My NB Brickwarmer Holiday Red is about to go into bottles and I'm turning my attention to the next brew. I love Belgian styles and would love to brew a Quad. AHS has an "AHS Belgian Trappist Ale Quadrupel" extract kit that I'm eyeing. Has anyone brewed this? Does anyone think this would be too difficult for a relatively new brewer? I would make a big yeast starter for this (my next equipment upgrade). I have a 10 gallon kettle and would do a full boil.
Quad for second brew?
- Thread starter RichR
- Start date
Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:
bknifefight
Well-Known Member
With extract, you wont have any issues with the getting the high OG. The issue you will run into with your inexperience is your yeast.
A high OG beer needs a lot of yeast. I cannot tell you this enough. Check out Mr Malty Pitching Rate calculator and look into how to build a starter. These things are a MUST.
Second, and also yeast related, is that Belgian yeast can be finicky. Post what yeast you will be using, or look into people's experience with that yeast. A lot of Belgian yeasts are good at warmer temperatures and a more complicated fermentation schedule may be needed. For example, you may need to start colder (64*) and eventually rise to mid to low 70's to allow the yeast to finish the fermentation.
Good luck! I think it's totally doable if you are willing to treat the yeast right and keep them happy
A high OG beer needs a lot of yeast. I cannot tell you this enough. Check out Mr Malty Pitching Rate calculator and look into how to build a starter. These things are a MUST.
Second, and also yeast related, is that Belgian yeast can be finicky. Post what yeast you will be using, or look into people's experience with that yeast. A lot of Belgian yeasts are good at warmer temperatures and a more complicated fermentation schedule may be needed. For example, you may need to start colder (64*) and eventually rise to mid to low 70's to allow the yeast to finish the fermentation.
Good luck! I think it's totally doable if you are willing to treat the yeast right and keep them happy
*Edit* Yeah, what he ^ said
If you decide to pull the trigger on this I would suggest an alternative approach.
Use your yeast starter for a Dubbel, and use the slurry from your Dubbel as the pitch for the Quad. It takes a LOT of yeast to properly ferment a Quad. Your sanitation has to be up to par to take this approach though! You want a bunch of yeast, not a bunch of bugs!
Also, do you have a temperature controlled fermentation chamber yet? If not then I would highly suggest that be your next purchase as it will make more of an impact on your beer than anything else will. You could make beers with dry yeast and temperature control that will be WAY better than beers with a properly pitched liquid yeast starter that were not temp controlled. Temp control and sanitation are tied for #1 in my book, then comes full wort boil, then pitching rate, then handling (transfers, oxidation, etc., makes more of an impact the longer the beer stays around), then all grain. Those are in order of what makes the largest impact on the flavor and quality of the beer you produce. That's my 2c.
If you decide to pull the trigger on this I would suggest an alternative approach.
Use your yeast starter for a Dubbel, and use the slurry from your Dubbel as the pitch for the Quad. It takes a LOT of yeast to properly ferment a Quad. Your sanitation has to be up to par to take this approach though! You want a bunch of yeast, not a bunch of bugs!
Also, do you have a temperature controlled fermentation chamber yet? If not then I would highly suggest that be your next purchase as it will make more of an impact on your beer than anything else will. You could make beers with dry yeast and temperature control that will be WAY better than beers with a properly pitched liquid yeast starter that were not temp controlled. Temp control and sanitation are tied for #1 in my book, then comes full wort boil, then pitching rate, then handling (transfers, oxidation, etc., makes more of an impact the longer the beer stays around), then all grain. Those are in order of what makes the largest impact on the flavor and quality of the beer you produce. That's my 2c.
The yeast supplied is WLP500. They recommend double pitching, but if I do a 2L starter, w/stir plate, then maybe I would be ok.
As far as temp control, no ferm chamber yet. My basement ranges from 66-68 F. If I need better control than that, I could build a ferm chamber.
The docs on the WLP500 stated a temp range of 64-70 with earthier notes coming at the lower range and fruitier at the high. It is highly alcohol tolerant.
As far as temp control, no ferm chamber yet. My basement ranges from 66-68 F. If I need better control than that, I could build a ferm chamber.
The docs on the WLP500 stated a temp range of 64-70 with earthier notes coming at the lower range and fruitier at the high. It is highly alcohol tolerant.
bknifefight
Well-Known Member
WLP500 should start out cooler, or it can throw some bubble gum flavor. Does it say what the OG will be?
beernut70
Well-Known Member
I did a quad that came out great by using the slurry from a smaller batch. Make Northern Brewers Patersbier then use that slurry. Sanitized a measuring cup and scooped up what I needed after racking to my keg and picthed into the quad. The Patersbier is a great recipe so you will end up with good beer to drink while your quad is doing it's thing.
beernut70
Well-Known Member
Pretty much the same thing your patersbier batch is just a big starter. It will have some cold break and hops but not much since it isn't a highly hopped beer. You could actually just rack on top of the entire yeast cake but I wouldn't recommend that since you would be really over pitching and the yeast profile is one of the most important parts of a belgian. I don't remember exactly but I think I only needed cup of slurry for the batch I did. Mr Malty will calculate how much you need. http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html
TNGabe
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Aug 19, 2012
- Messages
- 6,657
- Reaction score
- 2,294
If it's an option, I'd suggest using t-58 dry yeast instead of the wlp500 as it will be one less thing to worry about and dry yeat doesn't need oxygenation like liquid yeast does. Temp control is essential for brewing a quad. You need to be able to hold the temp around 64 for the first 48-72 hrs during yeast growth or you will get excessive esters and fusel alcohols.
Similar threads
