In search of the perfect spring time Belgian. Advice and comments please!

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BudzAndSudz

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Ok, Looking for the perfect Belgian beer to welcome in the changing of seasons. Here's what I have so far, let me know if it sounds reasonable! I'm trying to keep the spices and herbs subtle so as to not overpower the delicious backbone of a Belgian Golden Strong Ale.


Style Name: Golden Shower BGSA
Boil Time: 75 min
Batch Size: 6 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 7 gallons
Efficiency: 70% (brew house)

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.073
Final Gravity: 1.015
ABV (standard): 7.62%
IBU (tinseth): 25.11
SRM (morey): 6.94

FERMENTABLES:
11 lb - Belgian - Pilsner (71%)
1 lb - Belgian - Munich (6.5%)
1 lb - American - Wheat (6.5%)
0.5 lb - Belgian - Aromatic (3.2%)
1 lb - Turbinado (6.5%)
1 lb - Honey (6.5%)

HOPS:
1.5 oz - Amarillo for 60 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil (AA 5.5, IBU: 23.41)
1 oz - Cascade for 5 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil (AA 3, IBU: 1.7)
1 oz - Willamette for 0 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil (AA 4.5)
1 oz - East Kent Goldings for 0 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil (AA 4)

MASH STEPS:
1) Temp: 150 F, Time: 90 min

OTHER INGREDIENTS:
0.5 tsp - Fresh Ginger, Time: 5 min, Type: Spice, Use: Boil
0.3 oz - Corriander, Time: 5 min, Type: Spice, Use: Boil
3 each - Orange Zest, Time: 0 min, Type: Spice, Use: Boil
1 each - Fresh Green Cardamom, Time: 0 min, Type: Herb, Use: Boil
2 oz - Hibiscus, Type: Herb, Use: Secondary

YEAST:
White Labs - Abbey Ale Yeast WLP530
Starter: yes
Form: Liquid
Attenuation (custom): 80%
Flocculation: Med-High
Optimum Temp: 66 - 72 F
 
Oh and I suppose it's worth mentioning that I plan on adding the honey right at the end of primary to keep some of the delicate honey flavor, and allow for better attenuation. Would it be better to toss it in the boil for sanitary reasons?
 
Apologizes for one last bump, but I just went to the homebrew store and the Hop selection was very poor, so I wanted to update this with what hops I have available and see what people think. Although, this thread has been here for 6 hours and I'm the only person who's viewed it so far, so I'm not sure a bump is even a thing at that rate.

Anyhow, I'm shooting for floral/citrusy on the hop profile (to compliment the springtime seasonings I've added)

I have;

- Hallertau
- Saaz
- Tettnanger
- Centennial
- EK Golding
- Willamette
- Zythos
- Sterling (only .5 oz)
 
When your local home brew shop has a crummy selection of hops, one with a better selection is always right down the highway. The information super highway...

Okay, now that the bad jokes are dispensed, I wouldn't change my brew plans to suit local availability unless I was brewing with a deadline. I would rather place an order today and make what I really want to make, next weekend.

Luckily, my local shop is Austin Homebrew Supply and they've always had every hop I needed. They do offer cheap shipping and quick order processing :)
 
When your local home brew shop has a crummy selection of hops, one with a better selection is always right down the highway. The information super highway...

Okay, now that the bad jokes are dispensed, I wouldn't change my brew plans to suit local availability unless I was brewing with a deadline. I would rather place an order today and make what I really want to make, next weekend.

Luckily, my local shop is Austin Homebrew Supply and they've always had every hop I needed. They do offer cheap shipping and quick order processing :)

Haha that might be my plan. I was going to brew tomorrow, but I'm thinking brewing on a weeknight with work the next morning might suck. I'll probably order amarillo and cascade just in case I put it off to the weekend, but if I decide to brew tomorrow, I think I have a pretty decent selection of hops to make a good beer, don't you?

With that grain bill/hop profile I would recommend WLP550 over 530.


I'd like to hear your reasoning there but I'm pretty set on the 530. I brewed 5 gallons of BGSA (super simple, 12lbs pilsner, 2lbs white sugar) and split it into 5-gallon batches. 1 gallon each for WLP500, 515, 530, 550, and 570. Had a big tasting party with SWMBO and 4 of my friends and 530 was the unanimous winner. But like you said, this is a different grain bill and hop profile so I'd like to hear why you prefer 550.
 
Haha that might be my plan. I was going to brew tomorrow, but I'm thinking brewing on a weeknight with work the next morning might suck. I'll probably order amarillo and cascade just in case I put it off to the weekend, but if I decide to brew tomorrow, I think I have a pretty decent selection of hops to make a good beer, don't you?




I'd like to hear your reasoning there but I'm pretty set on the 530. I brewed 5 gallons of BGSA (super simple, 12lbs pilsner, 2lbs white sugar) and split it into 5-gallon batches. 1 gallon each for WLP500, 515, 530, 550, and 570. Had a big tasting party with SWMBO and 4 of my friends and 530 was the unanimous winner. But like you said, this is a different grain bill and hop profile so I'd like to hear why you prefer 550.

550 is cleaner and I just think it would go better with your grain bill/hop profile. 530 is still a great yeast but it shines more when you are trying to accentuate caramel flavors from malt and favors the malt more than the hops.
 
550 for the spice flavors. For fruitier go to a 500. The 530 will do you well, but if I had a 530 and 550 in this case, I'd go 550. More of a Belgian white/saison strain, as opposed to a Trappist strain. Just seems a better match to me. That being said, home brewing is about creativity, preference and control. Your beer will surely be great with a 530.
 
