Ommegang Hennepin Recipe

I'm looking into brewing Ommegang Hennepin and found this recipe on the BYO website. What do you all think? Does it sound about right?

Brewery Ommegang Hennepin
(5 gallons, extract only)
OG = 1.070 FG = 1.008 IBUs = 24 ABV = 8.0%

Ingredients
6.6 lbs. Muntons light malt extract syrup
0.5 lbs. Muntons light malt extract powder
2 lbs. light candi sugar
6.5 AAU Styrian Golding hops (bittering hop)
(1.25 oz. of 5.25% alpha acid)
1.75 AAU Saaz hops (bittering hop)
(0.5 oz. of 3.5% alpha acid)
1 tsp. Irish moss
1 oz. dried ginger root
1 oz. bitter orange peel
White Labs WLP550 (Belgian Ale) or Wyeast 1214 (Belgian Abbey) yeast
O.75 cups corn sugar (for priming)

Step by step
Heat three gallons of water to boiling. Remove from heat and stir in the malt syrup, powder and candi sugar. Resume heating and bring the wort to a boil. Add Styrian Golding (bittering) hops, Irish moss and boil for 60 minutes. Add the ginger root and bitter orange peel for the last 15 minutes of the boil. Add 0.5 ounce of Saaz (aroma) hops for the last two minutes of the boil.

When done boiling, strain out hops, add wort to two gallons of cool water in a sanitary fermenter, and top off with cool water to 5.5 gallons. Cool the wort to 80º F, aerate the beer and pitch your yeast. Allow the beer to cool over the next few hours to 68–70º F, and ferment for 10–14 days. Bottle your beer, age for two to three weeks and enjoy!

All-grain option:
Replace the light syrup and powder with seven pounds Belgian Pilsner malt and two pounds Belgian pale malt. Brewery Ommegang uses a multiple-step mash starting at 122º F and ending at 152º F. Decrease the amount of Styrian boiling hops to one ounce.

Sorry to bring back an old post, but I was wondering if anyone could clarify the multiple-step mash.

Also can/how would I culture yeast form the bottle for these beers since they are bottle conditioned. I think that would help get a closer match and I would rather spend my $6 on a bottle of beer with yeast rather than just yeast.

mitch171 said:

Sorry to bring back an old post, but I was wondering if anyone could clarify the multiple-step mash.

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What do you want to know?

Also can/how would I culture yeast form the bottle for these beers since they are bottle conditioned. I think that would help get a closer match and I would rather spend my $6 on a bottle of beer with yeast rather than just yeast.

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There are any number of instructions on the Internet on how to culture yeast from a bottle.

I do caution you to ensure the yeast that's in the bottle is actually the primary fermentation yeast. Many breweries sterile-filter the beer before seeding with sugar and a completely different yeast for bottle-conditioning. I have no idea if Ommegang is one of them; perhaps someone else does and will chime in. If nobody knows, the only way to find out is to culture the yeast and brew a test batch with it. Not only will you get an idea of the yeast's characteristics, you get a nice starter.

Cheers,

Bob

I would like to know how I can go about the multiple-step mash with a simple cooler mash tun with a copper manifold on the bottom.

I have spoken with the brewmaster when he visited the New York Wine and Culinary Center. He said they use the same yeast for every beer along with bottle conditioning. They even have some locked up at a lab with strict sterile containment (other than the yeast of course). This is used to replenish what they use at the brewery because he said it will mutate over time when being used.

YMMV, but I've tried and failed* several times to harvest yeast from bottles of Hennepin. I suspect that the high alcohol content and aging process greatly reduces the viability of the yeast.


*Of course each time I tried I did get to drink a bottle of Hennepin, so they were pretty enjoyable as far as failures go!

I have a bottle of witte that was used during a demo class at the NYWCC so I am going to give that a try. Wish me luck! How do you all feel about freezing the yeast from the bottom of the bottle before trying to harvest as I am not quite ready to do another bathch yet? I just did an ash tray porter as many think as posted on another thread.

mitch171 said:

I have a bottle of witte that was used during a demo class at the NYWCC so I am going to give that a try. Wish me luck!

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Good Luck!

mitch171 said:

How do you all feel about freezing the yeast from the bottom of the bottle before trying to harvest as I am not quite ready to do another batch yet?

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I'm not an expert by any means, but that sounds like a bad idea. Those yeast are probably already fairly stressed, and the freezing might just do them in. I'd recommend you harvest and step them up a couple of times to get them healthy, then freeze them.

I've followed FlyGuys' process outlined here:with success. I use a 20% glycerin solution, which is right in the middle of the 15% and 25% recommendations I've seen floating around.

Just make sure you give the yeast plenty of time to wake up before you plan to pitch them; two weeks ago I tried to use a batch of frozen yeast, but it was just starting to get active in a starter on brew day - 5 days after I had thawed them. I had to use a packet of dry yeast instead.

I guy I know recently cultured from some ommegang bottle(i dont remember which).So it is possible.

mitch171 said:

I would like to know how I can go about the multiple-step mash with a simple cooler mash tun with a copper manifold on the bottom.

