SpanishCastleAle

Recipes 

__________________
Early brewers were primarily women, mostly because it was deemed a woman's job. Mesopotamian men, of some 3,800 years ago, were obviously complete assclowns and had yet to realize the pleasure of brewing beer.- Beer Advocate

SpanishCastleAle

Recipes 

Brewing it Sunday, I know it's not a super simple grain bill (even if you lump all the crystal malts together) but hopefully it will at least come close or if not, at least make a decent Dark Strong.

5.25 gal @ 74% efficiency into the fermenter

11 lb (69.8%) Belgian Pils
.5 lb (3.2%) Belgian Aromatic
.625 lb (4.0%) Belgian Caravienne (~21L)
.625 lb (4.0%) Belgian Crystal 45L
.625 lb (4.0%) Belgian Special B (~115L)
1.5 lb (9.5%) White Wheat malt (German)
.625 lb (4.0%) cane sugar
.25 lb (1.6%) dark caramelized syrup (homemade)

Styrian Goldings to hit ~28 IBU
~400mL washed slurry of WLP500 from my Doree-inspired beer to be racked Saturday morning, then chilled until pitch time.

Shooting for:
OG - 1.080
FG - 1.010
~17 SRM
~9% ABV

Don't think I'll get the attenuation of the real thing (from 1.077 to 1.008) so I put a little buffer in there. I'll be mashing in the mid 140s at first, then ramp it up. Plan to pitch in the low 60s and let it warm to high 60s at the beginning (during blow-off), then just let it naturally warm to room temp after that.

Anything look totally out-of-line? I'm using that little bit of syrup just because I have a mason jar with exactly .25 lb left in it and figured I'd use it up (and I need the color anyway).

__________________
Early brewers were primarily women, mostly because it was deemed a woman's job. Mesopotamian men, of some 3,800 years ago, were obviously complete assclowns and had yet to realize the pleasure of brewing beer.- Beer Advocate

SpanishCastleAle

Recipes 

Changed it up last minute to:

11 lb (73.6%) Belgian Pils
.75 lb (5.0%) Belgian Crystal 45L
.75 lb (5.0%) Belgian Special B (~115L)
1.5 lb (10%) White Wheat malt (German)
.75 lb (5.0%) cane sugar
.1875 lb (1.3%) dark caramelized syrup (homemade)

Styrian Goldings to hit ~30 IBU
~400mL washed slurry of WLP500

OG was 1.078
Target FG was 1.009 but the FFT finished at 1.012.

I'm making some invert syrup #1 tonight for an ESB this weekend and I'm going to add 1/4 lb of it to the fermenter to try and get it closer to 9% and maybe get the FG down another point or so.

__________________
Early brewers were primarily women, mostly because it was deemed a woman's job. Mesopotamian men, of some 3,800 years ago, were obviously complete assclowns and had yet to realize the pleasure of brewing beer.- Beer Advocate

mhot55

Recipes 

I have tested this batch every couple of months, and yes, the longer it sat, the better it got. Still have most of it and I can say after 14+ months from brew day, this tastes awesome. My best beer to date. Haven't compared it to chimay. This attenuated a bit more . Alcohol pushed over 10%. But this is smooth, with a slight alcohol taste too it and a nice raisin, prune sweetness and a little pepper from the yeast.

__________________
Alcohol may be man's worst enemy, but the bible says love your enemy.

GordonT

Recipes 

Thanks for posting this. I'm just finishing up a run of Belgians that includes a Karmeliete cone, a La Chouffe clone and wanted to finish with either a Dubbel or a Dark Strong. Your recipe and review of it convinced me to try yours. I'll give you a review as it ages.