NB De Belge Farmhouse IPA...one week primary?

I brewed this kit a week ago today. The kit instructions said one week in primary then two weeks bottle conditioning. I know that kit instructions trend to be pretty bad, but I get the impression that Northern Brewer gets at least a little respect. This is my first kit from them so I was hoping to get some confirmation that their instructions are also lacking and that a one week primary will not be enough.

Thanks!

NB does get respect, but I am of the opinion that 2-3 wks in primary and then 2-3 more in bottles (or secondary if you choose that option and then 2 more in bottles)
6 weeks in very commonly my bare minimum unless I have a very good reason to alter that plan.

The reason they give those instructions is that the high percentage of Pilsner and Wheat as the base malts in the recipe means that the beer is best served young.

I routinely do similar ingredients in a more traditional German Hefes and wheats with 7-10 days primary, 7-10 days carb/conditioning in the keg, and serve.

The instructions are right on for the base malts of the recipe. Follow the instructions. Note that the 90 min boil is also very important due to the Pilsner base malt, which houses alot of DMS precursers that need to be boiled off, if you've never seen that before.

This beer will NOT benefit from longer aging. It's going to be in it's sweet spot between about 20-40 days after brew day, then it's going to slowly start going down hill.

Also, remember this schedule in the future whenever 75%+ of the base malts are Pilsner and/or Wheat.

TopherM said:

The reason they give those instructions is that the high percentage of Pilsner and Wheat as the base malts in the recipe means that the beer is best served young.

I routinely do similar ingredients in a more traditional German Hefes and wheats with 7-10 days primary, 7-10 days carb/conditioning in the keg, and serve.

The instructions are right on for the base malts of the recipe. Follow the instructions. Note that the 90 min boil is also very important due to the Pilsner base malt, which houses alot of DMS precursers that need to be boiled off, if you've never seen that before.

This beer will NOT benefit from longer aging. It's going to be in it's sweet spot between about 20-40 days after brew day, then it's going to slowly start going down hill.

Also, remember this schedule in the future whenever 75%+ of the base malts are Pilsner and/or Wheat.

Click to expand...

So gravity sample today and maybe Thursday? Bottle if readings are stable? May not get to bottling until Saturday unfortunately if I'm good to go.

The kit only said to boil for 60 minutes, but I was over on my volume so I ended up going about an extra 30 minutes anyway.

Took a gravity sample and I'm at 1.011. Holy cow this tastes good...really nice floral notes. If the sample is any indication this just might be my first great beer.

How did it turn out? I have this kit and looking to brew today or tomorrow.

This was my first BIAB experience and I really liked the process since I don't have a complete all-grain setup. The beer tastes incredible. The hop profile is very floral, which is very different from what I typically drink. It has nice body, but I may have mashed a little too high. Unfortunately every bottle I've had so far is WAY underdcarbed. I added the priming sugar after moving to the bottling bucket so my first thought is that I didn't mix well enough, but it seems if that was the case I would have inconsistently carbed bottles and so far they are all at the same level of not carbed. I moved the beer to another room in my house that is a couple of degrees warmer so we'll see what happened. Despite the undercarbed beer, I will definitely be brewing this again. I may even double the batch next time since it took a while to make.

What did you carb with? How much? I was planning on bottling yet today and it struck me that I need to figure out how much corn sugar to use since it's a three-gallon batch. Maybe 70 grams?

I'm liking your description of how it tastes. Any chance of posting up the recipe?? just got a 45lb bag of Pilsener malt and looking at a few different ways to use it up. What were the ambient temps of the environment you had it carb-ing/conditioning originally?

MTate37 said:

Took a gravity sample and I'm at 1.011. Holy cow this tastes good...really nice floral notes. If the sample is any indication this just might be my first great beer.

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Did you follow the recipe for the hops? I was thinking of delaying the 20 minute addition to 15 minutes? What was your OG?

MTate37 said:

This was my first BIAB experience and I really liked the process since I don't have a complete all-grain setup. The beer tastes incredible. The hop profile is very floral, which is very different from what I typically drink. It has nice body, but I may have mashed a little too high. Unfortunately every bottle I've had so far is WAY underdcarbed. I added the priming sugar after moving to the bottling bucket so my first thought is that I didn't mix well enough, but it seems if that was the case I would have inconsistently carbed bottles and so far they are all at the same level of not carbed. I moved the beer to another room in my house that is a couple of degrees warmer so we'll see what happened. Despite the undercarbed beer, I will definitely be brewing this again. I may even double the batch next time since it took a while to make.