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Gotcha.

In that case, you'll have to start fairly dry and execute multiple infusions of liquor to ramp up your temperatures. The HBT Wiki has a pretty good article on the process. It is difficult to do more than two infusions by simple addition without excessively diluting the mash.

Frankly, with the excellent modification of modern malts, there's no reason to step mash other than tradition. But if you wish to repeat exactly the process of a commercial brew, do so; it's also fun to try until you get it down, as you'll learn quite a lot and add considerably to your skill as a brewer.

I have spoken with the brewmaster when he visited the New York Wine and Culinary Center. He said they use the same yeast for every beer along with bottle conditioning. They even have some locked up at a lab with strict sterile containment (other than the yeast of course). This is used to replenish what they use at the brewery because he said it will mutate over time when being used.

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Again, gotcha. Propagating from the bottle is a tricky business, as others have noted. It takes the freshest bottle you can find, skill and a generous helping of luck (finding the fresh bottle, primarily).

Have fun!

Bob

Thanks everyone for your help. I was thinking that I would want to culture the yeast before freezing thanks for conferming that. It isn't all that important to re-create the exact prosess that the brewery did I am just trying to get a very similar tasting beer because I like it so much.

As for fresh bottles Ommegang delivers to us some good fresh beer so I will keep my fingers crossed.

1oz of ginger root seems like a bit much for 5 gals. I just made a 11g batch of saison 3 weeks ago, and while it is still young, 0.5oz of ginger root per 5gals seemed to go a longggg way in the samples tasted during carbonation. I have also read that the ginger will die out with time... if the recipe is in BYO, its possible they might know a bit more about that than me.

Ok so I have decided to give this a try I am also going to try to do the AG version and I will be adding a few spices I think are in there but were not revieled at on the BYO article. I'll let you know how it goes and how it compairs.

I brewed an amped up version of the BYO recipe years ago, and you are very right waaaaay too much ginger.

Here is some info from the former brewer that will probably get you a better clone ( http://www.wort.org/Brewprint/2001-01.pdf )

OG 1.067
65-70% Belgian Pils
5-10% wheat
12% Belgian Pale
13% by weight white sugar
Mash around 151

Styrian Goldings 1.5 oz to bitter
Saaz ½ - ¾ oz at 10 min

Ginger .03 oz/5 gallons (note how much lower this is than the BYO recipe)
Coriander (smaller browner type) .1 oz/5 gallons
Fresh orange peel ½ in square piece
Grains of paradise .02-.03 oz/per 5 gallons

Yeast can be cultured from Rare Vos or Affligem is similar
FG 1.007. The closest yeast to Ommegang you can get without culturing from the bottle is Wyeast 1388 or White Labs WLP570.

I am going to be culturing from the Witte because it has the lowest alcohol so the yeast is probably the healthiest. I also am going to be using clove and deff. a good call on the coriander which is what I was also planning on putting in. Sticking to the amount for the orange peel and will be making a total of 1 oz in spice by blending the three. Can always add more after primary if it seems necessary.

I noticed in the article you posted they said .3 oz of very strong powder so depending on the powder I find I may play with that.

I found a spot to order them online http://www.thespicehouse.com/spices/grains-of-paradise

In the end this is going to be something that will take several batches to figure out.

I also don't care if it exactly the same I just really like the style, so I may end up going in a completely different direction. About adding the clove now that I have read the site you found maybe the flavor just comes from the yeast. We will see.

I found grains of Paradise at Wegman's in the natural food section. So if anyone is looking for this look in the spice section in a natural foods area maybe it will be there. Look near peppercorns.

I have some wort in my Ommegang Witte bottle we will see if it comes to life.

Ok another post by me! But this time I have a question.

I was able to get activity on the yeast from the Ommegang Witte. Now I am going to "feed" it with some more wort and build it up a little.

My question is how should I save it for later use?

I am not quite ready to make this beer as I just finished brewing the pumpkin ale and I have a porter ready for kegging. So I am a few weeks away from actually making the Hennipin clone.

I didn't actually expect the yeast to take off this easy so I wanted to have time to try again.

I built up the yeast once and last night I decanted the beer off of the yeast cake and added more fresh wort to build it up again. It took of very well.

Here is the recipe I plan on using.

http://beertools.com/html/recipe.php?view=9242

Looks tasty. Let us know how it turns out!

Bob

Well I finally bought my supplies, and I wasn't able to get exactly what I want.

My LHBS does not have any Belgian malt...

So instead of Belgian Pilsner, Pale, and Wheat I had to get Weyermann Pilsner, Pale ale and Pale Wheat. I know this will probably lend me a darker version but I hope it doesn't effect the flavor too much.

Anyone have any input on this.

Also the Styrian Golding only had an AAU of 2% so I substituted Fuggles instead.

You can see the altered recipe here:

http://www.beertools.com/html/recipe.php?view=9293

I think you're going to be fine. The differences between the malts are not vast; I don't think you'd notice any difference at all. I've used Weyermann malts extensively in Belgian ale brewing, and can attest to their suitability.

