Tincture De Clairvaux

Also gettting that faint coriander spiciness just the right amount thereof. Some dark bread tones. Very complex and murky. More fitting for deep winter than a muggy and humid late July but just turn the A/C on and your there!

Probably my last exclusive extract recipe since I'm going to start BIAB but we'll see how in the future I could pull off the grain bill in a bag for this one . . .geewhiz

12 lbs Northern Brewer Pilsen LME
2 lbs Belgian Caramunich
1 lb. D-180
1 lb. Dextrose
8 oz. Briess Carapils
4 oz. English Chocolate

1 oz Stryrian Goldings 60 min
1 oz. Hallertau 30 Min
1 oz. Hallertau 5 Min

.4 oz. crushed coriander seed @ 15 Min
1 Whirflock tab @ 15Min

Please take note of difference in fermentation times. Primary for 4 days @ 63F. 1.5 weeks @ 82F. 1 week @ 70F. Secondary bright tank at 68F for 2 weeks. Does it taste like Westy 12? I have no clue since I never had one but porbably not since Westys are in lower FG's than 1.023. Even so early on this beer is awesome. I must say there may be something to drinking belgian's early. I read somewhere that drinking a Rochfort from the brewery was quite a different experience all together. The coriander seed really compliments the fruits and sweetness.



Process:

Collected 4 gallons of water to boil in an 8 gallon brew pot. One gallon of water for sparging and 1.5 gallons of water for steeping. I steeped the grains freely without a grain bag in 155 degree water for 30 minutes. The temp held with only dropping 2 degrees for that time due to the thick wort. I dumped these steeping grains into a colander over the brew pot and let drip for a few minutes. I sparged the grains slowly with the 170 degree water until it ran fairly clear. I began the boil with 6 lbs. of the pilsen lme. At 15mins. left I added the dextrose, D-180, and last 6 lbs. of pilsen lme. I used a rolling boil for the whole time. I collected 5.3 gallons of wort in 6.5 gallon carboy and aerated by shaking pretty good. 5/19 Pitched a 1300 ml starter into the 5.3 gallons of collected wort at 68 degrees. I started fermentation in my basement at an ambient 63 degrees. The blowoff from this yeast was ginormous after 24 hours. The temp had rose to 68 degrees and dropped to 64 degrees by 5/22 . Krausen had subsided. I brought the fermenter up to the attic where I let it rise to 73 degrees by 5/23 and the krausen began to rise up into the one inch blowoff tube again. Temp of the brew rose up to around 82 degrees for the next 1.5 weeks. On 6/2 Krausen had dropped a couple days ago. Moved to closet at 70 degrees with airlock at 76 degrees on fermometer for one more week. Gravity at 1.023. Secondary for 4 weeks in basement @ 68 F. Bottled on 7/7 with 7.5 oz. dextrose.

Yes those particles are nice yeasty chunks. Love 'em.

hey, I realize these might be basic questions, but what is D-180 and whirfloc, and why did you add them? Also, is the dextrose in the boil just to raise abv?
many thanks!

No question is too basic. From Candi Syrup's website:
"D180 - Our darkest and richest award winning candi syrup with an SRM of 180. It has no competitors for flavor, color or smooth fermentability. Notes of fresh ground coffee, wild cherry, dark stone fruit, caramel, with a hint of dark-toasted bread. An exceedingly superior syrup for dark high gravity Belgian Ale's."

Whirflock is a tablet form of Irish Moss, a clarifier that binds with proteins in the boil to prevent protein haze. Too much protein can also be known to shorten the shelf life of beers.

And as for Corn sugar, white sugar, etc. most Belgian brewers use it to boost gravity since it's 100% fermentable and thin the mouthfeel abit (lower FG).

Enjoy

I simply cannot rave about this recipe enough after enjoying currently the third brew from this batch post mid May brewing day! Wow does this need to be my next bsda biab!

If you are looking for the AG version just sub the pilsen lme for 16 lbs. Belgian pilsner malt and at a single infusion mash at 153F for 60 min. with a 90 minute boil. Northern brewer pilsen lme comes with carapils and pilsner malts in the syrup so you could up your carapils malt if you want but I don't think you would really need to.

Take into account your brew house efficiency and volume losses (trub, false bottom dead space, excess protein from pilsner malt, etc.) You could probably just do without kettle finings since it's soooo darn dark and chewy and that might save some volume loss.