Hopsteep Brewing

[user 18729]

Just finished kegging and bottling the Belgian Blond. I managed to get really high attenuation out of the Forbidden Fruit (much higher than on the data sheet) at around 87% so she’s finished up at 7%ABV. Initial taste is really nice, plenty of Belgian fruitiness with a hint of banana in there somewhere. This will be great once it’s conditioned

 

[Cyberjip]

Sounds tasty, need to brew myself a Belgium style beer. Have one more other brew to do first though. Let us know what it's like after conditioning.

 

[user 18729]

Belgian Wit

30L Batch

Colour 7.1 EBC
Est Abv 5.6%
15.6 IBU

Grist
Lager Malt 4.2 kg
Torrified Wheat 4.2 kg

Adjuncts
Orange Peel 28g (End of Boil)
Corriander Seed 28g (End of Boil)

Hop Schedule
60 mins
Magnum 20g

Yeast
Wyeast 3463 Forbidden Fruit (Hoegaarden) Repitch from slurry.

Adjusted Water
Ca 91ppm, Mg 9ppm, Na 43ppm, SO4 68ppm, Cl 77ppm and a mash PH of 5.3.

Well this is currently boiling away as I type. My PH meter has died on me so pulled out some litmus paper which is as much use as a chocolate teapot but better than nothing- should be in the right ballpark.

Efficiency was really poor this morning. Estimated Pre-boil gravity was 1.040 and ended up with 1.033 so out came the trusty table sugar. Chucked 200g in the boil to boost it up to 1.037. Likely to give me an OG around 1.050 fingers crossed.

Edit- OG 1.048 with 33L into the FV. Pitched at 23 degrees and will gradually increase the temperature throughout fermentation to encourage some phenols as well as attenuation.

 

[user 18729]

Enjoying a Black IPA kindly sent by @samale

This is absolutely spot on
Slightly roasty on the nose followed up with tropical fruit. Flavour wise it’s a beautiful balance (balance being the key word here), of juicy hops that are accentuated by the subtle roasted barley. The mouthfeel is great as well, full of body and lightly carbonated.

I wish I had another one of these to open

 

[samale]

View attachment 28081
Enjoying a Black IPA kindly sent by @samale

This is absolutely spot on
Slightly roasty on the nose followed up with tropical fruit. Flavour wise it’s a beautiful balance (balance being the key word here), of juicy hops that are accentuated by the subtle roasted barley. The mouthfeel is great as well, full of body and lightly carbonated.

I wish I had another one of these to open ☹

Really happy you enjoyed it. I thought it was a cracker myself but it's always nice to get a second opinion. Sadly I drunk the lot. Definitely a beer I would happily brew again. This was my first time brewing a black IPA, I got some tips along the way from the forum. I never tasted one before so had nothing really to compare it to.
Thank you for the swap looking forward to trying your beer. Just having another read through your thread with a lot of jealousy I keep telling myself someday
Really interested to see what you think of the heffweizen

 

[user 18729]

Really happy you enjoyed it. I thought it was a cracker myself but it's always nice to get a second opinion. Sadly I drunk the lot. Definitely a beer I would happily brew again. This was my first time brewing a black IPA, I got some tips along the way from the forum. I never tasted one before so had nothing really to compare it to.
Thank you for the swap looking forward to trying your beer. Just having another read through your thread with a lot of jealousy I keep telling myself someday
Really interested to see what you think of the heffweizen

I’ve tried a few commercial ones and yours was right up there

 

[user 18729]

Belgian Dubbel
(Based on @strange-steve 's recipe)

30L Batch

Colour 34.7 EBC
Est Abv 7.7%
17.8 IBU

Grist
Odd amounts due to scaling up Steve's recipe)
Lager Malt (Europils) 6870 g
Munich Malt 880 g
Caramunich II 342 6
Melanoidin 342 g
Special W 342g

Adjuncts
Table Sugar 550g
Dark Belgian Candi Rocks 500g

Hop Schedule
60 mins
Polaris 15g

Yeast
Wyeast 3463 Forbidden Fruit (Hoegaarden) Repitch from slurry.