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About how long did your brew take? I am going to be doing this same recipe this week. My first BIAB as well!

Ogri said:

I'm liking your description of how it tastes. Any chance of posting up the recipe?? just got a 45lb bag of Pilsener malt and looking at a few different ways to use it up. What were the ambient temps of the environment you had it carb-ing/conditioning originally?

Click to expand...

Here is the recipe for ya, they say OG should be 1.060 but they must assume about 65% efficiency to get that. From what I have read most BIAB brewers get at least 70% if not better. Since I have yet to do any BIAB I can't really say what my efficiency will be. I plugged this in from the instructions NB provides into iBrewmaster. They also have a liquid yeast suggestion: Wyeast #3942

De Belge Farmhouse IPA (NB BIAB 3gal Kit)

Style: American IPA OG: 1.066
Type: All Grain FG: 1.020
Rating: 0.0 ABV: 6.03 %
Calories: 218 IBU's: 82.33
Efficiency: 70 % Boil Size: 4.64 Gal
Color: 4.9 SRM Batch Size: 3.00 Gal
Preboil OG: 1.046 Boil Time: 60 minutes

Fermentation Steps
Name Days / Temp
Primary 7 days @ 68.0°F
Bottle/Keg 14 days @ 77.0°F

Grains & Adjuncts
Amount Percentage Name Time Gravity
8.00 lbs 94.12 % Pilsner (2 Row) Bel 90 mins 1.036
0.50 lbs 5.88 % Wheat, Torrified 90 mins 1.036

Hops
Amount IBU's Name Time AA %
1.00 ozs 47.67 Brewers Gold 60 mins 8.00
2.00 ozs 34.66 Hallertauer 20 mins 4.80

Yeasts
Amount Name Laboratory / ID
1.0 pkg Safbrew T-58 Fermentis T-58

Additions
(none)

Mash Profile
BIAB No Sparge 90 min @ 149.0°F
Add 22.00 qt water @ 156.6°F
Mashout 10 min @ 168.0°F
Heat to 168.0°F over 2 mins

Carbonation
Amount Type Beer Temp CO2 Vols
1.71 oz Table Sugar - Bottle Carbonation 75.0°F 1.90

Notes

www.iBrewMaster.com Version: 2.834

Thanks, Hawaiibboy. Much appreciated

Dunno if this is of any help to you but I seem to be getting an average of about 84% efficiency on my BIAB batches, so far.
Stirring the mash vigorously a few times over the 60 to 90 minutes and then squeeze as much liquid out of the bag as possible before doing a dunk sparge, or two, do some more stirring then squeeze again for full extraction.

I did follow the hop schedule and absolutely love it as is. The aroma is great, but not I'm your face like an American IPA.

Start to finish it took about six hours. This includes the time I spent cleaning up and aerating before pitching the yeast. I've done one other BIAB since and managed to shave a little time off, but not much.

My OG was 1.054. I didn't stir too much during the mash because it was freaking cold that day and I didn't want to lose a lot of heat and I didn't squeeze the bag either.

If you haven't been there check out biabrewer.info. Lots of good information and I love the BIABacus tool those guys put together. They really know all about BIAB.

Ogri said:

Thanks, Hawaiibboy. Much appreciated

Dunno if this is of any help to you but I seem to be getting an average of about 84% efficiency on my BIAB batches, so far.
Stirring the mash vigorously a few times over the 60 to 90 minutes and then squeeze as much liquid out of the bag as possible before doing a dunk sparge, or two, do some more stirring then squeeze again for full extraction.

Click to expand...

Dang!! If you ended up getting just 80% on this it's gonna be a OG around 1.075!! Crazy! Yeah my plan is stir every 10-15 minutes after an initial 5-10 minutes dough in stirring.

MTate37 said:

I did follow the hop schedule and absolutely love it as is. The aroma is great, but not I'm your face like an American IPA.

