BYO Hennepin clone-hop question

[Crayfish]

I went to the LHBS to get the ingredients for the following:

Ingredients
6.6 lbs. Muntons light malt extract syrup
0.5 lbs. Muntons light malt extract powder
2 lbs. light candi sugar
6.5 AAU Styrian Golding hops (bittering hop)
(1.25 oz. of 5.25% alpha acid)
1.75 AAU Saaz hops (bittering hop)
(0.5 oz. of 3.5% alpha acid)
1 tsp. Irish moss
1 oz. dried ginger root
1 oz. bitter orange peel
White Labs WLP550 (Belgian Ale) or Wyeast 1214 (Belgian Abbey) yeast
O.75 cups corn sugar (for priming)

Due to the hop shortage I ended up substituting Willamette fro the Styrian (the guy there said to use 1.5 oz) and Spalt to replace the Saaz. Does this sound OK? Will it be way off?

Also, I read in a previous thread a half ounce of fresh ginger will work so I'm going to go with that.

They were also out of candy sugar but judging form previous threads this seems pretty easy to make.

How did this recipe turn out for anyone else? Thanks in advance for any and all replies.

D

 

[Iordz]

Hennepin is a Saison style ale, I would highly recomend fermenting with a saison yeast strain at around +80F, any other yeast just won't give you enough saison character. Your recipe looks good though.

 

[Crayfish]

Thanks for the reply Iordz. 80F? Not sure how I would do that. My only option is 68F or so right now.

 

[Ryanh1801]

Thanks for the reply Iordz. 80F? Not sure how I would do that. My only option is 68F or so right now.

The saison yeast needs to be fermented hot.. I used my bath tub to slowly raise the temp on mine.

 

[Crayfish]

Did you keep it at 80 in your tub for the entire primary? If so, that is dedication. I don't think I can get away with that-I live with my girlfriend and we have 1 tub/shower.

 

[Iordz]

Ferment the beer at the temperature you can, place the fermenter in a closet and wrap it with a towel, this will make it quite warm. You have to remember that it will start at 68F because of the ambient temp, but during high krausen the beer could be 12F higher than ambient.
The beer probably wont taste like the Hennepin, but it will be a good beer, in fact it could be very interesting. Give it a try.

 

[Scotty_g]

What I've done to ferment some belgians that like it warm is find a cardboard box that fits over the fermenter with some extra space and throw in a 40-W lightbulb. If you're fermenting in glass, put something (a coffee can?) over the light bulb to keep the light out of the beer; I put an old LME can over the bulb even though we ferment in plastic. Better safe than sorry (and it should help prevent a hot spot).

To regulate the temperature, undo the bottom flaps of your box. Take an electronic temperature probe and put it inside (you could just stab it through the cardboard if you feel bloodthirsty), then prop open the top more or less to let the heat out.

With the house at 65 F ambient, I can hold 75 F in the box with the top still open a little bit. You should be able to hit 80 F without a problem...or get a 60-W bulb if you need more heat.

 

[Iordz]

With the house at 65 F ambient, I can hold 75 F in the box with the top still open a little bit. You should be able to hit 80 F without a problem...or get a 60-W bulb if you need more heat.

I envy you
I wish my apartment's ambient temp was close to that all year. AZ gets hot!

 

[Kai]

Start the ferment at 68˚ or so, then over the course of the next week figure out awesome ways to get it up to at least 80˚. Electric blankets work, or you can put it in a box partially over a heating duct, or just put it in a warm room near a heater, or sleep wrapped around it, or whatever it takes.

This is how I managed mine in a tiny, cool, basement apartment.

 

[Crayfish]

Thanks for the ideas. I'm obviously relatively new to homebrewing.

I told the guy at the store I wanted to do a Hennepin clone and he said all he had yeast wise for Belgians was WYeast 1388 Belgian Strong so thats what I have now. I'll call tomorrow and see if they have a saison.

So, if they do have it, I should start at 68 and then at high krausen wrap the carboy in a heat blanket or rig up a bulb or something else to get it as warm as possible?

What happens if I can't get it that warm? Will it ferment? Will it just ferment but not give the characteristics its supposed to? What if I use the WYeast 1388? Will that taste decent, but just not a lot like Hennepin?

I need to read up on exactly what a saison is I guess.

 

[Crayfish]

Nice pic Kai. How did it turn out?

 

[Crayfish]

LHBS has the Saison yeast in stock so I'm gonna give this a shot. Thanks for the tips and I'll let you all know how it turns out.

D

 

[Crayfish]

Followup:

Kai, I ended up using the electric blanket technique and it worked like a charm. I don't know how high it got cause the sticky thermometer only went to 78, but it was above that. I wrapped the carboy up in it on day 2 and put it on high. Kept it there for 4 weeks then lowered to half power. After 1 week of that I took it off and left for another week at room temp. I didn't do a secondary. Came out very similar to Hennepin!

Great stuff.

D