Chimley Belgium Pale Ale AG 25/07/2010

[bolty]

Gonna test out my shiny brew rig tomorrow as its planned to be a nice day. As it's going to be warm for some time now I have decided to christen it with a Belgium as such:

Style: Belgium Pale Ale
Efficiency: 75%
OG: 1.050
IBU: 28
SRM: 8.5
ABV: 5%
Boil: 60 Mins
Mash: 60 Mins
Length: 15 Gallons
Yeast: See below

11kg Marris Otter
2kg Munich Malt
1kg Crystal 60L

40g Pacific Gem @ 14.6% AA @ 60 Mins
50g Aurora @ 8.1% AA @ 10 Mins
50g Aurora @ 8.1% AA @ 80c 30 min steep

I have harvested the yeast from 2 bottles of Chimay Blue in 200g spraymalt to 2 litres water + yeast nutrient and been oxygenating it morning and night for a week. I can honestly say that I think it is primary as it is giving off some serious bananaryness. :thumb:

I am planning on splitting this brew into 3 FV's then once ready will keg 1 then secondary the other 2; 1 on top of cherries and the other raspberries (frozen supermarket ones that are mushed up to hell). I think I will also add some pectolase at this point. So will end up with:

Chimley Kreik
Chimley Framboise
Chimley Klassiek

Can't wait for tomorrow now, and have the camera all charged up ready! :party:

 

[snail59]

Good Luck Bolty :thumb:

Seems Belgium style Beer's are popular. I feel a vist to the Beer Supermarket coming on :grin:

Going to watch this and see how it goes. Got a wild cherry tree in our yard at work and was thinking of a Cherry Porter but could be persuaded otherwise :thumb:

 

[Franklin]

No sugar additions?
:)

 

[Dieseljockey]

Great :party: another one to watch... :thumb:
Can't wait to have a go...hope to have my pump all fixed in later today...then not so far to go to finish

 

[bolty]

Good call on the sugar. :thumb:

Just been to wilkos and got a silicone 'cake tin' and some citric... Time to invert some sugar Not copying or anything :whistle:

Gonna try for a kilo and see how it goes.

 

[rickthebrew]

thats a big brewlength bolty Good luck with it, must try a brew like this soon

 

[bolty]

1st time brewing this long a length... on a new rig.

And 1st time underletting...

And 1st time fly sparging...

I'm sure there will be no hiccups, and am full of confidence :?

 

[Muddydisco]

Good Luck dude :thumb: Hope everything goes well

 

[unclepumble]

Good luck with the brew, looks good. :thumb:

UP

 

[bolty]

Didn't have time to do the brew day post on Sunday, but here it is now.

The grain bill:

and the Amber Belgium Candi. Warning on making this stuff: It tasted good, and I mean REALLY good. I hope the yeast appreciates it!

Underletting the mash (Video). Thanks to Aleman on this technique. It was SO easy to do, like he said. Underlet and then a few stirs and its done!


Mash on and temp hit(ish).

Recirc manifold after the mash. I think I need some way of holding it up, as it started sinking if I leave it on the grain

The spinning sparge arm (Video). Think I need to get some way to stop it from causing a current in the grain bed as it was swirling round a bit. This may have led to the poorish efficiency, plus it may have been too quick a sparge


Coming up to boil

Not the strongest roll, but a good current, and good temperature

The cooling was a bit of a pain as I did not want any of the break in the FVs, so went through the CFC into the FVs and then back into the kettle, allowed to settle after a whirlpool and then back into the FVs. Managed to collect 15G @ 1.054. 3 points below expected and 71% efficiency. Not bad for my first go on the new rig.

Cheers to everyone who helped me put her together, and all the great advice. :thumb:

 

[bolty]

Can definitely recommend harvesting Chimay Blue yeast now. To start with I got the usual initial fermenting smell, and now the whole of my upstairs smells bananaey!

All this fermenting from 2 bottle of Chimay, and 200g spraymalt. I will be doing some more harvesting from now on. :thumb:

 

[rickthebrew]

excellent brewday - 3fv`s lined up in the bath looks brilliant :clap:
I`m hoping to do a belgian ale like this or a duvel - how do i harvest the yeast? Is it as simple as pouring the last little bit of beer and yeast from the bottle into something and feeding it with some spraymalt? I have an old glass pint milk bottle that an airlock fits on that would be perfect :hmm:

 

[bolty]

I did the harvesting by:

1) putting 2 bottles of Chimay Blue in the fridge for a week to help settle the yeast (you know how supermarkets handle their beer!)
2) boiling 200g of spray malt in 2 litres of water, then cooling and adding it to a sterile demijohn. Add yeast nutrient. Put in an airlock.
3) Open the beer and carefully pour it into a glass allowing a few mills of beer to stay in the bottle. Recap the bottles straight away and allow the bottles to reach room temp.
4) Drink 2 bottles worth of Chimay. (Don't miss this step out, it's important)
5) Swirl the bottles round and add to the demijohn. Without the bung in aerate the hell out of the wort. Put the airlock back in and put in your usual brewing spot.
6) Aerate morning and night by removing the airlock and shaking, then replacing the airlock.
7) Once the fermentation has finished, and the yeast has settles, crash cool it to drop it all out of suspension.
8) On brewday, take out of the fridge early and allow to get to room temperature.
9) When your brew is ready, syphon off as much of the 'beer' as possible from your starter, tasting as it comes out. If it tastes bad then DO NOT USE and use a backup yeast instead!
10) Add some of your freshly brewed wort to the yeast slurry, and aerate to hell. Add this to the rest of the wort and off it goes.

I found this method was good enough for 15 gallons worth of yeast with a very low lag time (less than 6 hours) from 2 bottles worth of sedimented yeast. Well worth a try.

 

[rickthebrew]

Cheers for that Bolty - I`m new to all these wonderful belgian beers (my first duvel last night ) and I can`t wait to brew some simular styles - thanks for clarifying the yeast harvesting process for me :thumb:

 

[bolty]

Just kegged the straight Chimley, and have to say it tastes like a mix between Chimay and Leffe Blonde. VERY happy with that. Has a good, but mild bitter start, banana and slightly floral toffee followed by a touch of spiciness.

Finished at 1.014 so a healthy 5.4% ABV.

The other 2 FV's have gone onto their secondary of pulped fruit. 1.2kg of cherries and the same of raspberries in the other.

Can't wait to be supping it now.

 

[rickthebrew]

sounds really good bolty - i just ordered brewing like a monk of amazon so will be brewing something simular soon