TheRedDarren
Landlord.
- Joined
- May 14, 2015
- Messages
- 1,192
- Reaction score
- 447
I had some spare time yesterday afternoon and brewed up a belgian blonde. I love Leffe and it's a nod in that direction (I hope!) it uses the same yeast anyway and the grain bill only differs with the inclusion of Abbey malt instead of maize. Hopefully it will have a nice dry, crisp finish and a yeast strong character.
Stats are;
OG 1.060
FG 1.008
IBU 18
ABV 6%
Pretty simple grain bill;
Maris Otter 37%
Pilsner 37%
Abbey malt (Weyermanns) 18%
Clear candi sugar 8%
Hops;
Saaz (3.1%) 50g @ 60 mins
Savinjski Goldings (3%) 17g @ 3 mins.
Yeast; WLP500 (Chimay strain) 1 litre starter.
Pitched at 20*, day 2 21*, day 3 22*, day 4 23* day5 24* then keep at 24* until complete.
Looking forward to seeing what the Abbey malt tastes like, it's supposed to give honey and malty tones, and the yeast should give a very belgian note too.
17g of Goldings might seem a bit odd but it's all I had left!
All went pretty much without a hitch aprt from Og was 1.058 which annoyed me a bit, I think that was something to do with the candi sugar that I made, by the time I added it, it had cooled in the saucepan and was really thick, I don't think I got it all into the brew...
I'm also slightly worried about the yeast, it was quite old, from a batch that I had split quite a while back. In the jar it had a black layer on top
I decanted that off and the yeast underneath appeared to be ok, no off flavours or anything. The starter had a very faint solvent smell, I'm hoping that was just down to a combination of it being held at 18* (this yeast likes 20*+) in the conditioning fridge and being old yeast, it certainly smells pretty good now its going. Time will tell, but I think it'll be fine.
Fermentation profile fits in with what the Chimay brewery do, looking forward to it!
Stats are;
OG 1.060
FG 1.008
IBU 18
ABV 6%
Pretty simple grain bill;
Maris Otter 37%
Pilsner 37%
Abbey malt (Weyermanns) 18%
Clear candi sugar 8%
Hops;
Saaz (3.1%) 50g @ 60 mins
Savinjski Goldings (3%) 17g @ 3 mins.
Yeast; WLP500 (Chimay strain) 1 litre starter.
Pitched at 20*, day 2 21*, day 3 22*, day 4 23* day5 24* then keep at 24* until complete.
Looking forward to seeing what the Abbey malt tastes like, it's supposed to give honey and malty tones, and the yeast should give a very belgian note too.
17g of Goldings might seem a bit odd but it's all I had left!
All went pretty much without a hitch aprt from Og was 1.058 which annoyed me a bit, I think that was something to do with the candi sugar that I made, by the time I added it, it had cooled in the saucepan and was really thick, I don't think I got it all into the brew...
I'm also slightly worried about the yeast, it was quite old, from a batch that I had split quite a while back. In the jar it had a black layer on top
Fermentation profile fits in with what the Chimay brewery do, looking forward to it!
