Can You Help Me Plan a Belgian Strong Ale? Please.

[solbes]

Yes, mini fridges work pretty well for brewing, provided they can do a couple of things: Fit a 6.5 gallon bucket/airlock, fit a 5 gallon carboy/airlock, and fit a 5 gallon corny keg (optional obviously). That should not be a problem at all with the fridge shown above. As far as I know, wine fridges will work fine for getting your fermenting temps down into the 60's, 50's, etc. If you ever wanted to brew lagers or hybrids like Kolsch's, a fridge that has more oomph to get into the 30's for lagering is handy, so take that for what it's worth. (My Alt is sitting at 34 right now getting all crisp and tasty).

What people sometimes do is make a swamp cooler of sorts or put the bucket in a bath of water and cycle through frozen water bottles. That can lower temps 5-10F from ambient.

Once your fermentation kicks off, you won't have a hard time at all bringing up the temps. Fermentation process itself can self raise the beer temps by 5-10 degrees easily. I don't think you'll need a heater in FL.

 

[Oceantendency]

Or you could just buy a $15 Rubbermaid roughneck 20 or 32 gallon trash can like this one: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Rubberma...ck-Trash-Can-1778013/100656030#specifications

Hey they block out light, doubles as a carboy carrier, can easily fit into a closet or in the corner in a garage, the heavier duty rough neck series also helps keep the inside cooler from the outside airtemp by about 2*, and you can place chem ice packs, insulate the lid, can always be modified by adding a computer fan in the top of the sidewall to help further cool, possibilities are endless.

 

[Babybatch]

Yes, mini fridges work pretty well for brewing, provided they can do a couple of things: Fit a 6.5 gallon bucket/airlock, fit a 5 gallon carboy/airlock, and fit a 5 gallon corny keg (optional obviously). That should not be a problem at all with the fridge shown above. As far as I know, wine fridges will work fine for getting your fermenting temps down into the 60's, 50's, etc. If you ever wanted to brew lagers or hybrids like Kolsch's, a fridge that has more oomph to get into the 30's for lagering is handy, so take that for what it's worth. (My Alt is sitting at 34 right now getting all crisp and tasty).

What people sometimes do is make a swamp cooler of sorts or put the bucket in a bath of water and cycle through frozen water bottles. That can lower temps 5-10F from ambient.

Once your fermentation kicks off, you won't have a hard time at all bringing up the temps. Fermentation process itself can self raise the beer temps by 5-10 degrees easily. I don't think you'll need a heater in FL.

Yeah. Now that I think about it a heater is definitely not needed. I'm leaning towards the wine cooler or mini fridge route for now. Add a homemade or commercial thermostat controller and I think that I have what I'll need. During the warmer fermentation phase if it gets too hot in there the cooler will kick in and regulate.

 

[Babybatch]

2 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 19.9 %
1 lbs Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 2 10.0 %
4.0 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 3 2.5 %
4.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 4 2.5 %
4.0 oz Special B Malt (180.0 SRM) Grain 5 2.5 %
2 lbs Light Dry Extract (8.0 SRM) Dry Extract 6 19.9 %
3 lbs 4.8 oz Pale Liquid Extract (8.0 SRM) Extract 7 32.8 %
1 lbs Candi Sugar, Amber (75.0 SRM) Sugar 8 10.0 %
2.00 oz Saaz [4.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 9 17.2 IBUs
1.00 oz Hallertauer [4.80 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 10 3.8 IBUs
1.0 pkg Belgian Strong Ale (Wyeast Labs #1388) [124.21 ml] Yeast 11

I've shopped this recipe on Northern Brewer and it comes to $51.45 + shipping. I'm likely to mix and match purchases between LHBS & online retailers. I'm not stuck on Northern Brewer either. With that said I'm still working on getting a handle on ingredients. It seems like there is quite a selection out there. Below I have listen the ingredient to the recipe as I have found them on Northern Brewer.

Are these comparable ingredients? Is there any ingredient that should be swapped out? Are any of these ingredient just plain the wrong thing?

Malteurop American 2-Row Pale Malt
Belgian Munich Malt
Briess Carapils
Briess Caramel 20L
Belgian Special B
Briess Organic Light DME
Northern Brewer Organic Light Malt Syrup
Brun Fonce Soft Candi Sugar - 1 lb.
US Saaz Hop Pellets 1 oz
German Hallertau Hop Pellets 1 oz.
Wyeast 1388 Belgian Strong Ale

 

[J187]

I've shopped this recipe on Northern Brewer and it comes to $51.45 + shipping. I'm likely to mix and match purchases between LHBS & online retailers. I'm not stuck on Northern Brewer either. With that said I'm still working on getting a handle on ingredients. It seems like there is quite a selection out there. Below I have listen the ingredient to the recipe as I have found them on Northern Brewer.

Are these comparable ingredients? Is there any ingredient that should be swapped out? Are any of these ingredient just plain the wrong thing?