Start to finish it took about six hours. This includes the time I spent cleaning up and aerating before pitching the yeast. I've done one other BIAB since and managed to shave a little time off, but not much.

My OG was 1.054. I didn't stir too much during the mash because it was freaking cold that day and I didn't want to lose a lot of heat and I didn't squeeze the bag either.

If you haven't been there check out biabrewer.info. Lots of good information and I love the BIABacus tool those guys put together. They really know all about BIAB.

Click to expand...

Good info there. I am still on the fence about modifying the hop schedule....

That was good attenuation you got! I hope I can get down pretty low!

I will definitely check them out!

MTate37 said:

I did follow the hop schedule and absolutely love it as is. The aroma is great, but not I'm your face like an American IPA.

Start to finish it took about six hours. This includes the time I spent cleaning up and aerating before pitching the yeast. I've done one other BIAB since and managed to shave a little time off, but not much.

My OG was 1.054. I didn't stir too much during the mash because it was freaking cold that day and I didn't want to lose a lot of heat and I didn't squeeze the bag either.

If you haven't been there check out biabrewer.info. Lots of good information and I love the BIABacus tool those guys put together. They really know all about BIAB.

Click to expand...

* Yeah, I'm doing stove-top, gas cooker, in my kitchen so can always put a little heat back into the mash if I get a big drop in temp from stirring a bit over-enthusiastically

* Indeed, biabrewer.com, and the BIABacus, is a great resource and the guys there are really helpful.

Hawaiibboy said:

Dang!! If you ended up getting just 80% on this it's gonna be a OG around 1.075!! Crazy! Yeah my plan is stir every 10-15 minutes after an initial 5-10 minutes dough in stirring.

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Good point. It'd probably be a good idea to reduce the total grist a touch to get a bit closer to the recipe OG.

Ogri said:

Good point. It'd probably be a good idea to reduce the total grist a touch to get a bit closer to the recipe OG.

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Nah... Just go with what they give you! More alcohol for your buck!

This was my first venture outside of extract brewing. I brewed early Feb. and bottled late Feb. I would have to check my notes for exact dates but I did two weeks in primary and then bottled.
Of the ~25 batches I've brewed, this is easily top three. I've already re-ordered this kit because A) I can drink this beer for a long time and B) Because of A, I want to use this to refine my BIAB techniques.

doublebogey10 said:

This was my first venture outside of extract brewing. I brewed early Feb. and bottled late Feb. I would have to check my notes for exact dates but I did two weeks in primary and then bottled.
Of the ~25 batches I've brewed, this is easily top three. I've already re-ordered this kit because A) I can drink this beer for a long time and B) Because of A, I want to use this to refine my BIAB techniques.

Click to expand...

Sounds like when my kit arrives I should order a second one of it! Lol. With the turn around on this beer being about 3-5weeks, and if I like it, I might just order the grain bill my self and scale the batch up to a full 5gals.

I will definitely be doubling the batch next time I make this. Just need to drink up a bunch of Dead Ringer IPA and 115th Dream Imperial IPA once it's done. Poor me!

MTate37 said:

I will definitely be doubling the batch next time I make this. Just need to drink up a bunch of Dead Ringer IPA and 115th Dream Imperial IPA once it's done. Poor me!

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Oh what a bummer... Lol

Brewing right now!

EDIT:

So I just tossed this bad boy in the fermentation chamber!

I ended up at 1.068 leaving me at 72% efficiency. I pitched at 71F and my temp controller probe is taped under some bubble wrap and I am at about 69F and dropping!

Some photos from brew day:





That is me with the head lamp on.



Got a pretty good cold break!




Aerating the wort using the DIY venturi hole in tube method.





Pre-bubble wrap in the chamber of tastiness!

So I took my first gravity sample after pitching yesterday and I'm at 1.015. Gonna bottle if my reading hasn't dropped any more tonight.

And my first bottle from last night!

Aroma is floral with a slight sweet malt profile.
Taste is floral spice with a good crisp drying bitterness as you swallow.
Color is a nice golden straw with haze from the wheat. The head retention was absurd, I was able to pour the whole bottle (12oz) in my 18ozglass and for two minutes the head kept rising above the rim by 2inches. Perhaps a little aggressive on the pour and carbonation.