As Styrian Goldings is a Fuggles cultivar, the differences should not be readily discernible there either unless you're adding piles of them at flameout. You're not.

So RDWHAHB!

Bob

Thanks for the assurance. I am excited about brewing this up (it is only my third AG). I am not worried as my goal is to make something similar to Hennepin if it isn't an exact copy I will be fine with that. I also in future batches may tweak this to my taste, but I figured the first time stick as close as I can to one I know I really like.

Cool! Good luck with it!

One more hint: As you're using Pils malt, be sure to calculate your runoff to allow a 90-minute boil. You need more than an hour to boil off DMS. Don't worry about your additions; you can just start adding your hops and other stuff after a half-hour's boiling.

You also need a good, vigorous, rolling boil. But of course you're already doing that.

Have fun!

Bob

Thanks for the tip. I would have done a 90 min boil but not for that reason. I find with my equipment I have to boil for 90 min to go from 7 gal to 5 gal. So I guess I would have accidently done the right thing. My boil becomes more vigorous as I go because I have little room at 7 gal. Will it be ok if the boil is vigorous for say at least half the boil?

Not really. Degradation of DMS and isomerization of alpha acids both depend on a vigorous, rolling boil.

If I were you, I'd focus on collecting less wort before boiling. Do you need to collect 7 gallons? Do you end up with less than 5 gallons if you boil for 90 minutes if you collect, say, 6.5 gallons? You should be able to calculate your boil-off percentage rate.

Bob

Do you have a website in mind that can help me calculate? I should be able to just use 6.5 gal instead.

I haven't a clue, unfortunately. I use ProMash. There's bound to be one out there, though.

Bob

I am planning on brewing this tomorrow, I will post back on how it goes.

First time brewing this went very well, although this will need to be brewed a few times to really get the process down.

Things I learned:

An oz of orange peel would be and insane amount of orange. I used a micro plane and took the zest of two blood oranges. At this point the scale did not even register anything so I figured that was plenty.

Second I decided to do a decoction mash in order to achieve the step mash uses. What I learned about this is includes if it looks like it is boiling it mig Ommegang ht not be and you will need to try again to bring the temp up. Use your thermometer. Second at least for me this will raise you efficiency.

I ended with 1.080 OG I was shooting for 1.073. I set my recipe using a 72% mash efficiency but I ended up having 84%. So it should be really good, but not perfect.

I'm curious to know how the harvesting turned out. I was just at Ommegang a couple weeks ago, and they run the fermeted beer through a diatomaceous earth filter before adding the priming sugar and more yeast. Obviously the fermenting yeast is all cleared out. I asked the tour guide if the yeast they added back was the same or different, but he didn't know.

The harvesting worked very well. I know for a fact they use the same yeast for bottling as they do for fermentation. I had a very strong fermentation that kept the krausen (sp?) on top for over two weeks.

I have put it into secondary as I fermented in a 6.5 gal carboy and I also have a 5 gal. Initial tastings are very positive and compare very nicely to Hennepin.

I am actually considering making an IPA and pitching it onto this yeast cake.

I'm having my first Hennepin and it's inspiring. I'm going to give it a try for my next brew. Deciding between these 3 yeast strains:

1214 - Belgian Abbey™
3724 - Belgian Saison™
3942 - Belgian Wheat™

Use the one in your bottle. That is what I did! Other than that I don't know what would be better I would assume the Saison. Ommegang uses the same strain for all of their beers AFAIK.

The clone I did is ready to go into the keg I just have to find time now. Samples so far have been spot on.

So 1 oz. of dried ginger root is definitely too much? Should I try for about 0.5 oz. instead?

Meddle said:

So 1 oz. of dried ginger root is definitely too much? Should I try for about 0.5 oz. instead?

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I think 1-2 grams (.035-.07 oz) of ground ginger is plenty for 5 gallons, especially if it is fresh and high quality. I used .75 g in 3 gallons of saison and could still taste it. If it has been sitting in your spice cabinet for 5 years you would probably want to use more (or buy some fresh).

I'm not sure exactly how fresh my ginger is. I ordered it from breworganic.com a month or two ago. The packaging says for a subtle ginger flavor, use 1/4 to 1 oz. I think I'll lean toward the lesser amount after hearing your feedback.

Meddle said:

I'm not sure exactly how fresh my ginger is. I ordered it from breworganic.com a month or two ago. The packaging says for a subtle ginger flavor, use 1/4 to 1 oz. I think I'll lean toward the lesser amount after hearing your feedback.

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You can always add more, everyone's tastes are different etc... Good luck brewing!

I am stopping back into this thread to give an update on my brewing.

http://www.beertools.com/html/recipe.php?view=9293

This recipe I put together worked perfectly! I cannot tell a difference from the original and it is absolutely delicious. The color, taste, nose, carbonation and head retention are just how I want it.

So if you are looking to make a clone give my recipe a try and give me some feedback.