Racked my Three Hearted IPA and the Patersbier to bottles today. I used T-58, 5 oz of corn sugar and 2 oz of table sugar to prime the Patersbier. 5 oz of corn sugar for the IPA with US-05. Now, let’s see if they carb up nice. The IPA smelled great and both tasted great at room temp and flat (as good as they could be anyway).
Tag Archive for 'belgian'
After 12 days I racked to secondary with a FG of 1.007. With my OG being 1.042 that will give this beer an ABV of 5.5%. A good session beer for the spring/summer I think. I did get the promised hints of citrus and pear with a bit of spicey notes. One unfortunate thing that happened was that I cooled the heated fermenter down from 74 degrees to room temp of 59 a day prior to racking. The air and liquid must have condensed, therefore pulling in about 1/2 cup of the water in my blow off vessel, up through the tubing and into the top of the bucket and into the beer. I didn’t see any film on top nor smell any off smells, so hopefully all is good. Note to self to leave the temp alone prior to racking.
I also cracked a couple beers that have been aging for a while. My Imperial Stout and Belgian Dubbel turned out great. They’re a little low on the carb but it has only been a couple weeks and it has been cold so they’ll only get better from here on out. So far, the stout has been the best tasting beer I’ve made. Very excited to share.
I’ve been eyeing this extract kit for a long time. The overview speaks for itself.
Patersbier Quick Overview (from Norther Brewer)
Stan Hieronymus (author of Brew Like a Monk) and Kristen England (BJCP Continuing Education Director) bring you this very special kit. “Brouwerij’ed” on the left side of the Belgian town Malle solely for consumption by the reverent Cistercian brothers. This ale is not served or sold to the public, making it one of the rarest beers in the world. Made only from pilsner malt, hops, and yeast, the complexity that results from these simple ingredients is staggering: perfumey floral hops, ripe pear fruit, sour apple, spicy cloves, candied citrus and a slight biscuit character on the drying finish … a monks’ session beer.
Note: If you wish to achieve a level of carbonation similar to the commercial examples of this beer, add an additional 1 to 2 oz plain table sugar to the priming solution.
Patersbier
Extract kit from Northern Homebrewer, Milwaukee, WI
Target OG: 1.047
Malt 1: 6 lbs. Pilse Malt LME (60 min)
Adjunct: 1 tspn Irish Moss (15 min)
Grain 1: .5 lb CaraPils
Hop 1: 1 oz German Tradition – alpha 5,7% (60 min)
Hop 2: .5 oz Czech Saaz – alpha 3.9% (10 min)
Yeast: #3787 Trappist (64°-78°F)
Boiling Schedule:
Collected 2.5 gallons of water. Steep grains at 155°F for 20 minutes. Bring to a boil. Remove water from heat and mix Malt 1. Bring water back to a boil and add Hop 1 @ 60 minutes and Hop 2 @ 10 minute left in the boil. Add Irish Moss with 10 minutes left in the boil.
Notes:
Transfer to secondary fermenter after about 7-14 days or begin taking daily hydrometer readings – when hydrometer readings are the same on consecutive days, primary fermentation is complete. Proceed to secondary fermentation for 2 weeks. Bottle with 5 oz of corn sugar and 2 oz of table sugar. Bottle condition for up to 2 weeks.
My actual OG was 1.042. This was the smoothest brew I’ve done so far and the first I’ve done with my new son, Colin. He chilled out in his bouncy seat while I did this beer, watching and learning 
I did pitch a little chilly (60 degrees, when my target pitch temp was 68). It was actively fermenting after 6 hours. The guy at Northern Brewer said he just brewed this batch and suggested dialing it up to 74 degrees after pitching at 68. I plan on doing this since I’ve got it sitting in the tub of water with an aquarium heater again, so it is all under control.
I didn’t sparge grains with 1/2 gallon of boiled water this time. I also used Fercaps to prevent a lot of foam action from the proteins bonding during the boil. I used a 6.5 gallon bucket for this beer, with a slightly larger siphon blowoff tube attached to the top of an airlock.
I did some reading and agreed to some of it, that the primary benefit of doing secondary fermentation is to clear the bear of suspended matter. I absolutely believe that the beer matures and finds a more complex personality during secondary. However, the latter of these two things can happen while bottle conditioning.
That being said, I chose to bottle both my Imperial Stout and the Belgian Dubbel early. The stout was given almost 2 months to secondary and the Dubbel was given about 3 weeks to clear in secondary. They’ll now age in the bottle and I might as well have them carb up at the same time.
Also, I need some equipment free to start my next brew, a Belgian Patersbier. I bottled both of the above using both plastic and glass bottles for a variety of sizes.
This was also the first time I’ve used yeast at bottling, which should be done anytime I secondary a beer from here on out. I used a couple dry yeasts for both. For the Dubbel I used a whole pack of T-58 along with 2/3 cup corn sugar, which was probably double of the yeast I should have used. The result will simply be more matter at the bottom of the bottle, so I’ll pour carefully. It shouldn’t effect the beer. For the Imperial Stout, I used about 3/4 cup of corn sugar with a half a packet of US-05. I was talking to a guy at the LHBS and he mentioned trying to use 5 oz of corn sugar and 2 oz of normal table cane sugar because traditionally they are both eaten by the yeast differently and for some reason it is a good method for bottling.