Recent content by Stephenish

I believe a starter was the way to go. So I made a stir plate 1.4 liter starter (mrmalty.com) for this batch (as per Palmer, I decanted most of the starter "beer"). BLAM is quite nice, I agree (although the text refers to Chimay Blue scantily).

Yes, the ale is much better now after a few days at 75*. Perhaps some of the hoppiness was from my use of leaf hops rather than pellets. I substituted aroma leaf hops for pellets at an oz for oz exchange. The recipe called for bittering and aroma hops in pelletized form. The wateriness is...

This is funny, the beer started fermenting again in the cubtainer. Maybe it will taste better having fermented a little at room temperature.

The headache could be from my Anisakiasis. The primary flavors were close, the recipe just needs some tweaks. Less bittering hops, more Pilsner malt, temperature control, and bottle conditioning. I'm really considering a move to kegging, though.

After three pints, I'm feeling a little headache. Is that the fusel alcohol? I was also thinking the body is a slight bit watery. Also, I think the bitterness could come down a touch. (If I'm remembering my real Chimay Blue correctly.)

Ok, I'm tasting now, and I'm enjoying this beer. There seems to be more banana than in the original, probably a result of less vigorous temperature control. I pitched at a higher temperature, because I didn't want to wait (the 1.5 liter starter was ready right then). Then the temperatures ramped...

Can I get back to you on that when conditioning is done? I was taking an impromptu taste of the FG measurement sample. I recall malty, and I thought I detected some coffee flavor. It's been a few weeks and I didn't take notes.

It's still conditioning (in secondary glass 5 gal carboy). The sample I tasted was quite nice, if a bit "raw." I may just put the whole batch into a cubitainer (5 gallon) and decant from there. I must say the character seemed different from the Chimay Blues I have had before. Not an exact...

1 L starter with a stir plate...

This forum seems to be dead in re: noobs who don't contribute. Perhaps a foray to the livelier Northern Brewer forums would be in order.

Hello? Hello?

http://www.candisyrup.com/recipes.html I want to brew the Chimay Grand Reserve Clone. I'm wondering what methods to use for crashing the temperature for a week, or if there are other fining methods (if that is what the crash is for). I've thought of putting the carboy in a cooler with ice...