Sorachi Ace and WLP500 Trappist Ale?

I have both of those and was thinking about doing a Belgian IPA using the Sorachi Ace as late additions. Any thoughts?

Sounds great to me. Brooklyn Brewery has a great beer using Sorachi Ace and Belgian yeast. It's a saison, but the same principles apply, and I think it would be delicious. Let me know if you end up finding a good recipe for it, or coming up with one, might be something I 'll want to try.

libeerty said:

Sounds great to me. Brooklyn Brewery has a great beer using Sorachi Ace and Belgian yeast. It's a saison, but the same principles apply, and I think it would be delicious. Let me know if you end up finding a good recipe for it, or coming up with one, might be something I 'll want to try.

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Thanks. I'll be formulating a recipe for this and I'll post it here. I should try that beer from Brooklyn. I've seen it, but never bought one. Might be worth trying for "research."

So this is the grain bill I was thinking about. I'm going for something simple.

15lbs Pilsner malt
2lbs Wheat malt
.75lbs Crystal 20L
1lb clear candi sugar

This should put me somewhere around 1.075 OG
with my efficiency for 6.5 gallons. I have 4 oz of Sorachi Ace and would like opinions on the best use of them. I would like to dry hop 1 or 2 ounces and use the other in the last minutes of the boil, but will likely need another hop to go along with them and not overshadow the Sorachi. Any recommendations are appreciated.

I'm thinking about using cascades and Sorachi in doses starting at 20 or 15 minutes with only Sorachi at flameout and dry hopping with 2 ounces of Sorachi by itself. Any thoughts?

You could try English hops for bittering, get a nice earthy background for the Sorachi.

I brewed something very similar just yesterday. I went with Honey malt instead if c-20, saison yeast and a 2:1 Sterling/Sorachi combo, and no candi sugar. If it had been in the bucket more than 30 hours, I'd have a little more info for you. Maybe you can drive over to Humble and smell the airlock or something.

Pappers_ said:

You could try English hops for bittering, get a nice earthy background for the Sorachi.

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You thinking EKG, Fuggles, maybe Northern Brewer? Sounds like a good idea. I think the earthy background might do well with the Belgian yeast also.

kingwood-kid said:

I brewed something very similar just yesterday. I went with Honey malt instead if c-20, saison yeast and a 2:1 Sterling/Sorachi combo, and no candi sugar. If it had been in the bucket more than 30 hours, I'd have a little more info for you. Maybe you can drive over to Humble and smell the airlock or something.

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Sounds interesting. It might be a few weeks before brew day, so please do let me know how your batch progresses.

WesleyS said:

Sounds interesting. It might be a few weeks before brew day, so please do let me know how your batch progresses.

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No problem. Everyone on HBT is pretty good at updating these things, right?

kingwood-kid said:

No problem. Everyone on HBT is pretty good at updating these things, right?

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Of course.

It's been a week, and the gravity has dropped from 60 to around 10. Well, the finish isn't great, but I suppose that's to be expected when there's still yeast and hops floating on the top. It's a little chunky. Anyway, chunks not withstanding, it tastes pretty good before I swallow it. Definite potential.

Thanks for the update. Let me know how it continues to progress.

For 2 Gallons
3.5*Vienna
1.5 Wheat
.25 Honey Malt
Rice Hulls
Mash 8qt at 150, sparge 8qt.
.25 Millenium, .25 Sorachi*45 min
.5*Sorachi, 1 Sterling KO
.25 Sorachi, .5 Saaz Dry
Saison Dupont bottle-cultured yeast
57/10/6.1%

It's heavy on the herbal & earthy, with a light non-acidic lemon aftertaste. My saison culture tends to dominate any beer it's in, especially when fermented hot, so it's hard to rate the hops on their own. I'd rate the beer a success, if not an overwhelming one. More bubbles would help a lot. I've only ever used WL500 once, and didn't like it, so I can't say how it would mix with the Sorachi.

Thanks for posting your results. I'm glad your beer turned out good. I have my starter going right now for Wednesday so I'll see what happens. I plan on adding a couple ounces of Sorachi at 0 and dry hopping with a couple ounces.

If I had it to redo, I'd switch the knockout amounts of Sorachi and Sterling to get a little more lemon and less earth. And more bubbles. Sounds like that's the direction you're heading. Best of luck.

WesleyS said:

So this is the grain bill I was thinking about. I'm going for something simple.

15lbs Pilsner malt
2lbs Wheat malt
.75lbs Crystal 20L
1lb clear candi sugar

This should put me somewhere around 1.075 OG
with my efficiency for 6.5 gallons. I have 4 oz of Sorachi Ace and would like opinions on the best use of them. I would like to dry hop 1 or 2 ounces and use the other in the last minutes of the boil, but will likely need another hop to go along with them and not overshadow the Sorachi. Any recommendations are appreciated.

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that looks good. the only thing i like to put in my belgians is a little biscuit malt, and i typically dont use crystal (but that because i like 'em bone dry)

I did a saison with sorachi late and dry. plays well with belgian yeast. i recommend the brooklyn sorachi ace saison

mewithstewpid said:

that looks good. the only thing i like to put in my belgians is a little biscuit malt, and i typically dont use crystal (but that because i like 'em bone dry)

I did a saison with sorachi late and dry. plays well with belgian yeast. i recommend the brooklyn sorachi ace saison

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Thanks for the reply. I agree with you and I did actually cut the crystal since my first post. Here's the grain bill revision that I'm brewing tomorrow.
11.5 lbs Pilsen
1 lb Vienna
1 lb Wheat malt
8 oz Aromatic
1 lb corn sugar

Boil for 90 min
2 oz Tettnang and 1 oz Saaz at 60 min
.5 oz Sorachi at 10
.5 oz Sorachi at 5
1 oz Sorachi at 0
2 oz Sorachi dry hopped

Starter of WLP500

WesleyS said:

Thanks for the reply. I agree with you and I did actually cut the crystal since my first post. Here's the grain bill revision that I'm brewing tomorrow.
11.5 lbs Pilsen
1 lb Vienna
1 lb Wheat malt
8 oz Aromatic
1 lb corn sugar

Boil for 90 min
2 oz Tettnang and 1 oz Saaz at 60 min
.5 oz Sorachi at 10
.5 oz Sorachi at 5
1 oz Sorachi at 0
2 oz Sorachi dry hopped

Starter of WLP500

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I brewed this yesterday. The wort smelled and tasted great. I like the smell of the Sorachi hops. It's now bubbling away. In a couple/few weeks I'll dry hop with 2 oz of Sorachi Ace for 5-7 days.

Any word on how this went?

kingwood-kid said:

Any word on how this went?

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I have it cold crashing right now. I've been sick and haven't been able to bottle it in the time I wanted to. I will be bottling tomorrow though. From the samples I took, it tasted pretty good and dill/lemony. I'll taste it again tomorrow at bottling and update.