Trying an open fermentation

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Bradmont

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Apr 12, 2010
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Location
Quebec City, Canada
I had the day off today and was bored. This got me in a brewing mood, but I didn't have time to get any ingredients from my LHBS, so I threw together a bunch of leftovers and bits from my kitchen to experiment, and decided to give open fermentation a go. I'm not too hopeful about this batch, but at least it should be interesting. This is a 2 gal batch, mostly because I didn't have a lot of stuff left, but also I don't want to get stuck with 5 gallons of a beer that isn't any good. So I present to you:


Something Something Belgian
1.69lb Canadian 2-row
1.25 lb Munich
1.5 oz Cara-Pils
2.5oz Chocolate Malt
.5lb Corn Sugar (@ 15min)
2oz light brown sugar (@15min)

.7oz Hallertau @ 60min
.25oz citrus peel (about 50:50 lemon and clementine) @ 15min
1/4tsp coriander seeds @ 15min
.25oz Saaz @ 3min

Yeast: Washed T-58 from a previous belgian tripel

I was hoping for an OG ~ 1.057-58, but hit 1.068 (88% stovetop BIAB!), so topped up to get to 1.060OG. Chilled it, then pitched the yeast straight into my 3gal pot.

Can't wait to see what happens in the next couple days! :)
 
Yeah, it would be, but from what I've read on the subject that works best in spring type weather (8-15 celcius outside). Given that the temps in the next week are going to vary between -20 and -5, I think I'll wait a few months. :p
 
So this morning there was no sign of activity, but when I got home around 5 this afternoon, there was a thin krausen forming. The krausen hasn't grown much yet, but the room it fermenting in smells sooo nice! Holding steady at about 20C, which is pretty much the ambient temp, so I don't think fermentation is going all-out just yet...
 
This morning the krausen was thicker, and seemed to be falling. When I got home just now the krausen was pretty much gone, so I decided to rouse the yeast and take a measurement. It's down to 1.020 at this point, so I'm going to transfer it into a carboy either tonight or tomorrow morning, depending on whether a secondary krausen develops.

I also took some of the hydrometer sample to taste. It's got a really estery smell, there's a lot of odours mixing together, so I can't really identify them (not that I'm very good at that in the first place). The beer is pretty bitter, though not overwhelmingly so -- I think I used too much chocolate malt, and it has a strong pepper taste. Like, it tastes like there's a lot of fresh ground black pepper in it! It's pretty unlike any beer I've had before, I can't wait to see how it ends up!
 
Oh, also the temp is around 75f right now. I didn't check it this morning, though, so it might've gotten higher over night.
 
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