Malteurop American 2-Row Pale Malt
Belgian Munich Malt
Briess Carapils
Briess Caramel 20L
Belgian Special B
Briess Organic Light DME
Northern Brewer Organic Light Malt Syrup
Brun Fonce Soft Candi Sugar - 1 lb.
US Saaz Hop Pellets 1 oz
German Hallertau Hop Pellets 1 oz.
Wyeast 1388 Belgian Strong Ale

Pretty much the same thing. Although, do you realize you only 1 oz of saaz there? You may have done that on purpose, just want to make sure.

The secret to my brew was the cherries in secondary! Cherries in secondary - 2.5lbs sweet, 2.5lbs sour! Racked onto the cherries after primary for a couple more weeks! Use a blowoff rather than airlock - she's a big beer.

Remember too, it's not uncommon for bigger, more complex beers to cost a bit more. These are the beers you often pay $7-10 a bomber for..

 

[Babybatch]

Pretty much the same thing. Although, do you realize you only 1 oz of saaz there? You may have done that on purpose, just want to make sure.

The secret to my brew was the cherries in secondary! Cherries in secondary - 2.5lbs sweet, 2.5lbs sour! Racked onto the cherries after primary for a couple more weeks! Use a blowoff rather than airlock - she's a big beer.

Remember too, it's not uncommon for bigger, more complex beers to cost a bit more. These are the beers you often pay $7-10 a bomber for..

Yeah. The 1 oz Saaz is the increment that NB sells it in. I definitely have 2 oz in my shopping cart.

Yes. I was wondering about the "cherry" in the Cherry Dubbel. Are these dried cherries? Could you drop me a link to something comparable to what you used?

Blowoff is definitely in the works.

The price for this is just fine for me. I've payed the $7-$10 for numerous bombers. They are waiting to be re-filled.

I know that this is a tad ambitious for my first batch ever but that's why I'm taking my time planning it out. PLUS you guys have been a huge help and encouragement. Thanks again and again.

 

[Babybatch]

Yeah. The 1 oz Saaz is the increment that NB sells it in. I definitely have 2 oz in my shopping cart.

Yes. I was wondering about the "cherry" in the Cherry Dubbel. Are these dried cherries? Could you drop me a link to something comparable to what you used?

Blowoff is definitely in the works.

The price for this is just fine for me. I've payed the $7-$10 for numerous bombers. They are waiting to be re-filled.

I know that this is a tad ambitious for my first batch ever but that's why I'm taking my time planning it out. PLUS you guys have been a huge help and encouragement. Thanks again and again.

Alright. I've read up on how others have added cheeery cherry to their brews. It seems like there are a number of different ways that you can approach this.

Fresh, frozen, canned, dried, juice, boiled, pureed. I've also noted that there are mixed reviews on racking from the secondary. Some say that it has clogged their siphon others have had no problems at all.

To me the cleanest method seems to be using the juice. Either making your own from fresh or using something like a Trader Joe's or Knudsen product. Then reducing it over heat to concentrate the flavors and then adding it to the secondary.

I think that will be the method I go with unless there is some flaw in that process that I am missing?

I'm getting closer to getting this brew underway. Just need to get a couple things lined up and ready to go.

• Mini Fridge - (Been shopping CL.)
• Build my Temp Controller (Ordered the main part from China.)
• Build Stir plate. (I might actually skip this.)
• Buy ingredients.

I was wondering... If I wanted to switch out the Candi Sugar with Candi Syrup would 1Lb of Sugar be the same as 1Lb of syrup? I would seem that the syrup would be more concentrated.

 

[solbes]

I was wondering... If I wanted to switch out the Candi Sugar with Candi Syrup would 1Lb of Sugar be the same as 1Lb of syrup? I would seem that the syrup would be more concentrated.

Less actually because of the water addition at the end of the process. The CandySyrup brand of D45, D90, D180, etc has 32 ppg, or points per pound per gallon. So if you are making a 5 gallon batch you get: 32 x 1 lb / 5 gallons = 6.4 point addition. How is that interpreted? Lets say your Belgian had a gravity before adding sugar of 1.065. The sugar addition would make it: 1.065 + .0064 = 1.0714.

Processed regular cane or beet sugar has 46 ppg. Dextrose, or corn sugar, also has 46 ppg. I've seen some candi sugar (granular or crystalized) numbers in the 38 ppg range. The differences between products are going to be a 1.5-2.5 point difference in your final gravity at most.

I still like the Candi Syrup stuff. Or make your own, which I also do. The clear belgian candi sugar (crystals) are not an upgrade over regular table sugar IMO. Not sure about the darker crystalized candi sugars, but I tend to believe it would not add much over regular table sugar either, besides some color.

 

[stpug]

Reducing over heat means cooking. Cooked fruit has a different flavor than fresh. The difference between freezer jam and canned jam. Keep this in mind when making your final decision. I would personally go with whole frozen and thawed fruit in a paint strainer bag in secondary. The freezing and thawing caused the cells to rupture and the paint strainer bag is tight enough to contain even the smallest sized particles.

Stir plates can be easy, fun, and cheap to make. Something to fill in the time while you're waiting

Clear candi sugar/rocks can be subbed with regular table sugar. I'm not certain on the substitution amount but generally syrup has less sugar than solid because it contains water. To venture a guess, I would say 1 lb candi syrup would be equal to 3/4 lb table sugar.