Belgian Golden Strong Ale Pink Elephant (Delirium Tremens clone)

[djbradle]

Almost all my Belgian yeasts get the mid or low 60F treatment to start and then after 3 days the ramp up begins artificially to as high as the lower 80's for another 1-3 weeks. I find this regiment gives me the esters that I'm looking for in my strong ales, golden or dark, tripel or dubbel. For pales I keep it no higher than the low 70's on the ramp up to get the cleaner flavors. Never a blowoff and uncontrollable fermentation with that temp control. I love robust flavors so this may not work for some palettes.

So wlp545 always gets the high temp treatment since I like the spice and esters it gives. Did a dark strong that got several ounces of Strisserspalt at flameout that is delightful right now.

 

[jtp137]

Almost all my Belgian yeasts get the mid or low 60F treatment to start and then after 3 days the ramp up begins artificially to as high as the lower 80's for another 1-3 weeks. I find this regiment gives me the esters that I'm looking for in my strong ales, golden or dark, tripel or dubbel. For pales I keep it no higher than the low 70's on the ramp up to get the cleaner flavors. Never a blowoff and uncontrollable fermentation with that temp control. I love robust flavors so this may not work for some palettes.

So wlp545 always gets the high temp treatment since I like the spice and esters it gives. Did a dark strong that got several ounces of Strisserspalt at flameout that is delightful right now.

After the three days in the 60s how quickly do you go to the 80s. Right away or slow ramp up

 

[djbradle]

While the fermenter is on a shelf I immediately place a oil filled plug-in radiator underneath said shelf and using the marked settings to get to the 80's in about 24-48 hours. I don't crank it up right away on the highest setting, just work my way up there with that short timeframe checking every so often to monitor the temp rise and adjust. I have a laser thermometer gun that works great for this. The basement temps this time of year are 58-60. I also will use a fan heater to get the ambient air temps up to the very low 80's which keeps the ramp up slower. Whatever does it for you.

Since I am fermenting in a small basement shop room it has taken a little bit of testing to make sure I'm not overshooting the temps. Of course when summer hits I will be using less heat. One time I hit 106F on a 3522 pale ale that was bubblegum and bandaid city in a ferm chamber. I find using ambient temp changes easier to maintain for my process.

 

[OdinsBrew]

Thanks for posting the recipe. I'm about to do the five gallon.

Did you use fresh ginger or dry powder?

 

[Kee]

Thanks for posting the recipe. I'm about to do the five gallon.

Did you use fresh ginger or dry powder?

The original poster used fresh ginger. I've done it both ways, not sure how much difference it makes. The potency of spices seem to vary a lot so I take the amounts mentioned more as a suggestion.

 

[opteek]

IME, when it comes to using spices and herbs in beer, freshness is key. Especially with ground up spices if they are not properly stored and in an airtight container they lose all of their goodness really quickly. Both times I made this beer I used fresh grated ginger and it was great.

I recently made a 10 gallon batch that was split between The YeastBays Dry Belgian Ale yeast and the other 5 gallons was a mix of S-04 and bottle cultured tremens yeast like I did the first time around. Going to sample those tomorrow and do a taste test with my sister and brother in law. I'm making about 150 bottles of this for their wedding so whichever one they prefer I am gonna brew up 20 gallons of shortly.

 

[OdinsBrew]

I'm about to rack to secondary and lager, but my gravity won't drop below 1.011. I checked it on day 8 and it was about 1.012 - 11. I put it on top of the dryer (aka stir plate) and let her go. Today is about day 11 and I kinda want to get it in the fridge asap. Is 1.011 too high? I can't imagine it dropping any more points in the cold, and I don't want any bottle bombs. Since it didn't drop in the past couple days, I figure it's not going to go any lower. I would imagine it's okay but thought I'd ask from those in the know. Thanks in advance.

Should I keep it warm for a couple more days, or should I put it in the fridge now?

Thanks for the note on the ginger. I've actually been making ginger juice concentrate in my food processor recently and used some of that. It makes for good cocktail mixer or just with sparking water for a fresh ginger juice.

 

[jtp137]

Keep it warm its only 8 days. If you drip the temp the yeast will go dormant. I wouldn't be afraid to keep in primary for months. You need to make sure they finish

 

[sudndeth]

Starting my version of this. Using Wyeast 1338, and S04. Have a big starter going now for the Wyeast. My plan is protein rest, infuse to 154 and do a modified decoction for mash out. I'll pull the first runings and boil to raise to 170ish. I'm also going with table sugar added the last 15min. It's a 10g batch. Post details as I go.

 

[sudndeth]

The brew day went well. Mash: 133 for 10ish; 147 for 45ish; 156 for 30ish. Sparged with 170* water.

