Belgian Blond Ale SWMBO Slayer - Belgian Blonde

[masonsjax]

I made this today. OG was only ~1.049... usually my OG exceeds the expectations. Not sure what's up with that. The starter I made had a thick krausen for 3 days, is that typical for this yeast? Oh well, guess it might end up as a SWMBO calmer, rather than slayer.

 

[MgMt_Home_Brew]

Yeah the Krauzen can get pretty thick and hang around for a while with the wit yeast.

 

[BierMuncher]

Yeah the Krauzen can get pretty thick and hang around for a while with the wit yeast.

Yep.

Give that carboy a rocking and knock that thick yeast-laden krausen back into the beer. Sometimes the bulk of the yeast actually beached itself on those walls and needs to be pushed back down into solution.

 

[masonsjax]

Wow, I'm really glad I used the blowoff tube on this one. It took off within an hour, and was like a geyser into the pitcher of star san.

 

[bashe]

Are you going to brew it again with MO, or will you try it with US 2-row instead? This may be my next brew, and I will use MO since I have 100# of it.

I will probably brew two 5 gallon batches the next time I make this. One with MO and with with 2-row just so I can compare them side by side.

 

[ezboarderz]

hey BM, I want to thank you for posting this recipe. I converted it to PM and turned out very good! This was the first recipe that I have tried of yours, so i may have to try another. My keg is running almost empty after only a week. Heres a pic. I gave it a 4 weeks at 65 degrees then cold crashed for 5 days at 40 degrees. Very clean beer.

Cheers!

 

[BierMuncher]

hey BM, I want to thank you for posting this recipe. I converted it to PM and turned out very good! This was the first recipe that I have tried of yours, so i may have to try another. My keg is running almost empty after only a week. Heres a pic. I gave it a 4 weeks at 65 degrees then cold crashed for 5 days at 40 degrees. Very clean beer.

Cheers!

Looks like Forrest is eye-balling your beer.

"....good beer is, as good beer does..."

 

[RandalG]

I picked up the kit from Midwest and brewed this yesterday. Things went well for my second AG batch. I shaved some time off my brew day by being better prepared. I missed my mash temp by 1 degree but was right on on my sparge temp. That will get better with experience I suppose. The only thing is my OG was a little high at 1.060 and the hops they sent were Willamette but only 3.4% which is only 11.5 IBU's according to Beersmith and is a little on the low side for this style. Any reason not to go 3 weeks in the primary instead of racking to a secondary? I can be lazy sometimes.

 

[BioBeing]

My first batch of this went down so easy, so I just brewed another. I added a little coriander and some bitter and sweet orange peel this time, just for fun. My first was 6.4% ABV, so I lowered my grain bill too this time.

 

[riromero]

We cracked our first bottles Friday night and my wife was asleep by 8:00pm as advertised. Excellent recipe.

Now... I have enough grain leftover for another batch but my LHBS didn't have any Belgian Wit yeast. I got WLP320 American Hefeweizen instead. We'll see what happens.

 

[NTOLERANCE]

Guys, I used the recipe for my first AG batch as well. Did the cooler batch sparge. Worked well, had a very unique taste, nothing like a Blue Moon, or the like. The longer it sat in the Kegerator, the better it got. Its a great beer for hot summer days, even if youre not the SWMBO. Keg is empty, on to the next batch!

One thing I did notice, is that as the keg emptied, the more head the beer had. Wasnt overcarbed, I even knocked the presure down to see if that was it.

Thanks for all the help.

 

[splifs]

Just brewed this up today, sadly as I was in a hurry to finish so I could get to softball failed to take a gravity reading...naturally softball ended up being canceled. As is life, looking forward to it.

 

[boredatwork]

I brewed this recipe last week. I missed the OG by a bit (1.045) since I only got 68% efficiency, but it was right in the middle of the blonde ale range so I guess it should be OK.

One comment about blowoff though. I know some people consider this heresy, but I have always found it extremely useful to use foam controller drops. I use it primarily for boilover control in the boil, but the drops also calm doing the blowoff in the fermentor.

