Belgian Decent Ale 2010

[Mapleroots]

I brewed this one on the 10th of this month, fermentation within 10 hours and has gone strong since then. I cant wait to drink this one come fall.
5.5 gal. batch
Grain bill-
18lb Belgian Pail
1LB. Honey malt
1LB. Belgian Biscuit
1/2 LB. cara Munich
1oz carafa special 2
1LB candy sugar (light)
Hops
2 cups Chinook @ 60min.
1 cup saaz @ 30min.
1/2 cup saaz @ 15min.
1/2 cup saaz/1/2 cup organic palisade @ 10min.
Herbs 10 min-flame-out
1/2oz Ginger root
1/2oz Sassafras
2 Star Anise
Yeast
Wyeast-Trappist Ale..................O.G=1.094

 

[Oldsock]

Sounds like a tasty beer, have you ever used Sassafras before? I had a commercial saison that used it too heavily, but it had potential. Also I would invest in a scale, measuring hops by volume seems a bit difficult to do accurately (especially with whole hops).

 

[Mapleroots]

I've never used sassafras, but have tasted some strong root beer that uses it. I thought that 1/2oz would be good to experiment with. I will post the flavor when the beer reaches that point, I cant wait for this one. scales only complicate things, I'm trying to use ancient methods in brewing.

 

[bknifefight]

Did you mistype this or really use cups of hops? How many ozs in a cup?

 

[Mapleroots]

yes that is correct, and I know its not as exact as weighing, but from my experience with using hops by weight in the past, I would say around 1/2oz per 1cup depending on the density of the hop cones, whether they are more compacted buds like the organic palisade, or the Saaz which were lighter fluffier cones. so you have to take all this into account before you add hops using this method.

 

[Mapleroots]

This brew has been fermenting for 2 weeks now, and is still showing signs of good fermentation, with a nice head of krosen. I'm fermenting this beer at 60*f. I usually rack into a secondary at this stage, but this brew is still showing much more activity than previous beers I've done. Is this because the lower temps and the high O.G.? This is my first big beer, so I'm a rookie when it comes to judging this sort of thing.

 

[Oldsock]

Belgian yeasts tend to like it warmer, so i would try to get it up towards 70 if you can. How much yeast did you pitch? A big beer like this benefits from a big starter.

 

[Mapleroots]

I used one Wyeast Trappist ale package.

 

[Oldsock]

According to: http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html , assuming your yeast had been manufactured a month before pitching, ideally you would have pitched 4.6X more cells (~6 liter starter from 1 pack giving it a shake every once in awhile).