tennesseean_87
Well-Known Member
Surely! It started with WLP510 Bastogne yeast. It's a nice, mild Belgian yeast that's light on the traditional belgian esters. The most pronounced ester is black pepper. From there I paired the black pepper with honey malt, which I like much. Adjust the honey malt % to your liking.
Grain bill is a play on the Bastogne/Ardennes region between Belgium, Germany, & France:
59% Belgian pilsner
13% honey malt (I use Gambrinus)
12% Franco-Belges pale
10% German Vienna
4% crystal 10 or 15
2% flaked barley
plug that into your software to get to an OG of 1.036. It finishes around 1.009-1.010 for ABV of ~3.5%.
mash high: 154*F
Hops:
I try to keep to a BU:GU ratio of 0.5-0.6. I've been using Hallertau for the bittering part (about 18g at 60 min) and late additions of st.goldings (10 min & flame out, about 20g total). Next time I want to try some of that french hop for the late addition, Strisselsplatz (or whatever it is hehe). Weights here are for 4 gallon batch so go by your software and the BU:GU ratio.
OH, sans the WLP510, use Safbrew T-58! It's a peppery belgian. The WLP510 is unfortunately a platinum strain. I got it and brewed a 2L starter and divided that into a pitch for my first batch and 3 slants for freezing, for future batches.
In my experience, t-58 is on the lower attenuation side, which makes it great for session beers--more body/sweetness with less alcohol. I haven't used it like this yet, but I might try it instead of 3711 in my session saison.
I just made a Dark Mild ish ale that's only 2.5% and tastes alright. The grain bill was sort of an accident (pre-mixed specialty grain where i added too much caramel for a stout), but I rolled with it. Mashed high and used s-04 and it stopped around 1016!