Adjusted Water
Ca 91ppm, Mg 10ppm, Na 43ppm, SO4 76ppm, Cl 77ppm and a mash PH of 5.3.

Started this one this morning, mash is currently on the go. Looking like it will be a 2hr mash as I have a meeting at 12 so I'll update this later on!

 

[user 18729]

Tucked up in the brew fridge at 19 degrees. Only managed to cool it to 20.8 degrees as it was stupidly hot today. If this is anywhere near as lovely as steve’s Dubbel it won’t last long

Edit- had a bump in efficiency of 8% today but because it was so hot I hardly had any evaporation- this resulted in 38L into the FV at 1.060 instead of 30L at 1.068.

 

[strange-steve]

Good luck with the brew mate

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Sadly I drunk the lot.

That’s just mean

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

View attachment 28111View attachment 28112View attachment 28113
Tucked up in the brew fridge at 19 degrees. Only managed to cool it to 20.8 degrees as it was stupidly hot today. If this is anywhere near as lovely as steve’s Dubbel it won’t last long

Edit- had a bump in efficiency of 8% today but because it was so hot I hardly had any evaporation- this resulted in 38L into the FV at 1.060 instead of 30L at 1.068.

Pushing the limit again!!

 

[user 18729]

Pushing the limit again!!

Always

 

[user 18729]

So hot tonight well over 30 degrees, so it’s time to try @samale’s next beer! I have to say it’s another cracker. I’ve not had a Heffe’ in a while and it’s really nice. Good high carbonation, thick creamy head, banana clove and maybe a touch of bubblegum hidden in there somewhere.

Thanks for sending!

 

[samale]

View attachment 28149

So hot tonight well over 30 degrees, so it’s time to try @samale’s next beer! I have to say it’s another cracker. I’ve not had a Heffe’ in a while and it’s really nice. Good high carbonation, thick creamy head, banana clove and maybe a touch of bubblegum hidden in there somewhere.

Thanks for sending!

Cheers that's actually a raw ale. No boil no chill. I think your the only other person to try it.

 

[user 18729]

Cheers that's actually a raw ale. No boil no chill. I think your the only other person to try it.

Wow! Never tried a raw ale before! Didn’t have a clue. Does a wheat lend itself to the style?

 

[samale]

The first one I did was an American wheat which to be honest didn't turn out well. The second was an Red English IPA, @strange-steve has a good review of that on his page. Then the hefeweizen that I sent you. I want to try a stout next.

 

[cushyno]

Wow! Never tried a raw ale before! Didn’t have a clue. Does a wheat lend itself to the style?

Having only done one raw ale (though I split it four ways with different yeasts and temps) it does turn out "grainy'. I imagine a wheat beer would smooth out the rough edges of the raw ale graininess.

Kudos to @samale for disguising the no-boil so well

Cheers! Here's a raw Kölsch I just happened to have in hand. A fair bit of sediment in this one makes it almost like a wheat beer! Smooth with a bit of peppery Saaz.

 

[strange-steve]

The first one I did was an American wheat which to be honest didn't turn out well. The second was an Red English IPA, @strange-steve has a good review of that on his page. Then the hefeweizen that I sent you. I want to try a stout next.

And very good it was too. In my (admittedly limited) experience I get an interesting graininess from a raw ale, a probably unsurprising raw malt flavour like chewing on pale malt, which I think would work really well in a wheat beer. I have a suspicion it might work in a light German lager, which I'm hoping to test out soon.

 

[cushyno]

And very good it was too. In my (admittedly limited) experience I get an interesting graininess from a raw ale, a probably unsurprising raw malt flavour like chewing on pale malt, which I think would work really well in a wheat beer. I have a suspicion it might work in a light German lager, which I'm hoping to test out soon.

I think this counts as confirmation. Me too!

 

[user 18729]

Busy few days fitting a detachable tow hitch and 13 pin electrics to my old car. Finally finished ready to pick up the other half’s caravan... time for a beer