So, when I first started brewing, I had to try every oddball recipie in the book (dry-hopped Citra peanut butter saison, anyone?). Oddly, it appears that I haven’t started magically started liking these funky brews (I wouldn’t actually buy something like that, so why brew it?)and it’s actually kind of frustrating to do a lot of one-offs without every improving my process.
Lately, I’ve started brewing only three types of beers within one family - Belgian quads, dubbles and singles. I love it! I typically brew a quad and a single in the same day. The single is ready to drink in a month or so, and it gives me something to drink while I wait for the quad to mature.
Since I am trying to hone and perfect this style, I am seriously considering going back to the traditional method of Belgian brewing - An all-grain beer with multiple mash steps and a Parti-gyle system. As a NYC resident, I have lovely water that gives me a mash PH of about 5.7 out of the tap, so I’m pretty excited about going all-grain!
My idea is to use equal parts pale and Pilsner malts, skip the protein rest (all the base malts I can find are pretty highly modified to start with), mash with 1.25 qts/lb for my first running (shooting for 1.090), maybe add a bit of wheat or Cara-pils, then batch sparge with 1 qt/lb for my second running, which I hope will come in around 1.050.
For a mash schedule, I am thinking that the first mash should be long and low ( maybe 75 minutes at 146?). My goal is to get a quad that is malty with good head retention, but also with high fermentability, since I dont want my final gravity above 1.020. For the second running, I am thinking of a 45 minute rest at 156 or so, with a mash out at 170-ish. The goal is to have a single that doesn’t thin out too much, since I’m starting with 1.050. I’ll be adding a bit of Candi sugar to both batches, but I usually don’t add so much that the malt flavor is overpowered.
Any ideas how I could improve this process?
Lately, I’ve started brewing only three types of beers within one family - Belgian quads, dubbles and singles. I love it! I typically brew a quad and a single in the same day. The single is ready to drink in a month or so, and it gives me something to drink while I wait for the quad to mature.
Since I am trying to hone and perfect this style, I am seriously considering going back to the traditional method of Belgian brewing - An all-grain beer with multiple mash steps and a Parti-gyle system. As a NYC resident, I have lovely water that gives me a mash PH of about 5.7 out of the tap, so I’m pretty excited about going all-grain!
My idea is to use equal parts pale and Pilsner malts, skip the protein rest (all the base malts I can find are pretty highly modified to start with), mash with 1.25 qts/lb for my first running (shooting for 1.090), maybe add a bit of wheat or Cara-pils, then batch sparge with 1 qt/lb for my second running, which I hope will come in around 1.050.
For a mash schedule, I am thinking that the first mash should be long and low ( maybe 75 minutes at 146?). My goal is to get a quad that is malty with good head retention, but also with high fermentability, since I dont want my final gravity above 1.020. For the second running, I am thinking of a 45 minute rest at 156 or so, with a mash out at 170-ish. The goal is to have a single that doesn’t thin out too much, since I’m starting with 1.050. I’ll be adding a bit of Candi sugar to both batches, but I usually don’t add so much that the malt flavor is overpowered.
Any ideas how I could improve this process?