I made a 1.5L starter that had a huge 4-5 inch krausen after 36 hours. I didn't think about swirling it back down into the starter, so when I pitched, it had already gotten hard and crusty (and based on BM's comments about yeast getting stuck in the krausen makes me wonder if I negated any effects of a starter by not catching that in time). So the yeast was super active. The beer has been in the fermentor for almost a week now and the foam controller works so well that I can use an airlock without any problems. The bubbling has been pretty intense, but the krausen is at most 2-3 inches in the carboy.

Again, I know not everyone is in tune with adding "magical drops" to their beer (and that argument has been repeated too many times on this forum), but it really helps eliminate the effects of super active beers - if you are interested in that kind of thing.

On a different note, with the hot summer temperatures I was using a cooler to lower the fermenting temperature. I originally set the temperature controller to about 64F, but there was very little activity in the airlock. So I looked up the optimum fermenting temps for the WLP400 and its 69-74F. So then I raised the temperature controller to 71F, and since then the airlock activity has really taken off.

Now I just have to wait.

 

[masonsjax]

I've been drinking this recipe for a couple of weeks. Everyone likes it a lot. It's a much more complex beer than I expected, since I'm not overly familiar with Belgian styles. It has a little bit of a fruity, spicy, and slightly tart taste. I over sparged a tad, so my ABV came out to only about 5.3%, but I'm very happy with the results. I'll probably make this one again.

 

[BierMuncher]

I've been drinking this recipe for a couple of weeks. Everyone likes it a lot. It's a much more complex beer than I expected, since I'm not overly familiar with Belgian styles. It has a little bit of a fruity, spicy, and slightly tart taste. I over sparged a tad, so my ABV came out to only about 5.3%, but I'm very happy with the results. I'll probably make this one again.

Man I miss this beer. Once I'm off my beer drinking hiatus...this one is first up I think.

 

[VApatriot]

I brewed this on July 1st for my entrance into AG brewing. I checked the gravity after 2 weeks and it was only 1.020 at 60 deg f. I checked it again last night (3 weeks in the primary) and it was still at 1.020 also at 60 deg. f, so I decided to rack to the secondary and leave it for another week before I bottle it.

The only yeast the LHBS had that seemed close, was a White Labs Belgian Wit II, Platinum Edition liquid yeast WLP410, they were out of the WLP400 so I used that. Any ideas on why the attenuation is not very good?

Anyway, I'm really looking forward to trying this one in about 5 weeks, sure do hate the waiting though.......

 

[Captain_Bigelow]

I tapped my AG rendition of this a couple of days ago -- lowered pale malt by .5 lb, used slightly lower % williamette, & added an oz. of sweet orange peel to last 30 mins of boil

did a long secondary

you were right -- swmbo is a huge fan
thx for the inspiration

edit: included pic -- lighting sucks

This looks delicious. I think I may try this for my next recipe.

 

[theganda]

So I went to brew this but mixed up the yeast with another batch I had planned and ended up pitching some Safbrew S-33. Real boneheaded mistake. I also ended up missing the gravity because I had some troubles with the mash and got 1.042. How do you think this will end up? Its been in the primary for 2 weeks and smells good at least.

 

[LooyvilleLarry]

Man I miss this beer. Once I'm off my beer drinking hiatus...this one is first up I think.

Biermuncher. Drinking hiatus. It troubles my heart to hear those at the same time. I can relate though, I've had to seriously cut back - I just can't run 26miles a day to burn those calories

 

[BierMuncher]

Biermuncher. Drinking hiatus. It troubles my heart to hear those at the same time. I can relate though, I've had to seriously cut back - I just can't run 26miles a day to burn those calories

Trust me. It's killing me. I just had to do it though. Absence making the heart grow fonder and all.

Doing nothing else I've dropped 8 pounds in the last 6 weeks. This will be a nice set up to a brew-o-rama this Fall accompanied by a serious making up for lost time.

