could be one of the best beers I have ever smelled. It is a recipe I got from another board, and had to make it, sorry I couldn't wait until next weekend with the group brew, was originally going to do it then, but needed to do it this week because it was all I had for ingredients. I give props to the creator of the recipe- it is awesome.
The aroma was so intense, my yard and garage smelled of it 2 hours later!
13# belgian pils
1# honey malt
.5# carapils
3# orange blossom honey
1# belgian clear candi sugar
2 oz hallertauer 60 min
Wyeast 3787 High Gravity
1.5 oz orange peel
1.25 oz corriander
.5 oz grated ginger root
Mash at 150 for 60 minutes
Add honey after wort cools to 180 degrees- important to not lose precious aroma
1.090 OG 5 gallons.
Now the originator says it needs 4-5 months to get really nice, figuring a 1 month primary and a couple months to secondary. I use a plate chiller so couldn't add the honey at the cooler temp, just chilled and filled the fermenters as quick as I could to try not to lose much, but like I said the aroma was wafting for a long time. I even sucked the wort out of the dropper for the refractometer! It was that good. Mine came in at 21.5Plato (1.086) before the candi sugar addition, that I will add in acouple of days at high krausen. I also mashed at 148 for 75 minutes to try to get a nice dry finish. I also scaled up the recipe to 13 gallons, and subbed in East Kent Golding (29IBUs) for the Hallertauer. Will update as it goes along- I am really excited about this one.
Sounds awesome. I am working on a larger mash/lauter tun so I can do higher gravity batches (I'm pretty much limited to 1.050 and lower batches with my current setup). I have a number of high gravity brews to delve into, and this may be the 3rd that i do...
That does sound very good......I'll have to add that to my neverending list of brews to brew......
Question though....the candi sugar you mentioned goes in at high krausen?.....Doesn't that stuff need to be boiled so it dissolves enough, or is the yeast strong enough to just rip it apart?....
Both. The candi sugar gets boiled into a very little bit of water to dissolve it then cool, then pitch. It helps belgians dry out by giving the yeast a second meal when they are at their peak. By holding out on the simple sugar' it allows the yeast to eat the complex first, build a colony then tear through the simple sugar and the remaining complex that they would normally be pooped out for, bringing the gravity down lower. This beer also may get a shot of th champagne if it dosn't drop below 1.015 after 4 weeks. We'll see then.
Awesome. Making this tomorrow.
How is this beer coming along? I'm thinking of making it next....
Was this beer as good as it smelled to you when it was in the primary? How did it come out?
MeadowStream wrote:
Was this beer as good as it smelled to you when it was in the primary? How did it come out?
Sorry for no updates! It came out very good, took a 1st place in the NERHC while it was still green. It is much more mellow now, and the ginger is really showcased. I had a glass with a panko and garlic seared stuffed pork chop last night and it was divine! Got 5 22 bombers set aside for long aging, and about a 1/4 keg left. At 10% its a sipper.
Has anyone else gave this a go yet? Rhino did you end up doing yours?
Nope....not yet at least. But now that I've been reminded...I'll have to check my brew schedule. I have an IPA dying to brewed...and then I want to get an Alt and an Irish Red brewed, and maybe my first Quad. I'd like the Quad to have this year to age and be ready for the Winter......
Great to hear that this fulfilled its promise!
Ginger is a great flavor generally... and good in beer? I would really have never thought of this even though ginger beer itself is a favorite.
Anyone here who knows me, knows I love to brag through pictures. So here is a shot of the Liquid Stoopid:
Did you use sweet or bitter orange peel?
crasher1339 wrote:
Did you use sweet or bitter orange peel?
I used actual naval oranges, and took the peel off with a paring knife, leaving the white pith behind, so used the skin or rind without the bitter pith.
Thirsty - when fermentation was near a peak you fed the candi sugar in to help the fermentation remain strong...and did you end up adding the champagne yeast?
3# of honey and 1# of sugar seems huge on the back of the grain...wow.
How thinly did you cut the orange peels...or did you grate?
Thanks!
thirsty - at what point in the boil do you add peel, spice and ginger?
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