Belgian Christmas Ale

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broadfordbrewer

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I've left it a bit late to put a Christmas brew on, but what the hell, tonight I'll be brewing a Brupaks Belgium Christmas Ale. It will make 10 Litres of a 4.5-5% a.b.v ale, which will be dark, sweet and spicy. The ingredients list chocolate malt, coriander and juniper.

Slightly disappointed as I ordered this kit and the very next day got my hands on a 5G boiler and a mash/grain bag, so I could have gone a step further, but hey-ho... I guess I'll be brewing again once my FV is empty. So close to the darkest side of brewing... I can taste it!!! :twisted:
 
This evening I brewed this;
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Put the malt extract in a pan of boiling water
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1 litre of boiling water over the teabags for 15 mins and added to the FV
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Drained and added another litre of boiling water for 5 mins and added to the FV
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Malt extract added to the FV and given a stir
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Cold water added to make up to 10 litres (along with half a crushed campden tablet)
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OG of 1.050 which is bang on ;)
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Let it all cool to 20C and pitched the yeast. I substituted the 6g of Muntons yeast from the kit with a 11.5g sachet of S-04. Gentle stir and tucked up. ;)
 
abeyptfc said:
do the teabags come with the kit?

Hi, yes they do, there were three and contained choc malt, coriander and juniper. I think think all of the 'Beers of the World' range have these. I haven't done one of these kits before, but I have high hopes for it as the additional flavours and aromas from the bags should improve things. Lovely chocolate smells coming from the FV this morning, but sadly no real yeast action yet :?
 
The s-o4 can be a little slow to get going, what temp is the room at? I`m sure it`ll be fine though - maybe take a hydrometer reading tommorrow and see if its dropped, once it gets going its pretty quick s-o4 :thumb:
 
rickthebrew said:
The s-o4 can be a little slow to get going, what temp is the room at? I`m sure it`ll be fine though - maybe take a hydrometer reading tommorrow and see if its dropped, once it gets going its pretty quick s-o4 :thumb:

I can see that it's got going this evening :party: but it isn't really doing much with the airlock? i've not used one before, so haven't got a clue of I'm making a cock of it.

The room temp is somewhere between 18-21 most of the day which is usually fine, probably 15-16 during the night which is probably a bit cool for it.
Cheers :thumb:
 
Sounds fine to me :thumb: the temp range is fine and will make little difference, my kitchen is around 22degrees when we are in and drops at night aswell. I`ve never used an airlock with my beer brewing but if the lid and seal aren`t 100% tight fitting then the co2 will escape through the gaps before the airlock :thumb:
 
Thanks for the reassurance on this one. I've never used an airlock before but my last brew ended up with vinegar smells so thought I would try it this way to see if it was due to me not using a sealed FV?
I think you are right about the escaping CO2, as I cut the hole using a stanley knife and not enough care and attention and there is a small cut that is outside the bung diameter.
Anyway it seems happy enough and I'll take a reading tomorrow.
:thumb:
 
It was down to 1.022 last night so all is well. Two issues;

I dropped and broke my thermometer while washing it :evil:
I burnt my nostrils taking a good sniff inside the FV (the airlock clearly isn't working and breathing the gases built up in there was like eating a tablespoon of mustard :oops: ) Ouch
 
:whistle: I once got a load of DJs and wine bits of freecycle - there was a bottle of campden tabs with a boots price sticker on and without thinking i undid the lid and took a sniff to see if they were any good :nono:

:shock: that hurt.....a lot :D
 
This brew has stuck at 1020 for 3 days so I've taken the decision to pitch some more yeast, give it a little stir and hope I don't oxidise it! Here's hoping.... as I could have just racked it as it was tasting good (if not a little too sweet), but it's not far of the 4.5-5.0% range the kit suggests. :pray: :pray: :pray:
 

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