Specialty IPA: Belgian IPA Houblon Chouffe aka HopChewy

Houblon · Dec 8, 2010

< edit to correct >

3.5 - 4 for keg
32g sugar / gal for bottles

Houblon · Jan 7, 2011

nediver said:
Do you repitch any yeast before bottling?

Also, step mash will be tough since I am in a cooler...so I think i will stick with your advice and mash at 149.

Lager and dry hop was my intetion and getting to 32 shouldnt be a problem. But I was always under impression that if you dry hop more than 10-14 days you get a "veggie" taste in your beers...thoughts?

Add fresh yeast at bottling, a couple grams of dry yeast is all it takes- I like Nottingham 5grams for 5 gals. Others use even less - 2grams/5gals
Store @ 70F or higher till carbed ->75F is perfect after that store cool or in the beer fridge.

I do batch sparging with a 10gal round cooler, its a bitch but a step mash is possible.

Dry hopping for 21days isn't a problem, its the backbone of the beers aroma.

Houblon · Jan 7, 2011

Clicky>

Houblon · Jan 7, 2011

Houblon · Jan 7, 2011

Notice the difference in colors >depends on when the sugar is added to the kettle. Last 20min along with the whirlflock gives the best results.

Fresh at Brasserie D` Achouffe

nediver · Jan 7, 2011

Thanks for the help and the pics. The grains are on their way. Just finished a bottle of Houblon Chouffe last night.

Do you have any more tips on what water volume additions to make the step mash process any easier for me?

motobrewer · Jan 7, 2011

great pics. building my ferm chamber this weekend, brewdate is Feb 5th.

Boerderij_Kabouter · Jan 7, 2011

I was just thinking the other day I need to re-brew this. I think I will put it at the top of the list.

This tap handle gets a lot of pulling...

Houblon · Jan 8, 2011

nediver said:
Do you have any more tips on what water volume additions to make the step mash process any easier for me?

Start thick >around 1qt/per lbs and by the end you should be @ 1.45qt/per lbs.

< edit to add my latest that I have been tweaking over the past yr >
Gnome Houblon
SG: 1.052
FG 1.006
Color: SRM: 2.9
IBU: 40

also known as Houblon Lite

Bold full flavor & easy drinking @ 6%abv

crimelabguy · Jan 14, 2011

Can't wait to see your recipe for the gnome houblon. If it's anything like this recipe, it will be great!
I am brewing this again since it's the only time I can lager anything. It's a balmy 40 degrees in the garage. I figure I can probably work out a vent system of some sort to get those last few degrees.

Houblon · Jan 19, 2011

crimelabguy said:
Can't wait to see your recipe for the gnome houblon. If it's anything like this recipe, it will be great!

Kegged a batch today and I think its just about perfect:fro:
Just another batch using this yrs hops to fine tune and I'll PM it along.

Only 1 other person has a copy & he lives in Brussels,Belgium.

Houblon · Jan 19, 2011

< edit to add pic >
Day 4 in the keg, still needs some time to get a puffy head & drop crystal clear

Day 5 getting clearer

nediver · Jan 20, 2011

I am brewing this as well. This weekend. Will let you know how it goes. Houblon thanks for all the help.

If you want to give me an early Bday present the houblon light would be great.

motobrewer · Feb 3, 2011

houblon, any thoughts on water? i have pretty hard water, so I was gonna cut it with distilled, probably add a bit of lactic acid.

maybe i'll just start with distilled and build up from there...

Houblon · Feb 4, 2011

My water>
pH 7.8
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Est 143
Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm 0.24
Cations / Anions, me/L 2.4 / 2.3
ppm
Sodium, Na 3
Potassium, K < 1
Calcium, Ca 43
Magnesium, Mg 2
Total Hardness, CaCO3 116
Nitrate, NO3-N 0.1 (SAFE)
Sulfate, SO4-S 1
Chloride, Cl 2
Carbonate, CO3 < 1
Bicarbonate, HCO3 132
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 109
-------------------------------------------------

I hit it with lactic acid and play with the gypsum.
Mash ph target 5.2 - 5.3 to keep the beer light colored.

