Belgian Golden Strong w/decoction

10 pounds US pilsner
1 pound Belgian Light Candy Sugar
1 pound Carrot blossom Honey.

.5 oz. Magnum 90 min.
1 oz. Argentine Cascade 30 min.
Irish moss 15 min.
1 oz. Vangard 15 min.
1 oz. Vangard 5 min.

One gallon wyeast 1388 starter



I did a decotion mash. Started at 105f, took about 1/3 of the thickest of the mash and heated it to 153 for 20 min rest in the pot then boiled it just past hot break and added it back. The mash was 130f or so. I let it sit 10 min then pulled a little less then 1/3 of the mash and heated it to 153 for a 20 min rest in the pot then boiled it past hot break. When I added it back the mash was like 145f and was already very sweet. I let it sit like that for a half hour then pulled a few quarts and boiled it and added back and the mash hit 150. I let that sit a bit then pulled another gallon boiled it and the mash was in the high 150s. I let it sit until I felt certain of full conversion. Then I pulled another gallon of pure wort to boil for mash-out. Ended it by manually fly spaging until I had just over 7 gallons for a 90 min boil. After boil I had 80% brewhouse efficiency (my best yet) and I hope it's a very fermentable wort.

That was two days ago. It went from 1.060 to 1.022 this morning when the bubbling had slowed to a crawl. I boiled the candy sugar and some watter for about 15 min, took it off the heat and added the honey to it. When that syrup cooled below 90f I added it in. Within minutes it was bubbling away as fast as ever. :rockin:

I'm going to warm it up in two days to get it to dry out as much a possible.

Any comments? Anything wrong? Can I make it better somehow?

I used Beer Calculus for my calculations. I plugged it in at Tasty Brew and it's way off for OG and IBU for style. I know my OG was on for sure. I hate how every freaking calculator gives a different result.

My last BGS had one hop addition at 60 mins - ~2.25 oz of saaz. I wonder if your late vanguard additions might be too much for the style.

BGSs (as with most Belgians) are all about the yeast, and you may have overpowered that aspect of the beer.

OTOH if you enjoy it....

With the honey and sugar you probably dried it out ok... but I would aim for a FG of somewhere about 1.010 to be close to style.

The BJCP says that a low to moderate yet distinctive perfumy, floral hop character is often present and the bitterness is typically medium to high from a combination of hop bitterness and yeast-produced phenolics. I figured with it being my highest gravity beer yet I should put some hops in it. Now I wish I had saved an ounce of the Vanguard. I've never used them. I don't really know how pungent it will be. From that sample I tasted you are right and the hops are a bit much. All the more reason to let it age I guess.

It is low for style at 1.074 OG and the bitterness is medium for style at 30 IBU. No biggie, I'm not brewing to please a judge or cloning Duvel.

Conroe said:

It is low for style at 1.074 OG and the bitterness is medium for style at 30 IBU. No biggie, I'm not brewing to please a judge or cloning Duvel.

Click to expand...

That's what homebrewing is all about.

I, on the other hand, desperately wanted to clone duvel which I managed to come very close to doing. This is why I was trying to stick to the style guidelines. I found out the hard way over the years that I wasn't drying out my Belgians sufficiently and that when I started to become better at doing so my beer improved massively.

As you said leaving it age for a few months should smooth the hop flavors out nicely. I'm sure it will be a great brew.

I racked it yesterday. It's at 1.012 and 8.3% ABV. The hops certainly do not overpower the Belgian yeast esters at this point. The sample tasted really good. I just want it to be more on the dry side. The secondary is at 75F now. I hope it will drop a few more points.
edit,
Bottled at 1.011. No real alcohol bite but it's kind of warm in the belly. I can't wait for a cold and carbed one.

The aroma is decisively Belgian but it has way too much hop flavor. Slightly malty sweet.

Next time I brew a golden strong I'm using half as much of different hops. I really shouldn't have used the Argentine Cascades. I thought they would give the Magnum some bite but they over power the beer.

I used hallertau recently for a BGS - 5 ounces, I think, for a 13 gallon batch. Added 2 oz at 60min, 2 oz at 30 min and 1 oz with 10 min left. Seemed like the perfect amount - not at all overpowering but still present.

I finally plugged it into Beersmith and got 40.1 IBU! I used beer calculus and it comes to 28 IBU by their calculations. 40 is more like it. It is good though anyway.

I have a bunch of Sterling an a oz. of Strisselspalt I may use for another batch since I have this yeast in the fridge.

I'm prepping to do a Belgian Golden Strong later this week based off of Jamil Zainasheff's recipe from Brewing Classic Styles. He has it as a much simpler brew with a hop profile of a simple 2.25 oz of Saaz for 60 min. I was watching your thread to see how your hoping turned out.

With local hop prices being gross, I'll probably stick with the recipe on this one. How did you find the 1388 turned out? I've got a pack swelling as we speak but its my first time trying it.

The yeast worked great. I just made a 1 gallon starter (almost--I left some head space in the jug.) It was at FG in four or five days. It left plenty of esters, just that they are overpowered by the Argentine Cascades. I'll get a better idea how it turned out when those hops mellow out some.

Now it's aged the hops have mellowed out nicely. The head retention and lacing are perfect. It's a really good beer and a great learning experience.