Trappist Single Summer in Sommelsdijk Belgian Single

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mb82

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 15, 2012
Messages
702
Reaction score
72
Location
Charlottesville
Recipe Type
All Grain
Yeast
WLP-500
Yeast Starter
1 L
Batch Size (Gallons)
3.25
Original Gravity
1.054
Final Gravity
1.012
Boiling Time (Minutes)
90
IBU
31.1
Color
3.7 srm
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
21
Tasting Notes
The yeast dominates the flavor with some hops in the background.
3.25 gal BIAB batch with 80% efficiency

6lb Pilsner Malt (Belgian)
18g Tradition(5.8% AA) hops at 60 min
10g Tradition(5.8% AA) hops at 5 min
14g Cluster(7.9% AA) Hops at 5 min

White Labs 500 Trappist Ale Yeast.

Fermented at 67F for 3 week.

The yeast flavor dominates the beer but you still can taste some of the hops and get the bitterness from them.

Sommelsdijk is the town in The Netherlands where my great X3 grandfather was born before he came to America. The town is fairly close to the Belgian border so I can only assume he might have drank something like this ( minus the American hops at the end) had he stayed.
 
jealous of belgian ancestry haha. im about to make a single too and use similar high carbonation i hope. you added cluster at the end? i've never used it before, but it seems surprising. why?
 
Cluster is an old hop native to the US. So I wanted in the end of the hop schedule something American but was possibly what my ancestor would have had in his beer when he came here. I need to make another batch of this since it is as good as it is. Friends who are hop heads enjoy this beer which is surprising since it is not overly hopped.
 
cool, i've never used cluster before because even though many brewers say it can be good, so many others say it's basically a rotten hop. i've never had the courage to risk a batch on it. what is it like?
 
It is definitely not like Cascade. The description of it being spicy fits I think, not the floral some say. To be honest I have never gotten a big hit of it before. Maybe I need to make a pale ale with it.
 
I have recently brewed this beer in 5 gal or so batches. Here is the updated recipe using the hops I had on hand. A very good version that is a bit Americanized with hops along with a new yeast.

Efficiency is set to 78%

8.5lbs Pale malt 2 row ( generic 2 row)
.75oz Cascade at the 60 minute mark (20.6IBU)
1 oz Cluster at 5 minutes ( 6.2 IBU)
.25 oz Cascade at 5 minutes ( 1.4 IBU)

RVA 222 Gnome yeast pitched at ~170 billion cells.

The yeast burned through the sugars in about 4 days. Spicy flavor but not as overwelming as the WLP 500. Very good great on hot summer days or cool fall nights.
 
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