I finished up shortly after a break for lunch, as usual fitting in a few other jobs in the brew space. I've tidied and swept up so I won't worry about mice 
... which I was a bit. I've also made up some non alcoholic fizz from diluting juice and salts made up to match San Pellegrino. It'll take a couple of days to stabilise with the CO2.
The 33 litres of Dubbel are tucked up nicely, I went high on the pitching with 2 packs of CML Flushed Nun (Anyone have an idea of what this yeast actually is?) and at 26 °C now cooling to 19°C for the next week. I wanted the yeast to get going quickly to minimise the risk of infection since I'm brewing it in one of the big fermenters and the head space is quite big. I was worried I'd slightly undershot the OG but realised I'd not temperature corrected so reckon it's at the 1.067-1.068 mark
. I had to read through the side of the test cylinder as well as my more accurate hydrometer only goes up to 1.06 - which I'd forgotten so ended up displacing more fluid than meant, and had to go back to the old multicoloured one!
I've never made a Dubbel before, this one has Candi sugars rather than syrups and some of the grain bill is decidedly British rather than Belgian but I've tried to go for equivalents. Depending on how this goes I quite fancy making one following the Gordon Strong Modern Homebrew recipe with D syrup an dD-90 syrup.
I was a bit surprised by an acidity issue following the discussions with @peebee, my mash pH was stubbornly at 5.8 both after 5 min and after an overnight mash, despite first adding 2ml lactic acid then a further 8ml.
... which I was a bit. I've also made up some non alcoholic fizz from diluting juice and salts made up to match San Pellegrino. It'll take a couple of days to stabilise with the CO2.The 33 litres of Dubbel are tucked up nicely, I went high on the pitching with 2 packs of CML Flushed Nun (Anyone have an idea of what this yeast actually is?) and at 26 °C now cooling to 19°C for the next week. I wanted the yeast to get going quickly to minimise the risk of infection since I'm brewing it in one of the big fermenters and the head space is quite big. I was worried I'd slightly undershot the OG but realised I'd not temperature corrected so reckon it's at the 1.067-1.068 mark
. I had to read through the side of the test cylinder as well as my more accurate hydrometer only goes up to 1.06 - which I'd forgotten so ended up displacing more fluid than meant, and had to go back to the old multicoloured one!
I've never made a Dubbel before, this one has Candi sugars rather than syrups and some of the grain bill is decidedly British rather than Belgian but I've tried to go for equivalents. Depending on how this goes I quite fancy making one following the Gordon Strong Modern Homebrew recipe with D syrup an dD-90 syrup.
I was a bit surprised by an acidity issue following the discussions with @peebee, my mash pH was stubbornly at 5.8 both after 5 min and after an overnight mash, despite first adding 2ml lactic acid then a further 8ml.
.
Not planned at all so this is going to be a bit of fun because normally I spend far too long thinking and planning these things.
. So I’ve added two packs of Hell to the starter and will add that to the wort later tonight. I’d chilled the wort down to 5 deg in the hope it would reduce the risk of bacteria spoiling it before I got there with the starter. 