 

[BioBeing]

My first batch of this went down so easy, so I just brewed another. I added a little coriander and some bitter and sweet orange peel this time, just for fun. My first was 6.4% ABV, so I lowered my grain bill too this time.

So this was a hit! Cracked the first bottle last night and SWMBO loved it. Best beer I have made so far quoth she. It has a nice tartness to it that I think will be very refreshing on hot days. She did say it looked like infected cow's urine though.

 

[Westel]

My SWMBO chugged my sample while i was checking the sg so I figured I'll just make these back to back to keep up lol. I was wondering if it would cause any problem if I just racked my cooled wort right over the old yeast cake... or should I pull out the yeast cake and sanatize my carboy first?

 

[BierMuncher]

My SWMBO chugged my sample while i was checking the sg so I figured I'll just make these back to back to keep up lol. I was wondering if it would cause any problem if I just racked my cooled wort right over the old yeast cake... or should I pull out the yeast cake and sanatize my carboy first?

Toss it on the cake...but DEFINITELY rig a blow off tube. You've been warned.

 

[Westel]

I used one on my last batch with simply pitching the vial onto the wort... I figured i'd need at least a 2 gallon bucket with starsan to contain this beast I'm about to create lol.

 

[jerrysfinger]

Tapped on a Saturday, Pulled two glasses on Sunday night, Monday two friends came over and stayed till 3:00 AM, I got two more pints on Wed then nothing but air.

A MUST brew!

 

[Jsamp]

I'm going to brew this one tonight probably. i have a question though. My lhbs didnt have any flaked wheat so I went to a health food store to see if they carried some. The only thing they had was wheat bran flakes. I went ahead and picked some up since it was only 50 cents. Will this work? Could I use oats instead?

 

[skiingimpy]

BM-quick question, I am intrigued by a lot of your recipes, but when I go through and do the grain bill calculations on my own I end up coming up with WAY higher theoretical initial values (and yes, I do remember to account for efficiency). For example, with this one I end up with OG should = 1.068. I don't have beersmith at this point, because it costs 25 bucks and I'd rather spend that on a brew. I am however, fairly competent at excel and have read a fair amount on the subject. I guess I'm curious what your potential extract numbers look like to get that OG.

I hope that makes sense. I'm starting to worry that it doesn't.

 

[Stinkonamonkey]

Edit: I ended up using the White Labs Belgian Golden Ale for this since I couldnt find WLP-400. I made a 2 liter starter, pitched it last night around 7 pm, and it was bubbling through the blow off tube by ~10:30. I'll update the post with the results in a month.

So this turned out pretty good. The yeast character of the beer was almost overwhelming though. I'll ferment it a little colder next time and use a different yeast. That being said, it was pretty good and my friends seemed to like it a lot.

 

[Captain_Bigelow]

Toss it on the cake...but DEFINITELY rig a blow off tube. You've been warned.

Definitely a blow off rig is required... mine starting bubbling within just a couple of hours. 5 days later it is still going like crazy. I made a starter. I think in the future i don't need to bother with a starter.

 

[msa8967]

I only have room and equipment for extract recipes and I saw this recipe posted in a previous post.

3 lbs. Wheat DME
2 lbs. Extra Lght DME
8 oz. Caramel 10°L
8 oz. Flaked Wheat
4 oz. Caravienne malt

1 oz hops (looks like they changed to Glacier from Williamette)

1 oz hops (looks like they changed to Glacier from Williamette)

Has anyone used this and have any advice on a successful brew they would like to share? I am still a newbie and can use all the advice I can get.

1) I am not sure of which type of yeast to use and at what times the hops should be added to the boil.

2) Do I steep the 8 oz. Caramel, 8 oz flaked wheat and caravienne malt together prior to adding the DME? I have done a partial grain batch before where I steeped the grains for 20 minutes at 160-170 F prior to adding the extract and bringing to a full boil.

3) What does the "10°L" stand for with the Caramel? The closest LBHS store is 90+ miles away so I want to make sure I have everything down prior to making the trip.

thanks...

Mick