How do I classify a beer?

[Daffypuck]

I know, an odd thread title, but I couldnt think of another way to state it. I finally made the switch to all-grain and my first batch went really well. But my second was filled with all sorts of mishaps. My 2nd batch was supposed to be a Belgium Quad. First off, my target mash temp was supposed to be 152. I thought I had it, but after a few minutes and for the first 20 minutes it was around 147-48. Then the next 30 minutes were about 149-150, with the remaing 10 minutes or so at 152. Hopefully not too big of a deal. Then came the sparging. I used way too much water during sparging and ended up not rinsing the grain well enough. The OG was supposed to be around 1.082 and I ended up with 1.071. Today I racked to secondary and the reading was .011. My question is this, it doesnt look or taste like a quad, but more a triple. Actually, its rather lacking in taste, very subtle, but not bad by any means. It kind of tastes like a watered down triple, or double with a noticable alcohol taste. What style should I label it? A triple? A double? A strong? Ive added afew things in with the secondary to hopefully give it some more flavor, but Im dissapointed that I screwed up so badly during the mash and sparge.
Heres the recipe:

•11 lbs (4.99 kg) Belgian Pilsner 2-Row (2 °L)
•3 lbs (1.36 kg) Belgian Aromatic (22.5 °L)
•1.5 lbs (0.68 kg) Belgian Biscuit Malt (23.75 °L)
•2 lbs (0.91 kg) Clear Candi Sugar (0.5 °L)
After Boil
•4 oz (113.4 g) Corn Sugar (Dextrose) (0 °L)
Hops
•1 oz (28.35 g) Saazer 4.7% AA (Boil - 60 mins)
•1 oz (28.35 g) Perle 10.4% AA (Boil - 15 mins)
Yeast
•Trappist High Gravity (Wyeast 3787) (Liquid)

 

[IncredibleMulk]

When I put all of this in to my software, it looks like a strong to me.

 

[FensterBos]

Well, there are a few factors like how'd you get the temp in your tun to go up? Me thinks you have it over a flame? But I've had a lot of OG problems; I've been basing it off of the fact that my mash tun loses a lot of heat, but that doesn't seem to be your problem.
Did you hit your target volume (5 gallons) or was it more? If more, you probably could have boiled the wort more to get closer to your OG.
In regards to style, I'd just call it a light Quad; if you really want to be specific, go for a Tripel.

 

[Daffypuck]

I got my mash temp up by adding hotter water to the mash tun. Target volume was hit by the fact that I used so much dang water. I think I basically diluted the whole brew. My set-up is very primitive, but It'll have to do for a while until I get a few more AG brews under my belt. Which software do you use?

 

[FensterBos]

How much water did you initially mash with, around 4.75 gallons? How much water did you add to increase the temperature and then for sparge? What was your pre-boil volume and your post-boil volume?

 

[jbaysurfer]

That last question is the key to what happened IMHO, if you over dilute your wort with infusions/sparge water, you end up with way more wort then you should've had. When I do that I boil off til I get to the appropriate preboil gravity, and then I add my first addition.

But that's not really what your thread is about. It's about what to call your beer stylewise, and I think you should let it name itself. If it specs out as a Strong, call it a strong.

BTW, you're new to AG, so a tip that helped me with gravity issues when I started AG was to keep a couple pounds of DME around so you can increase your gravity with a late addition if neccesary. Boil off is my preferred method for overdiluted wort, but if you're off toward the END of a boil, you can throw some DME in there for the last 10 minutes to get it back into line.

 

[KingBrianI]

Off topic but it has to be said:

Do you say America Pale Ale?
or America IPA
Or England Bitter?
Or Mexico lager?

No?

Then why the hell do all of you keep saying Belgium tripel/quad/whatever?!

 

[Hang Glider]

Belgian.

 

[IncredibleMulk]

Which software do you use?

I use Beersmith primarily...but love my Brewpal and iBrewmaster on iPhone. Brewpal has a BJCP style area in the "more" section that will tell you what you are close to with your recipe.

 

[Daffypuck]

Brian, are you referring to the reduntancy in calling it a "Belium" quad? Referring to a style as simply an IPA is too broad of a description. Theres English IPAs, American IPAs, West Coast style of IPAs etc. But I guess youre right when it comes to most.

 

[KingBrianI]

No, I'm referring to the use of the country's name "Belgium" instead of the the adjective referring to things from that country "Belgian".

 

[jbaysurfer]

No, I'm referring to the use of the country's name "Belgium" instead of the the adjective referring to things from that country "Belgian".

It's a Flemish Strong.

 

[brewit2it]

Unless you plan on entering it in a comp it doesn't make any difference what you call it, that isn't going to change what it is or how it will taste.

What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;