Belgian Blond Ale SWMBO Slayer - Belgian Blonde

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BierMuncher said:
You may have improved the beer. In which case you will want to document with great detail all of your screw-ups so you can repeat those screw-ups and repeat your brew with consistency.

:mug:

Lol there is no way I can forget anything about this brew. My first ever all grain batch wasn't as bad as this one. Maybe the problem as i look back on this brew day was i was sober :)
 
You may have improved the beer. In which case you will want to document with great detail all of your screw-ups so you can repeat those screw-ups and repeat your brew with consistency.

:mug:

After a few more days on tap I had a few pints and all I can say is wow. My dad tried it and said that's pretty damned good. So needless to say I will be brewing this again this weekend and I will cold crash this again near freezing for3 weeks like I did this time. Not sure if it makes a difference but this is good stuff
 
Just picked up the ingredients for this one and looking forward to brewing it this weekend! My wife has been after me to make something she'll like and I think this is it!
 
Maybe a dumb question...is this brew meant to cloudy like a Wit or clear like a normal blonde ale?
 
Maybe a dumb question...is this brew meant to cloudy like a Wit or clear like a normal blonde ale?

Cloudy like a wit. That said, ANY beer left in the keg at chilled temps long enough will clear. I once entered my "Your WITness" into a comp that had been sitting around for 6-7 months. Scored great on all aspects except appearance. "Too clear" they said. :D
 
So this was our third attempt at AG and first time with the new fermentation chamber, so as everyone said we set up the blowoff tube and nothing ever came out. No bubbles, no blowoff even after 3 days. I began to worry after everyone saying how crazy theirs fermented, so I decided to check SG. Apparently, completely missed all the excitement one night as it is down to 1.010 from 1.050 and tastes delicious after only 3 days. I'm definitely looking forward to when we actually get to drink this. Thanks for the recipe.
 
saxowam said:
So this was our third attempt at AG and first time with the new fermentation chamber, so as everyone said we set up the blowoff tube and nothing ever came out. No bubbles, no blowoff even after 3 days. I began to worry after everyone saying how crazy theirs fermented, so I decided to check SG. Apparently, completely missed all the excitement one night as it is down to 1.010 from 1.050 and tastes delicious after only 3 days. I'm definitely looking forward to when we actually get to drink this. Thanks for the recipe.

Wow...mine had a ton of kreusen and it's still there after 2+ weeks. I have not done a hydrometer reading, but surprised you had no kreusen at all.

Excited to try this one. This was my first time crushing my own grain...67 percent efficiency, so need to adjust my crush.

Update: In primary for 16 days and still at SG of 102.6. Twirled the carboy to rouse yeast and raised temp from 66 to 70 to see if I can get it to finish up. Still plenty of kreusen on top. Sample tasted phenomenal. VERY drinkable without being flavorless. I may dedicate one tap to this recipe alone.
 
I have a batch right now going with S-33 Edme yeast. Would there be any issues pitching this right on to that? It's not really a belgian style yeast but any ill effects or flavor changes that would be unpleasant doing this? I was also going to add orange peel to the boil.
 
I have a batch right now going with S-33 Edme yeast. Would there be any issues pitching this right on to that? It's not really a belgian style yeast but any ill effects or flavor changes that would be unpleasant doing this? I was also going to add orange peel to the boil.

from what I've read about Shock Top and Fat Tire, two "Belgian" beers, neither of them use Belgian yeasts
 
I've tried to read a lot of the thread, but how are you guys getting 1.065? Beersmith says with 80% efficiency, it would be 1.060, which would give a 6.0% beer. Is anyone else getting 1.065? Anyone care to elaborate? Even the recipe says to shoot for 1.043-1.048. I have some liquid malt extract on hand to bring it up 1.065 anyway. I'm mashing right now and I put in beersmith and now I'm worried :) I know I know, RDWHAHB :)
 
Ended up at 1.042, so I added 3.3 lbs of gold LME from Midwest to bring me up...I'm a little disappointed, not sure if I should have done that or not, probably would have it 1.043 once it hit 60 degrees, but who knows. Now I will hit 1.065 or something to that affect. Anyone else have that problem? According to some places I seem to h ave back at 70% efficiency.
 
Came out delicious and very easy to drink, especially when a slice of orange is added. Next time will either use some bitter orange peel or some citra to add a little more citrus flavor. Thanks for the recipe.
 
Enjoying my second batch of this made with bottle-harvested Bell's Winter White yeast. It's awesome.
 
I am getting a bit confuses here on the recipe forums - what is the latest recipe is it on the first post ? Anyone has it in BeerSmith ?
 
