homebrewdad
Well-Known Member
I'm brewing my very first all grain batch this weekend. Was planning to do a brown ale, but Austin Homebrew has gotten slow, so my order won't make it in time. Instead, I'm dropping by my LHBS this afternoon to pick up ingredients to brew Jamil's Belgian Golden Strong (his version of Duvel).
First off, Jamil's recipes are for a 6 gallon batch. This one is quite simple:
11 lbs Belgian Pilsner malt
3 lbs cane sugar
2.25 ounces Czech Saaz (4.0% alpha)
WLP570 yeast
I'm scaling down to a 5.5 gallon batch size. My LHBS is out of Belgian Pilsner, but they do have German; from what I can tell, it's pretty much an equal substitute. Their Saaz is only 3.2% alpha. So, my scaled, adjusted recipe is now:
10 lbs German Pilsner malt
2 lbs 12 ounces cane sugar
2.59 ounces Saaz (3.2% alpha)
WLP570 yeast
Jamil suggests 3 vials of yeast... I suggest making a starter. Since I don't really have the time to step one up, however, I'm going to do a 2.5 liter starter with two vials. Make sense?
Beersmith is confusing me a bit. My intention is to do a batch sparge. It has me mashing in with 13.5 quarts of 159.4 degree water. So far, so good (mashing for 90 minutes at 149 degrees).
It then calls for "batch sparge with 2 steps (1.61 gal, 3.78 gal) of 168 degree water"
Why two steps? Isn't the point of batch sparging to do that in one step? I have a 62 quart cooler... it's not like I don't have the space.
I am considering adding the cane sugar after the boil - say, after the original fermentation is halfway (or a little more) done... I know that the key to this style is to really dry this beer out, and from what I understand, adding simple sugar like this into the fermenter could give me the boost I need to get over the hump.
Does that sound like a good idea? How will I need to adjust my volumes to account for this (or will I?)
Anything else I'm overlooking? I feel like I'm pretty prepared, but I'd like to minimize my exposure to stupidity. Thanks for any input.
First off, Jamil's recipes are for a 6 gallon batch. This one is quite simple:
11 lbs Belgian Pilsner malt
3 lbs cane sugar
2.25 ounces Czech Saaz (4.0% alpha)
WLP570 yeast
I'm scaling down to a 5.5 gallon batch size. My LHBS is out of Belgian Pilsner, but they do have German; from what I can tell, it's pretty much an equal substitute. Their Saaz is only 3.2% alpha. So, my scaled, adjusted recipe is now:
10 lbs German Pilsner malt
2 lbs 12 ounces cane sugar
2.59 ounces Saaz (3.2% alpha)
WLP570 yeast
Jamil suggests 3 vials of yeast... I suggest making a starter. Since I don't really have the time to step one up, however, I'm going to do a 2.5 liter starter with two vials. Make sense?
Beersmith is confusing me a bit. My intention is to do a batch sparge. It has me mashing in with 13.5 quarts of 159.4 degree water. So far, so good (mashing for 90 minutes at 149 degrees).
It then calls for "batch sparge with 2 steps (1.61 gal, 3.78 gal) of 168 degree water"
Why two steps? Isn't the point of batch sparging to do that in one step? I have a 62 quart cooler... it's not like I don't have the space.
I am considering adding the cane sugar after the boil - say, after the original fermentation is halfway (or a little more) done... I know that the key to this style is to really dry this beer out, and from what I understand, adding simple sugar like this into the fermenter could give me the boost I need to get over the hump.
Does that sound like a good idea? How will I need to adjust my volumes to account for this (or will I?)
Anything else I'm overlooking? I feel like I'm pretty prepared, but I'd like to minimize my exposure to stupidity. Thanks for any input.