AG65 - Houblon-ish Belgian Pale Ale

[strange-steve]

This is tomorrow's brew, it's been a while since I've brewed something Belgian so it's nice to get back to my true love
This is aiming to be something along the lines of a smaller La Chouffe Houblon but with lots of noble hops rather than the citrusy US hops that I think they use.

Houblon-ish

Recipe Specs
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Batch Size (L): 19
Total Grain (kg): 4.09
Total Hops (g): 155
Original Gravity (OG): 1.051
Final Gravity (FG): 1.009
Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 5.5 %
Colour (SRM): 5
Bitterness (IBU): 24
Boil Time (Minutes): 75

Grain Bill
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3.500 kg Pilsner (86%)
0.300 kg Granulated Sugar (7%)
0.150 kg Melanoidin (3.5%)
0.100 kg Caramunich I (2.5%)
0.040 kg Acidulated Malt (1%)

Hop Bill
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5 g Magnum (15.3% AA) @ 30 Minutes

25 g Hallertau Mittlefrueh (4.3% AA) @ 20 Minutes
25 g Saaz (3.6% AA) @ 20 Minutes

25 g Hallertau Mittlefrueh @ 1 Minutes
25 g Saaz @ 1 Minutes

25 g Hallertau Mittlefrueh for 7 Days (Dry Hop)
25 g Saaz for 7 Days (Dry Hop)

Misc Bill
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5.0 g Coriander Seed @ 2 Minutes (Boil)

Mash Schedule
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62° for 20 mins
68° for 50 mins
77° for 15 mins

Notes
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Fermented with Wyeast 3522 - Belgian Ardennes
Pitch at 17° and increase by 1°/day up to 25°

 

[strange-steve]

The starter, looking rather lifeless at the moment

 

[LeeH]

Best stir plate ever!

 

[strange-steve]

Best stir plate ever!

The best 6 quid I ever spent

 

[strange-steve]

The brewday went smoothly yesterday all done and cleaned up by 2pm and apart from going over volume and under OG again everything went as planned. I think I need to reduce my sparge volume by a litre or so as this has happened a couple of times now. Still dialing in the details of GF brewing.

Despite the starter remaining as still as a millpond, I harvested 500ml to use in my next brew, a Pannepot clone, and dumped the rest in. Definite signs of fermentation in the brew this morning though so maybe the flat looking starter is typical of 3522? Never used it before so don't really know.

 

[strange-steve]

Two weeks in and this is now at SG 1.011, a little higher than expected which I'll have to keep in mind for the Pannepot clone attempt.

Sample is tasting pretty good already, the peppery phenols are noticeable but overall the yeast profile is surprisingly clean with a pleasant delicate hop aroma. The dry hop will hopefully elevate this to something a bit more interesting though.

 

[strange-steve]

First proper taste of this and I'm very happy with how it has turned out. Floral and spicy with a nice complexity to it. The yeast is surprisingly clean, with a very subtle "Belgian" quality, but it brings out the malt flavours really nicely.