Looking to brew the extract next weekend if all goes as planned, probably will change the hops though. Unless the recipe has been modified this is what I'm planning to go with:

3 lbs. Wheat DME
2 lbs. Extra Light DME
8 oz. Caramel 10°L
8 oz. Flaked Wheat
4 oz. Caravienne malt
1 oz Saaz or Hallertauer hops

I'm thinking of splitting the batch and using different yeasts in each:
In Fermentor #1 - WY1214 - Belgian Abbey (The Chimay Strain)
In Fermentor #2 - Harvested Ommegang from Game of Thrones bottle

Since Ommegang uses the same yeast for fermenting and bottling in all their beers, and I've read that it's a Witbier like strain, that one should fit this well. I want to use the 1214 because I'll be moving an Abbey off the cake that weekend and want to see how much the yeast makes a difference.

Any thoughts?
 
Came out delicious and very easy to drink, especially when a slice of orange is added. Next time will either use some bitter orange peel or some citra to add a little more citrus flavor. Thanks for the recipe.

Blasphemy - orange slice in a Belgian "Golden" Blonde ?
 
Made the extract version a few months ago, with one odd side effect. My buddy told me (left the keg at his house for him/his wife to finish) that after two beers it made their stomachs rumble, and after three it was basically a laxative. Has anyone had similar problems? Apparently the beer was good enough that they finished the keg anyway, so whatever caused the issue didn't affect the flavor (or keep them from drinking). Any ideas?
 
Hermit said:
Yeast has this affect on neophyte craft brew drinkers who aren't acclimated to the yeast.

I had this problem when I first started brewing. It still happens if I brew a Hef and get more yeast in suspension.
 
Hermit said:
Yeast has this affect on neophyte craft brew drinkers who aren't acclimated to the yeast.

These two are pretty hardcore craft beer drinkers (especially belgian beers) but there was a ton of yeast in there too. I shook up the kegs pretty good bringing them over - the first 10 pints were like mud. I'll see if the next brew turns out the same
 
Brewed this 2 weeks ago and got an OG of 1.051. Just pulled in out of my fermenting chamber to check the gravity and got 1.026. Shouldn't it be lower than that by now? Anything I can do to get it lower?
 
Yeah, 3 weeks now in the fermenter and it is still at 1.026. I made a yeast starter and everything looked good. Even the krausen ring around the top of the bucket looks normal. Don't know why it won't go lower. Oh well, another light beer for me.
 
Rockindaddy, what yeast did you use? What temp do you have the fermentor at?
 
Made a version of this, slightly modified to be a partial mash with ingredients I could readily source, plus 6# of fresh sour cherries. So far tasting good. Excited to see how it turns out!
 
ok so im gonna give this a shot as my first all grain brew!! went and picked everything up today at the lhbs. Had to sub the Caravienne Malt (22.0 SRM) with carapils/dextrin malt, and i decided to use cascade hops instead of the Williamette to try and get a lil more citrusy flavor. Hopefully it will still turn out as good as everyone says this brew is! wish me luck!
 
This is an easy and cheap beer to make. My girlfriend and all the other ladies that attend our weekly brew night love the oblivion out of this. I am going to have to make another batch soon!
 
ok so brewed this on sunday and everything went great for my first all grain brew! im looking forward to tasting this beer and i think the wife is too! i mainly brewed this to see if i can get her drinkin homebrew instead of PBR or budlight. Fermentation took off quick and is still very active.
 
Not bad, eh? Pretty crystal clear.

This is my second batch of this. Both times I used bottle harvested Bell's Winter White yeast.

image-87141214.jpg
 
Brewed a batch of this with sour cherries. Unfortunately, it seems to have picked up an infection, so I'm leaving it to sit until it's decided whether to veer off into "good" or "terrible" territory.
 
ok so i've had this beer in the primary for 15days now. i took a gravity reading at 12 days at it was right at 1.010. i have notice alot of u guys are getting down to 1.008. how long should i let this beer ferment before bottling?? whats the general length others have fermented for? really eager to get this delicious beer bottled and ready to drink asap! i drank my sample i pulled on friday for my gravity reading and it was freakin awesome! cant wait to taste it after its all carbed up.
 
mattsmitty said:
ok so im gonna give this a shot as my first all grain brew!! went and picked everything up today at the lhbs. Had to sub the Caravienne Malt (22.0 SRM) with carapils/dextrin malt, and i decided to use cascade hops instead of the Williamette to try and get a lil more citrusy flavor. Hopefully it will still turn out as good as everyone says this brew is! wish me luck!

How did it turn out with cascade? I just brewed this on Saturday (first true all grain!) and had to make a few small changes to match the LHBS inventory. I also added orange zest. Looks and smells delicious. Can't wait to try this in a few weeks.
 
it turned out GREAT!!! I would say it's the best beer i've brewed yet!!! my wife loves it which means ill get to brew more often haha. Took some of these to an invester meeting for some guys i know starting a brewery and all the investers there loved it. All the women kept coming back for more. The cascade gave it a good hint of citrus. Dont think ill really change anything from what i did. Ill be brewing this again in a few weeks.
 
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