Prepping to brew my first BIG beer; Quad

[ruger988]

I'm a huge Belgian fan,always loved my quads.. and I think I'm ready to give one a shot for my 20th brew. Here's my plan, could use some reassurances and any advice anyone may have...

Mashing @ 150* for 60 min.

10lbs Belgian Pils
5lbs Belgian Pale
1lb Special B

Planning a 90 minute boil

2lbs D-180

.75oz Magnum @ 60

Have two smack packs of Wyeast 3787 Beer Smith is estimating an OG of 1.091.

I brew at my parents house as I live in an APT and don't have a whole lot of room. Since I can't keep an eye on it and am worried about blow off, I'm planning on splitting the 5.5 gallons into two buckets and pitching one pack of yeast into each. After fermentation is done, I'll rack both buckets into a carboy and let it sit for a few months to mellow out before bottling and/or kegging.

Questions/comments/concerns/advice?

 

[Cyclman]

Oxygenate it well, sounds delicious. Also, it's easy to make your own candi sugar, lots of how to sites.

 

[ruger988]

Oxygenate it well, sounds delicious. Also, it's easy to make your own candi sugar, lots of how to sites.

Awesome, I'm certainly hoping its delicious!

My main concerns are mash temp, how long to let it ferment in the two separate primarys before combining and whether one wyeast smack pack per ~2.75 gallons is enough, I just hate the idea of a starter, always seemed like another step to pick up an infection (especially with travelling ~25 minutes to brew!)

Considered making my own Candi Sugar, I think for this one I'll leave as few variables as possible to chance, maybe next time!

As for aeration, I typically use my plastic paddle chucked into my drill for 5/10 minutes while cooling, hasn't failed me yet, hoping it will be sufficient for the Quad.

 

[b-boy]

I highly recommend a starter for a quad. I do a gallon.

You'll want to ferment warm. I generally start off mid 60s, then ramp it up to the high 70s to finish off after a few days.

If you want a really good recipe with unbelievably detailed brewing instructions for a really good quad, check out this thread.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f73/pious-westvleteren-12-style-quad-multiple-147815/

 

[MaddBaggins]

I just bottled this last night. Slight grain bill change from the OP and I used a different yeast (WLP500). I made a 2L starter, then stepped it up with another 2L.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f73/oaked-belgian-quad-w-sour-cherries-468306/
I got 10.4%abv and oh-so-tasty!
I went 6 weeks, primary only. Cherries added at 1 week, oak chips added at 4 weeks.

 

[ruger988]

I just bottled this last night. Slight grain bill change from the OP and I used a different yeast (WLP500). I made a 2L starter, then stepped it up with another 2L.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f73/oaked-belgian-quad-w-sour-cherries-468306/
I got 10.4%abv and oh-so-tasty!
I went 6 weeks, primary only. Cherries added at 1 week, oak chips added at 4 weeks.

Looks good, I may give that a shot in the future, for my first I'm trying to stay as traditional and "boring" as possible. Its what made me love beer (landed in Germany for 5 years on my 21st bday, lived 1/2 hour from the Belgian border and went on beer runs through Belgium at least a few times a month!!)

When you say you did a 2L starter then stepped it up, do you mean you made the 2L, decanted than did another 2L? Or did a 2L, then added another 2L of "starter wort" once that was finished fermenting?

Thanks!!

 

[MaddBaggins]

Looks good, I may give that a shot in the future, for my first I'm trying to stay as traditional and "boring" as possible. Its what made me love beer (landed in Germany for 5 years on my 21st bday, lived 1/2 hour from the Belgian border and went on beer runs through Belgium at least a few times a month!!)

When you say you did a 2L starter then stepped it up, do you mean you made the 2L, decanted than did another 2L? Or did a 2L, then added another 2L of "starter wort" once that was finished fermenting?

Thanks!!

I did a 2L, cold crashed one day, decanted and did another 2L. Then another cold crash, decant and warm up before pitching.

I forgot to mention ferm temps. First 4 days were at 67˚ then moved it into the house and it sat around 77˚

 

[ruger988]

Sweet, thanks man!!

 

[ruger988]

Got a question for the pros out there concerning my D-180...

I'm considering three options..

1) Add both pounds to boil (then I get to figure out what time within the boil)
2) Add one at boil, one when I combine the two in secondary
3) Add one to each bucket after fermentation slows, let that ferment out, then rack both to a secondary.

Thoughts?

 

[Flatspin]

A big challenge for quads is keeping the drinkability. I'd suggest a 90 minute mash at 150 or the high 140s.

As for the sugar additions, adding them after high krausen works well and gives the yeast a chance to acclimate to the complex sugars before binging on junk food!