Today I'm brewing up 10gal of the gnome houblon :ban:

< edit to add gravity sample >

motobrewer · Feb 4, 2011

pretty blank water there, looks like i'll have to start from distilled.

or maybe I'll grab some milwaukee water...

motobrewer · Feb 16, 2011

made the starter last night. pretty excited to brew this. gonna step it up once more this week.

i need to build my ferm chamber this weekend...

motobrewer · Feb 19, 2011

so, i have my starter ready, homemade thermowell put together, ferm chamber all set...

but i don't have the software on this PC to re-program my controller....ug. not sure what i'm gonna do exactly. maybe just ferment upstairs, 67F ambient....

motobrewer · Feb 20, 2011

well, i got this brewed. and i reprogrammed my controller while brewing. and i build a ferm box while brewing. and i wired up my heater to the relay and controller while brewing. and i had exchange out my propane tank in the middle of the blizzard we got today while brewing.

long brewday...but it's done.

motobrewer · Feb 21, 2011

houblon do you keep it at 75F during the entire primary?

Houblon · Feb 22, 2011

motobrewer said:
houblon do you keep it at 75F during the entire primary?

Yes, I find its the best temp. Always check gravity before transfer - 1.006 - 1.008 is the numbers you need before secondary & dryhopping @ lager temps.

Right now I'm doing a test with the Gnome batch, one is dry hopping at room temps and the other is in the fridge as normal.

motobrewer · Feb 22, 2011

looks great. i undershot the OG by a lot, but I figured I would since i typically get around 70%. next time i'll bump up the malt/sugar

i cooled a bit to much and pitched around 70 but it didn't take long to climb to 75 and it's been there ever since.

motobrewer · Feb 22, 2011

came home today (48 hours after pitching) and the krausen has already fallen...is this normal? airlock activity has slowed.

it took off within 2 hours after pitching, i pitched a huge starter.

Houblon · Feb 23, 2011

Yes the yeast goes thur stages, up-down,chunky followed by a slimy layer before fading away. Just don't even look at the beer for 14 days.. then check gravity LOL

Ever see this vid?

http://www.sierranevada.com/beers/images/bigfootwindows.wmv

motobrewer · Mar 15, 2011

so, i still have another week of lagering, but i realized my primary temp was at 79F.

my controller was set up for a silicon element, as that's what i have to control my fridge. but i grabbed a nickel element to use in my thermowell/ferm heater. so while the controller thought it was controlling to 75F, it was really controlling to 79F.

i noticed at racking it was a little "hot" as kabouter mentioned, but Houblon is a little hot as well if i remember right

Houblon · Mar 20, 2011

motobrewer said:
>thought it was controlling to 75F, it was really controlling to 79F.

i noticed at racking it was a little "hot" as kabouter mentioned, but Houblon is a little hot as well if i remember right

Ouch! a couple yrs ago a guy on NB had the same problem and found it took a few months to mellow.

Houblon isn't hot, fresh it was sharp from the columbus but never hot.

If you think its going to be hot from the spike let it lager abit longer, it should be ready to drink at wk 5 when everything goes as planned.

-
My Gnome Houblon test (warm vs lager-> dry hop temps) show the best is lager temps for dry hopping. Warm temps give the beer a dirty hop profile that overpowers the low gravity batch, thus you don't get the nice yeasty aroma , just lots of spicey hops.

Kinda kills the nice subtle balance that makes Houblon so nice.

joe4444 · Mar 22, 2011

Had a question about your final gravity of 1.006.

You start with 4.88 kg (10.75 lbs) of Pilsener Malt and .91 kg (2 lbs) of Beet Sugar and get an OG of 1.078.

This roughly means you started out with 390 Gravity Units (92 from Beet Sugar and 288 from the Pilsener after about 75% efficiency).

Since the batch size is 5 gallons, the final gravity needs to end up at about 30 Gravity Units to equal 1.006.

Since the Beet Sugar fully ferments, that means the yeast would have to take the Pilsener from 288 to 30.

This would be an 89.6% attenuation rate. White Labs list the attenuation rate at 78%-85%.

Are you seeing that you get ~90% when fermenting at 75 degrees?

Houblon · Mar 23, 2011

joe4444 said:
Are you seeing that you get ~90% when fermenting at 75 degrees?

copied from >https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/wyeast-3522-belgian-ardennes-info-228923/

FYI using up to 15% sugar I always get 91-93% attenuation with wlp550 -wy3522 all below 77F.

motobrewer · Mar 28, 2011

kegged it this weekend - really nice! any hotness has faded, i can't wait for it to carb!

motobrewer · Apr 4, 2011

did a side-by-side this weekend. sorry, no pics.

color is close, mine is slightly lighter. chouffe is a bit sweeter, but mine has a cleaner finish. My OG was lower than expected (1.069), I imagine if i were to hit that it would have been very close. hopping seems to be spot-on.

gonna brew this again within the next month or so. fantastic tripel. my only issue now is balancing, I have a 20' 3/16" line on and it still pours foamy at 22psi (3.4vols at 40F).

Specialty IPA: Belgian IPA Houblon Chouffe aka HopChewy

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