Got a Beer Brewing date (!), need a belgian recipe!

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sadbuttrue

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This upcoming weekend I'm meeting a girl and the plan is to brew a beer... we've both done it before. I'm usually an IPA guy but she's not a hophead, so I'm going to branch out and need a good recipe for Belgian ale, white ale, or something similar.

Seems kinda long for a first date but will certainly share how it goes. Your help is appreciated! :beer:
 
Bobby_M said:
What if it doesn't work out? Who gets the fermentor?

Maybe get her to sign a pre-brew agreement granting you full discretion of custody arrangements for the fermenter in the event of a decision on either party's part not to pursue a second date?

"I really can't wait to brew with you, but I'm gonna have to ask you to sign this first. Just a formality, really..."
 
Back in January I made a girl help bottle my smoked IPA on a third date. Six months, five batches, and lots of craft beer later she's still around!

Good Luck!!!
 
What if it doesn't work out? Who gets the fermentor?

She's supposedly got a whole kit, just hasn't done a brew since last fall :) I have my own though I'll need to acquire a sparging kit if she doesn't have one.

Was at a party and we had hit it off, but she announced she had to go and this was the first idea that rolled out of my mouth. We shall see :D
 
Was at a party and we had hit it off, but she announced she had to go and this was the first idea that rolled out of my mouth. We shall see :D

Not, I will call you?

Not, How about dinner and a movie?

But instead, You wanna make some beer next Saturday?

And she said yes! Totally cool.

See, I made it through the whole post without one tasteless sparging comment.
 
never sparged before, and neither of us have one. we're hoping that the brew store we go to has one, but if not.. how could i tweak the recipe to adapt?
 
Not, I will call you?

Not, How about dinner and a movie?

But instead, You wanna make some beer next Saturday?

And she said yes! Totally cool.

See, I made it through the whole post without one tasteless sparging comment.

+1 You can surely come up with better than lets brew beer (although it is original). How about: Hey baby, how about a pizza and some sex! When she slaps you, just look at her stunned and a little hurt then ask, "Whats the matter, you don't like pizza?"
 
Great idea. You've already got her on the hook for a second date when it's time to bottle.
 
Soo... date went well :) had to make a few adjustments to the recipe as I didn't want to drop 200 on a sparging setup. We did the same basic thing but minues the 9 pounds of sugary grain (don't have recipe in front of me...the first one on Revvys list) in favor of 6 pounds DME. Also subbed dark munich grain in as they didn't have regular munich. OG came in a bit lower than expected... 1.045, but hopeful it'll turn out well.

And.. as promised.. pics Joe Creepo style :cool:

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What's a sparging setup? I'm confused as to why it would cost you 200 dollars to brew this beer? Sparging simply means rinsing. If you're doing allgrain with a cooler setup, you run more water through the cooler or other mashtun. If you're doing this BIAB you usually don't sparge but are using your full water volume. If you're doing partial mash like Homebrewdad's version of the recipe, or doing extract with grains, you merely pour more water over your little grain bag.

But what's a two hundred dollar sparging setup? My entire allgrain setup cost maybe 200 bucks...

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and there's no "sparging setup" just a pitcher to pour more water into the mash tun after draining the first runnings.
 
well, 200 was a slight exageration, but they were asking $160 for the gatorade bucket + a valve + the filter thing (still not totally sure what is entailed). so we just subbed stuff out. someday :)

out of curiousity, whats the table sugar for? never seen that in a brew before (though i've used it for priming)
 
cfonnes said:
Dude that is creepy. 10 years down the road when she reads this thread she will take the kids and the house.

I'd be more worried that she's a member here. I'm suprised she hasn't seen this whole thread already...

Glad it went well!!
 
well, 200 was a slight exageration, but they were asking $160 for the gatorade bucket + a valve + the filter thing (still not totally sure what is entailed). so we just subbed stuff out. someday :)

out of curiousity, whats the table sugar for? never seen that in a brew before (though i've used it for priming)

You should maybe have done some reading ahead if you realized it was an AG recipe, you could have done it BIAB, there's a ton of threads on it.

As to the Sugar, in Belgian and many other styles of beers, it is added to add fermentables without increasing the body of the beer. It raises gravity without making the beer fuller. The best example is to compare a Belgian Dubbel and a Barleywine, both have around the same gravity, the same abv, but they are two different beers in terms of body. Barleywines are thicker, and heavier beers, some like liqeurs, while Dubbels and Triples are thinner in body....and that's because some of the fermentables are simple sugars.
 
If you're doing this BIAB you usually don't sparge but are using your full water volume.
:off: not sure what the norm is, but i know plenty of BIAB'ers who don't mash in full volume and who sparge. i regularly hit over 80% efficiency by mashing 1.33qt/lb, then dunking the mashed grains in another pot of water @ 168*F (aka sparging). mashing at full volume means that the enzymes are too diluted and might not make contact with all the starches.

i realize this might not be the original way australians developed BIAB, and i'm not saying this is the "right way"... just wanna make folks aware of the alternatives.
 
Dude that is creepy. 10 years down the road when she reads this thread she will take the kids and the house.

:lol: i needed proof i was brewing with a female. its here. there is no compromising identity information, faces, or embarrassing content found. if this seriously upsets the girl, i wouldn't bother with date 2 anyway
 
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