D-45 ? ? ?

[Gytaryst]

I have a pouch of D-45 candi syrup in the fridge I bought for a Belgian I was planning to brew this winter. I got side tracked brewing other stuff and never used it. Now that summer is on it's way I'm not in the mood to brew any Belgian ales. I suppose I could just let it sit in the fridge until next winter. I happened to see it sitting back there and started wondering how it would do in another style more suited for summer, like maybe an IPA or a pale ale?

Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks

CHEERS

 

[thehaze]

I would definitely use D-45 in a Red/Amber ale of sorts, or a small Brown ale. It's pretty heavy on toffee and caramel, so I think it will work best in styles, where you want toffee/caramel notes and colour.

It will just not work in an IPA. Maybe a Red IPA?

 

[Gytaryst]

Yeah, I though maybe a red ale after I posted. I know IPA is all about the hops and bitterness. I've read quite a few comments over the years where some guys decry the use of anything that might add any kind of caramel notes to an IPA. I'm curious why that might be? I like IPA's okay but there are a lot of other styles I like as well or better. From my limited knowledge of beer styles it seems like a hint caramel might add a nice contrast in a hop forward IPA. But then again, maybe that contrast doesn't work - I don't know.

Just curious

 

[thehaze]

D-45 comes out as more of a sweet caramel on steroids when compared to regular Crystal/Caramel malts, which you can actually use in IPAs. I see D-45 being more apropriate to " malt-focused " beers, such as red or belgian dubbels, possibly in porters or any other beer with a combination of base and specialty malts. It can add a bit of complexity to the overall beer.

A 10, 20, 40 or 60L ( lovibond ) Crystal can work OK in IPAs and especially Pale Ales, where you want a bit of malt presence, but not a rule by any means. I would however not go more than 5% Crystal malt in IPAs.

But if you are curious what the Candi syrup might bring to an IPA, go ahead and use it for that. Homebrewing is beautiful because if and when we have an idea and want to brew something, we can do that and decide later whether it was a good idea or not.

Maybe brew a small batch and see how it goes.

 

[Gytaryst]

This what I came up with, (only because I have everything on hand). I just have to buy the yeast and maybe some hops. If anyone can see any problems I'm not seeing I'd appreciate the heads up.

 

[catdaddy66]

Sounds like it would go well in an Irish red or Scottish ale.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Now that summer is on it's way I'm not in the mood to brew any Belgian ales.

On the contrary, the next few months are the ideal time to be brewing the big Belgian beers, so that they have 6 months (or 18, or 30...) to age before drinking them in the winter.

 

[Gytaryst]

On the contrary, the next few months are the ideal time to be brewing the big Belgian beers, so that they have 6 months (or 18, or 30...) to age before drinking them in the winter.

I agree - but my brain doesn't think like that. I brew whatever beer I'm in the mood to drink at the time. I'm not in the mood to drink big Belgian beers right now so even the thought of brewing one doesn't appeal to me. Partly because the last few higher gravity brews I attempted were disappointments; crappy efficiency, missing target numbers, etc. I revamped my system so for awhile I'm just brewing smaller, lighter, less expensive stuff to get used to things.

I've also never had anything I brewed make it past 6 months. I have serious plans of aging a Belgian for 18 months . . . someday . . . but . . .

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Hmm, some people can handle delayed gratification, others can't... One answer might be to partigyle it. Since you've had problems with high gravity don't go too mad, aim for 1.070 or 1.080 on your first runnings of a smallish volume, say 3 gallons, and then use 10-20% of first runnings and all of the second runnings to make a more sessionable mild or stout for more immediate drinking (although it would benefit from a month or two of conditioning).

You don't need lots of fancy hops for this kind of thing so your hop costs are low, partigyling a smaller volume means that you're getting roughly the same volume of beer from a "normal" amount of malt, use a dry yeast like T-58 for the big beer to keep down costs if you like.

Keep it til Christmas, then if it works well you'll feel encouraged to do that 18 month beer...