Actual Spencer's Belgian Pale Ale (American Trappiste) Recipe

[rafaelpinto]

Fellow homebrewers,

This is the recipe of a beer that once was only brewed by the monks for their own consumption. It was a low abv recipe drunk at meals. It was reformulated by Martha Paquette, cofounder of Pretty Things Beer and today it is sold for the general public.

So, there is a recipe of it on the internet, which you can see down at the image. There seem to be some "inadvisable" brewing habits there that Id like you to critique:

- a long 90 minute boil (since there is no pils malt a 60 min boil is more than enough... anything longer may reduce head retention);
- primary fermentation at 68-72ºF for only 5 to 7 days (sounds too quick and too warm);
- secondary fermentation for three weeks at 46-50ºF (if there isnt yeast activity, what is it useful for?).

Here it goes

 

[Yooper]

- a long 90 minute boil (since there is no pils malt a 60 min boil is more than enough... anything longer may reduce head retention);
- primary fermentation at 68-72ºF for only 5 to 7 days (sounds too quick and too warm);
- secondary fermentation for three weeks at 46-50ºF (if there isnt yeast activity, what is it useful for?).

1. Nothing wrong with a 90 minute boil, or longer. It won't reduce head retention. Sometimes a longer boil is used to increase maillard reactions, or to decrease volume. It's not inadvisable.

2. Sounds ok to me, especially with the chosen yeast strains. In my experience, most ales are at FG in about 5 days if properly pitched although I don't tend to rack right then.

3. Beer maturation at cellar temps can help with clearing and conditioning.

 

[geoffey]

I agree with Yooper on all points. I'll add that yeast won't stop their activity completely at the lower temp referenced. They will continue to do their work, cleaning up what is left and taking care of the byproducts of primary fermentation.

On a homebrew scale I'd leave the beer in the primary instead of racking it, but leave it in there for four weeks. Just drop them temp down after primary fermentation as suggested.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[rafaelpinto]

1. So the stuff I heard about protein denaturation on long boils are not true?
2. Alright, but is FG all you want from a primary fermentation? People around here usually indicate long primary fermentation (3-4 weeks) for byproducts cleaning...
3. Howcome there is yeast activity around 46-60ºF?

Im not trying to argue, only understand.

 

[GuldTuborg]

1. So the stuff I heard about protein denaturation on long boils are not true?

I don't know. What have you heard?

I will say this. Regardless of what you heard, I don't think you have to worry about boil time playing any kind of significant role in head retention (within reason, of course). In any event, I certainly don't think of 90 minutes as a "long boil."

2. Alright, but is FG all you want from a primary fermentation? People around here usually indicate long primary fermentation (3-4 weeks) for byproducts cleaning...

Well, you want tasty beer out of your primary fermentation, as that's likely to be all the fermentation you get. Don't lose sight of that.

There are several methods to get there in terms of fermentation schedules. Some transfer beer quickly after gravity stabilizes, some let it sit, for some it's dependent on the recipe or their system. I wouldn't get hung up on this point. Again, within reason (don't leave your beer in your primary vessel for 10 months), this is the kind of decision that usually makes small differences. Focus your energies elsewhere.

3. Howcome there is yeast activity around 46-60ºF?

Why do you think there would not be?

 

[Oginme]

1. So the stuff I heard about protein denaturation on long boils are not true?

Just to answer the first question, the issue is denaturing the proteins that lead to head retention does not come from the boil, but rather with adding a protein rest at around 122F to 131F when using today's higher modified malts. By the time you get to the boil, any enzymes that would break down these proteins are long denatured themselves.

 

[Yooper]

1. So the stuff I heard about protein denaturation on long boils are not true?
2. Alright, but is FG all you want from a primary fermentation? People around here usually indicate long primary fermentation (3-4 weeks) for byproducts cleaning...
3. Howcome there is yeast activity around 46-60ºF?

Im not trying to argue, only understand.

1. I don't know what you've heard, but some brewers boil 90-120 minutes to reduce volume and increase maillard reactions and I don't believe head retention is at all an issue.

2. I know that there are a very vocal brewers on this forum that do long primaries- I doubt they are the majority but they certainly are most vocal. I normally and drinking lower OG beers by week three or four, and certainly not leaving them in the fermenter that long. Some folks like the character imparted by a longer time in contact with the yeast cake, while others (like me) prefer the shorter time. I know it may seem like many people on this forum do a 3-4 week primary, but I doubt it is anywhere near the majority.

3. I don't think it is, if it's below a certain temperature. Some yeast strains will be somewhat active to a lower-than-fermentation temperature, but not that many. Many ale yeast strains would be active (at least somewhat) at 60 degree but most ale yeast strains would start to fall out at under 55-57 or so. Dropping the temperature 10 degrees really encourages yeast to fall out, as well as other suspended solids, and it will still age a bit at those temperatures. The warmer the temperature, the faster the beer will age and stale.

 

[signpost]

I tried to post from my phone, but I don't think it worked.

Anyway, I read through the instructions in the OP. I didn't see anything that I would call inadvisable. It seemed to be a traditional Belgian/Trappist method. It may be quite different from what we think of as general best practices for home brewing, but that doesn't mean they are inadvisable.

There are all kinds of traditional methods. Some have become what we think of as the standard way of doing things. Some are all but forgotten. Traditional methods like this are just a way of doing things that worked well for the people that came up with it and made beer that those people liked. There are some methods that might yield more consistent results for a wider range of people, but that doesn't mean contradictory techniques are inherently wrong, bad, or inadvisable. It just means somebody found a different way of doing it that worked for them and made beer they liked.

So, if there is something in the instructions that doesn't seem like it would work for you, then follow your normal techniques. If you are curious to find out what the result of that traditional method is, then go for it.

You've been given good info and advice from other people already on this thread, so I won't go into specifics to answer questions that have already been answered. Just wanted to share my perspective on this topic.