Dubbel Recipe Advice

[paradoc]

Greetings,

I'm going to brew my first partial-mash tomorrow. It is a Dubbel kit from Midwest. Because I live at high altitude (6300 feet) I've been told I need to increase the hops by about 20% due to decreased utilization from the lower boiling temperatures at higher altitude. According to the recipe, this kit comes in a bit low on the hops anyway for a Dubbel. The recipe calls for:

1 oz Hallertau (3.9%AA) for 60 minutes
1 oz Saaz (5.8%AA) for 5 minutes

BeerAlchemy calculates the IBU as 15 with those hops, which is right on the bottom end of the scale for a Dubbel. And that's before I factor in the lower hops utilization.

I've got some extra Glacier (6%AA) around from another recipe, and am thinking about adding 0.5 oz of the glacier either for the entire boil, or partway through the boil.

Can someone advise if Glacier is a reasonable combination with these other hops? Any tips on when to add it? If I add it with the Hallertau for bittering, I calculate 25 IBU.

Thanks in advance

 

[Schnitzengiggle]

Dubbels are supposed to be malty, I just brewed one with 18 IBU's the BJCP style guidelines state between 15 and 25, I do usually shoot for the "middle of the road" on styles that aren't supposed to be hoppy. I would think that if you added your 60 minute bittering hops to your mash wort and used Late Extract Addition in the last 10 minutes of your boil you may get what you'd like.

Post yur recipe and I'll plug it into Beersmith w/LA and se what the difference, if any, there is between Beer Alchemy.

 

[paradoc]

Recipe:

6lb Belgian Carapilsner Malt - Mash
0.25lb Belgian Aromatic Malt - Mash
0.25lb Belgian Biscuit Malt - Mash
3.3lb light liquid extract - Start of boil
1lb candi sugar - Start of boil

Hops as listed above.

Yeast: Wyeast 1388

Thanks!!

 

[paradoc]

OK... Just getting organized and getting started. I like the idea of doing first-wort hopping, and late malt addition to improve hop extraction, and just sticking with the original hops.

One quick question... If doing a late malt addition, should I add the candi sugar late too?

Thanks!!

 

[Schnitzengiggle]

yes add the candi sugar and the LME late. Boil your mini-mash wort with your bittering hops for 45min. Add LME and Candi Sugar with any further hop additions, return to a boil for the remaining 15 min. I got busy last night and totally forgot I'm sorry. I'm at work now and will have to wait to get home to plug it into Beersmith.

Maybe someone out there will plug it in before I get home, anyhow, bout 8 or so hours. I'll check up periodically

 

[paradoc]

Brewing went great today! I NAILED my OG for the first time. Target was 1.067, and I hit 1.066! That felt very good since this was my first partial mash attempt.

Although this was a partial mash, I used my cooler mashtun and pretended I was doing an all grain batch to get the practice. Not sure how to calculate my efficiency since this was a partial mash. My preboil OG of the first and second runnings was 1.026 (volume of 6.25 gallons) before I added any extract/sugar. Can anyone help me calculate efficiency from that?

I took shnitzengiggles advice and added the extract and candi sugar with about 15 minutes left in the boil. About 4 hours after pitching and already starting to see some fermentation.

 

[Schnitzengiggle]

Congrats man! I have yet to do a PM or AG, still "dialing" in my processes, and want to be ready for AG. I don't htink I will do a PM unless I have already bought my AG equipment. Mainly all I would need to do a PM is another pot, but I will save the money I would spend on another 5gal pot and put it toward a 10 or 15 gal for AG.

Ever since stumbling into this forum I have researched as much as I could on the Late Addition method, and it just seem common sense to me. withthe exception of adding some DME at the beginnig of the boil (or your PM wort) for hops utilization purposes, I think the majority of any sugars that can be caramelized should be added as late as possible. Some add their DME at flameout, but I am a firm beleiver in everything should be boiled even if it is for a short period.

BTW I will plug it into Beersmith when I get home and you can compare your numbers with what you have from Beer Alchemy and your actual measurements.

Out of curiosity, did you temp adjust your hydro reading? Or is that the OG without hydro adjustment?

 

[paradoc]

Out of curiosity, did you temp adjust your hydro reading? Or is that the OG without hydro adjustment?

Yep, I temp adjusted the hydro adjustment. BeerAlchemy does that.... and so does the BeerAlchemy iPhone app.

 

[MVKTR2]

I used my cooler mashtun and pretended I was doing an all grain batch to get the practice.

That's the best practice there is for going AG, good job on that route, and your successful brewday!

Schlante,
Phillip

 

[paradoc]

Wow! Racked it to secondary yesterday, and thanks to the tips here the flavor is great! Good malt base, light hops, and lots of fruity esters and clove. Was 2 weeks in primary, and went from OG 1.068 to FG 1.011, so 83% attenuation and 7.4% ABV. This one is going to need a while to condition, but can't wait to taste it!

Thanks again for the help!