Dubbel Red Balls

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DirtyPolock

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 17, 2010
Messages
293
Reaction score
6
Location
Durham, NC
Recipe Type
All Grain
Yeast
WYeast 1214
Yeast Starter
1000 ml
Batch Size (Gallons)
5.5
Original Gravity
1.066 (estiamted)
Final Gravity
1.012 (estimated)
Boiling Time (Minutes)
60
IBU
23.3
Color
19.2 SRM
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
28 days @ 68
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
60 days @ 68
Tasting Notes
Nice fruit smell, maybe a little dry
Dubbel Red Balls

A ProMash Recipe Report

Recipe Specifics
----------------

Batch Size (Gal): 5.50 Wort Size (Gal): 5.50
Total Grain (Lbs): 13.00
Anticipated OG: 1.066 Plato: 16.05
Anticipated SRM: 19.2
Anticipated IBU: 22.2
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75 %
Wort Boil Time: 60 Minutes


Grain/Extract/Sugar

% Amount Name Origin Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
76.9 10.00 lbs. Pale Malt(2-row) America 1.036 2
7.7 1.00 lbs. Special B Malt Belgian 1.030 120
7.7 1.00 lbs. Soft Belgian Candi Sugar 1.032 40
3.8 0.50 lbs. Hard Candi Sugar (amber) Generic 1.046 75
3.8 0.50 lbs. Aromatic Malt Belgium 1.036 25

Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.


Hops

Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.00 oz. Tettnanger Tettnang Pellet 5.10 21.2 60 min.
0.50 oz. Hallertauer Mittelfruh Pellet 3.00 1.0 5 min.


Yeast
-----

WYeast 1214 Belgian Ale


Mash Schedule
-------------

Mash Type: Single Step

1.3 quarts/pound of grain

Saccharification Rest Temp : 152 Time: 60
Batch Sparge Temp: 170

First I will explain the reason behind the name of the beer. I really loved the Chappell Show and I loved Tyrone and the Red Balls skit, so this just seemed to fit.

Now on to the beer. The color is a nice red color (I will post a pic in a few days of the pour from the keg, its dark outside now and I don't have enough natural light for a good pic).

As for the taste I'm not great at describing the taste of beers, but this will be submitted to the HBT BJCP competition for this year and I will post the comments that I receive here. What I can say is that it doesn't have the residual sweetness of a Westmalle Trappist Dubbel, likely since the my final gravity finished at 1.005.

The only thing that I know that I would have changed would be to add somewhere between 6-8 oz. of dextrine malt just to add some foam retention. Other than that I wouldn't really change a thing based on what I can tell.
 
Well I finally took a picture of the beer and here is how it turned out.

DSC_0469.JPG
 
So here are the comments from the HBT comeptition this year on this beer.

Final assigned score: 33.5

Aroma:
Judge 1: beautiful bannana, little to no spice qualities, slight alcohol - 9/12
Judge 2: rich fruitiness of bannana and apple, slight caramel hint, touch of spicy aroma in the back end - 10/12

Appearance:
Judge 1: Dark gold, little to no head, should be fuller for style, could be darker - 2/3
Judge 2: Rich copper color, slight haze, no head formed - small head appears while warming - 2/3

Flavor:
Judge 1: Fusel alcohols moderate, far from solventy, lacking the typical malty sweetness, aftertaste almost more on the bitter side - 11/20
Judge 2: Has a clean start and transitions into a very ripe bannana flavor. Ends with a spicy pepper finish - 14/20

Mouthfeel:
Judge 1: nice texture, warmness lingers gently on the roof of mouth - 4/5
Judge 2: body is light with a nice alcohol warming, has a diacetyl texture in the finish, finishes dry

Overall impression:
Judge 1: Would like more malt body and much more greater carbonation, no off-flavors found, would not mind a little more warmth. More malt could enhance flavor and color - 7/10
Judge 2: great color and clarity, carbonation needs to come and possibly caramel malts

Total score:
Judge 1: 33/50
Judge 2: 34/50


So here are some of the "flaws" that occurred with this beer.

- It likely fermented slightly warmer than called for as i was out of town the day after I pitched the yeast and could not really control the temperature until it was all done. This is likely leading to the high ester content which is not really a problem as you want some with this style.

- As for the carbonation, I kegged the beer and I bottled just a few bottles and I tried to carbonated them using mutons carb tabs. I have heard mixed reviews with this, so I guess that you may be able to chalk this experiment up to slightly under carbonation.

- Now for the lack of malt flavor/dryness. The final gravity was supposed to finish around 1.012, but it finished at 1.005. It fermented so strong that i am extremely lucky that I used a blow off tube, if not I would have come home with a disappointing college football road game loss (pitt losing at notre dame) and a messy living room (see below image). This can likely explain the lack of malt taste.

Would I brew this again, sure. But I will possible try a different dubbel recipe just to change things up. My firends enjoyed the beer during a NFL playoff game, the scores came back favorable and I know where to fix some of the errors.

DSC_0463.JPG
 
Thanks for adding the judges comments.

The comments the judges made about adding caramel malt and little head were two of the things that I planned on changing. I'm planning on using some 80L caramel (or a combo of 30-60-80L carmel) and some carapils. The other changes I'm planning on making are using all Hallertau and moving the last addition to the 15 minute mark, and using 1 lb turbinado sugar added after primary fermentation is complete.

As far as the beer you submitted having little to no head could be from the amount of alcohol, since that is a known head killer. Could it also be because there was significant temp loss over the course of your mash, which resulted in a dryer beer?
 
I just didn't want to use the caramel with the belgian candi sugar. I wanted to see what it would taste like just based on the candi sugar and I enjoyed it. I guess that you would add the caramel malts if you want to be more within the specific BJCP category.

At the time of brewing I didn't know that some people slowly add in the candi sugar toward the end of fermentation due to the order of which sugars the yeast metabolize. I threw all of my sugar in at the end of the boil, so I don't know how that would affect the taste.

As far as I know I am not really losing much temp loss during the mash. I am using a preheated igloo cooler and with spot temp checks at the end of the mash I am losing maybe a degree or two. I may start stirring up the mash at the end to maybe get a more consistent temperature. I am chalking up the low final gravity to the likely higher fermentation temp and how vigorous it was based on my blow-off tube.

As for the little to no head, I am blaming this on the carb tabs. This is based on the info that I found here on HBT and there being a good head pour from the keg based on my picture above. It just doesn't last too long compared to some of my other beers. This may be due to the alcohol content, that is a new nuance that I have not heard before. That is why I would have added a handful of dextrine malt to help aid in head retention.
 
Adding the sugar to the boil isn't bad and it doesn't hurt either. Only reason that I'll be doing it that way is because I'm going to reuse the yeast from my Belgian Amber.

Sounds like we're both using the same type of mash tun (cooler), so I know exactly what you're speaking of as far as the temp loss. I've never used the carb tabs, so I can't speak to that matter.
 
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