I used a 1:1 ratio for dough in. Infused to 147. At that point my mashtun (round cooler) was full yo the top. Decoction to 156 boiling my thin mash.

Boil went well. Only added styrian goldings at 60min. Cane sugar at 20. No 15 minute hop addition. Used fresh ginger and coriander and paradise.

Only issue was my yeast. Had 2 packs of 1388. Made two starters 2 days prior. One was 3l on a stir plate, other 1L not on a stir plate. Only problem was I noticed the packs were 6 months old. Starter didn't seem as active as they should have been. Both seemed to finish out though.

Pitched yeast at 64. Kept for 2 days and raised to 67 for a day and now raised to 72. Added last if sugar (boiled) tonight. Smelled great. Thought of adding the S04 right now, but don't think I will. Also going to raise to 75 in another 2 days.

 

[sudndeth]

Gravity today was 1.034. Taste was obviously sweet, spices were powerful, but good overall. I set the temp to 79.7 so it should be close to 80* this afternoon. I'll leave it there for 2 weeks, and hope it dries out.

 

[jtp137]

Gravity today was 1.034. Taste was obviously sweet, spices were powerful, but good overall. I set the temp to 79.7 so it should be close to 80* this afternoon. I'll leave it there for 2 weeks, and hope it dries out.

Interested to see how your fermentation goes I used 1388 once pitched the correct amount of yeast and it took forever to finish

 

[sudndeth]

Interested to see how your fermentation goes I used 1388 once pitched the correct amount of yeast and it took forever to finish

I'm going to check in 2 weeks and post back. Should finish out in that time. I hope.

 

[sudndeth]

Well, this yeast is slow. I'm at 26.7*c(1.026) and it's at 1.024 now. There's no way it's done. I'll give it some more time and see.

How long did yours take to finish. Should I pitch some S04 to see if it knocks it out?

 

[jplowe]

I love DT and want to try it out. Lagering might be an issue now that is summertime but the real question is can i keg this? I see everyone aging bottles for months and letting them condition warm but I would rather keg. Could it Keg condition if i degass the co2 and let it sit warm or could i just set the co2 and let the keg sit for a month or so before tapping into it in the frig?

 

[Kee]

I love DT and want to try it out. Lagering might be an issue now that is summertime but the real question is can i keg this? I see everyone aging bottles for months and letting them condition warm but I would rather keg. Could it Keg condition if i degass the co2 and let it sit warm or could i just set the co2 and let the keg sit for a month or so before tapping into it in the frig?

Yes you can keg this. DT on draft is great.

 

[jtp137]

Well, this yeast is slow. I'm at 26.7*c(1.026) and it's at 1.024 now. There's no way it's done. I'll give it some more time and see.

How long did yours take to finish. Should I pitch some S04 to see if it knocks it out?

I left mine in primary for a month and only got it down to 1.016. How much yeast did you pitch

 

[sudndeth]

Update: 18 June: 1.020@79*F. Smelled nice, a little funk. Yeast is dropping out. Sample was clearer. Mellowing out. Added 2 packs of US-04 and lowered temp to 18*C.

 

[sudndeth]

26 June: 1.020@70*. Still same as above. No change.

Not sure what to do. It tastes a lot drier than it reads. Should I try and pitch a good yeast to finish like 3711 or let it ride.

 

[sudndeth]

Reviewing my recipe I only have about 12% table sugar. Should I add more to dry this out some? My SG was 1.077.

 

[jtp137]

What did you mash at. How was your fermentation profile

 

[sudndeth]

134*
Step to 147*
Decoction thin mash to 157
Sparge 172*

Ferm at 64 raised to 70 then 80. It's been at 80 for a while.

So, I boiled 2# of sugar and added it. I just couldn't tolerate that sweetness.

 

[jtp137]

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1435452791.440414.jpgpicked up this

 

[sudndeth]

Same recipe? I needs some DT though....

 

[jtp137]

Supposed to be a blonde its special edition brewed by women

 

[sudndeth]

Well, this has been lagering at 40ish for a while now. I'm going to keg the batch, hopefully today.

 

[sudndeth]

little slick on the tongue. 1.016@58*. Solid overall.

 

[sudndeth]

Probably the last update. This turned out nothing like I wanted it, or expected. I would have cut most, or all the spices. There's way too much ginger so if you brew this beware and maybe start small. Mine ended up too sweet and cloying for my liking. Think it was due to the yeast and my process. (Note: make a huge starter and verify yeast production date is very new)

Currently, I'd brew again with no ginger, a different yeast to get more Belgian esters and it would dry this out more. If also mash lower than I did.

This is a good grain bill and I think the spices would be OK, but you really need to start small and build up. Otherwise, it was a good base.

 

[Madmannvan]

Has anyone brewed this with dt bottle dreg with any success?

 

[fun4stuff]

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