550 for the spice flavors. For fruitier go to a 500. The 530 will do you well, but if I had a 530 and 550 in this case, I'd go 550. More of a Belgian white/saison strain, as opposed to a Trappist strain. Just seems a better match to me. That being said, home brewing is about creativity, preference and control. Your beer will surely be great with a 530.

Well said.

If you already have the 530 yeast don't waste your time going and getting 550 based on my suggestion. It is just that: a suggestion. I apologize if I came across giving the impression that I thought 530 wouldn't work.
 
No worries! I made this thread looking for feedback so I appreciate all your opinions! I already have 530 and I'm going to go with it, I was just curious to hear why you were thinking 550. They were good notes so I'll keep it in mind next time.

As far as the rest of the beer, how does that look? Spring time style belgian?
 
Simply put, I would drink it. :) though I will admit, I do what I can to avoid ginger whenever possible. Just a personal taste preference.

Out of curiosity, what's the expected IBUs?
 
Only calculates to about 25 IBU'S which might be a bit low, but really the late addition hops are the goods here for that springtime aroma.
 
Just a thought... Some citra hops (nearly 14% AA) could lend a little fruitiness and bitterness at the same time. If you at avoiding bitterness, obviously not the best choice, but I am a fan of the flavor.
 
Looks good. I like the flavor profile of 530 yeast. I would use corn sugar over Turbinado and increase the addition of corn sugar, so you're honey and sugar are approximately 25-30% of the total fermentiables to improvement attenuation and get a dryer finish.

For the hops anything noble or EK Golding should work too. I would limit the late addition hops, so you don't take away from the spices.
 
Oh and I suppose it's worth mentioning that I plan on adding the honey right at the end of primary to keep some of the delicate honey flavor, and allow for better attenuation. Would it be better to toss it in the boil for sanitary reasons?

Is the honey that you will be using pasteurized? If so, your plan should work. If not, I'd consider adding it to the end of the boil.
 
I don't mean to deter you from your course, but you might want to think about simplifying things a lot. You really have a ton of stuff going into this recipe, most of which are pretty strong flavors even in small amounts. Between the malt bill, the multiple hop varieties, the spicing, and the characterful Belgian yeast, you got the United Nations of flavors going on... which as we all know, doesn't usually work out.

Also, IMO, the perfect springtime Belgian is a patersbier.

Carry on...
 
I don't mean to deter you from your course, but you might want to think about simplifying things a lot. You really have a ton of stuff going into this recipe, most of which are pretty strong flavors even in small amounts. Between the malt bill, the multiple hop varieties, the spicing, and the characterful Belgian yeast, you got the United Nations of flavors going on... which as we all know, doesn't usually work out.

Also, IMO, the perfect springtime Belgian is a patersbier.

Carry on...

You're totally right. It's easy to get carried away with good ideas and end up burying a beer in flavors. I like the malt bill because its mostly pils with a few specialty grains that all have a specific reason to be there. The hop bill is a bit out of control though. Maybe just centennial for bittering and willamette for aroma? I was debating about ginger being a good idea so maybe I'll trim that out as well.
 
Alright, I trimmed it up a bit to make it more reasonable, tell me what you think.

I should also note that I'm brewing this for a local brewpub that's having a Belgian-only homebrew contest where the main judging criteria is creativity, so that's why I'm hanging on to the Cardamom and Hibiscus. They're just strange enough and delicious enough that they might be able to bring me home the gold.

Also, I love the looks of a patersbier. I might brew one of those as well, maybe not for the contest (but maybe for the contest) but really it just looks delicious.


STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.077
Final Gravity: 1.015
ABV (standard): 8.05%
IBU (tinseth): 31.34
SRM (morey): 7.06

FERMENTABLES:
13 lb - Belgian - Pilsner (78.8%)
1 lb - German - Munich Light (6.1%)
0.5 lb - Belgian - Aromatic (3%)
1 lb - Turbinado (6.1%)
1 lb - Honey (6.1%)

HOPS:
1 oz - Zythos for 60 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil (AA 10.5, IBU: 28.87)
1 oz - Willamette for 5 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil (AA 4.5, IBU: 2.47)
0.5 oz - Centennial for 0 min, Type: Leaf/Whole, Use: Boil (AA 8)

MASH STEPS:
1) Temp: 150 F, Time: 90 min

OTHER INGREDIENTS:
0.3 oz - Corriander, Time: 5 min, Type: Spice, Use: Boil
3 each - Orange Zest, Time: 0 min, Type: Spice, Use: Boil
1 each - Fresh Green Cardamom, Time: 0 min, Type: Herb, Use: Boil
2 oz - Hibiscus, Type: Herb, Use: Secondary
 
I don't want to crap on your Golden Shower, since that's a whole different section of the internet, but there's a lot of really strong flavors layered on really delicate flavors. Cardamom is hardcore, corriander, not, hibiscus gentle, turbinado not. Aromatic bold, pilsen malt not.

If you start backwords (like with a specific flavor and spice arrangement in mind) and work your way to a malt and flavor arrangement, you might come to a different conclusion.

Turbinado adds this odd rummy, boozy, butter rum thing. Cardamom is minty, earthy and bizarre. Cardamom plus corriander might come across as a curry flavor. That could be interesting with the peppery spices from the yeast.
 
I'd put the honey in sooner than the end of primary to maintain fermentation rather than restarting it. But given all the other flavours you're aiming to include, I doubt it will come through very strong.
 
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