Gnomebrewer
Well-Known Member
- Recipe Type
- All Grain
- Yeast
- WY1214
- Yeast Starter
- See notes
- Additional Yeast or Yeast Starter
- Nope
- Batch Size (Gallons)
- 5/10
- Original Gravity
- 1.080
- Final Gravity
- 1.009
- Boiling Time (Minutes)
- 60
- IBU
- 32
- Color
- Yellow
- Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
- See Notes
- Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
- See Notes
- Additional Fermentation
- See Notes
- Tasting Notes
- Delicious. Up front banana-led fruitiness, spice and cracker-like maltiness with a dry, spicy finish. Very drinkable.
I love a good yeast driven beer. How satisfying is it to brew something that ends up with flavours that you didn't even add, thanks to the work of our microscopic friends? That was my challenge with brewing a strong, pale Belgian beer - brew a big, pale Belgian beer without using spices, that is drinkable ('digestable') and has some of the bold flavours that Belgian's are known for. I've tried many recipes and processes and this is the first that I would consider worthy of sharing with the brewing community. This has some background fruit (mostly banana, but also some pear and light stonefruit), a noticeable dash of pepper like spiciness and some nice crackery malt. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!
Firstly, although this recipe is simple, fermentation temperature control is critical. If you can't control your ferment, try WY3522. Although I haven't used it for this recipe, I know from experience that it's far more temperature tolerant than WY1214 and should give a great beer. DON'T USE WY1214 IF YOU CAN'T CONTROL FERMENT TEMPS!. Why - WY1214 gives sickening levels of acetone and banana if temps get too high - IME above about 68 in the early stages of the ferment. That's ferment temp - not room temp. With temp control, WY1214 gives a delectable balance of spice and fruit with very little alcohol heat.
So, the recipe. I wanted a simple beer that used all base malt and no fancy syrups to give a great beer with fruit and spice. I like a bit more hop than a typical tripel or Golden strong, giving a balanced rather than 'sweet' tasting beer. This is it. This is NOT like chimay white (although the yeast qualities are similar) - if you like chimay, try cutting back on the hops and sugar, and add some crystal malt. It's much sweeter, darker and fruitier than this recipe!
66.67& Pils malt (I use Bestmalz)
16.67% Vienna malt (again, I use Bestmalz - it's what I can get!)
16.67% Dextrose (add at the end of the boil or dissolve and add directly to the fermenter).
26IBU of Perle at 60 mins.
1/2g/L Saaz at 30 mins.
1/2g/L Saaz at 10 mins.
Mash at 145 for 30 mins, then 158 for 30 mins.
If you look at your water profile, aim for 60ppm Calcium with 2:1 sulphate:chloride ratio. Aim for a 5.7 mash pH and 5.2 boil pH (add acid to the boil).
YEAST AND FERMENT:
This is important. More important than for most beers. This is where the flavours and drinkable qualities of the beer come from. The recipe is simple, the ferment needs some love.
Pitch a good amount of fresh, healthy yeast slurry. You can't use a single packet of yeast for a beer of this size (even for a 5 gallon batch) and expect a good beer. Either make a big starter or use some slurry from a prior batch. I use 3/4 cup of slurry per 5 gallons, from a fresh batch of low alcohol (<6% beer). Aerate thoroughly. I use 30 seconds of pure O2.
Pitch yeast at or a bit below 64F (18C).
Maintain this temperature (ferment temp, not ambient temp) for 3 days after the start of active ferment (ferment should be active in about 12 hours if you used nice, fresh yeast) then raise 2 degrees F or 1 degree C per day until you reach 70F/21C. Hold this until beer is at or slightly above 1.012 then transfer to secondary. Secondaries aren't popular these days and I rarely use them, but this yeast just doesn't clear (IME) if left on the yeast cake. Make sure you transfer with some points remaining - it's better to transfer a bit early rather than a bit late, to ensure there is some yeast activity to clean up oxygen. After transferring to secondary, hold 70F/21C for three more days then drop to 54F/12C for 7 to 10 days before kegging or bottling.
Carbonate to 3.5+ volumes - you want this effervescent. If kegging, leave for at least a month at room temp (preferably longer) to help the flavours mellow and meld. This is a big beer - don't rush it. If bottling, it takes at least a month at room temperature to carbonate (I've tried them at three weeks and there isn't any fizz). They taste better after 6 to 8 weeks (the longer the better).
Throughout the ferment this yeast throws some amazingly fruity aromas, along with some awful banana/acetone flavours. Don't worry - as long as the ferment temperatures were controlled, the banana/acetone mellows out to some really nice banana/fruit/spice.
This beer, to me, is perfect. Each sip is rich and intensely flavoured, but dry and bitter enough that you want to pick the glass up again as soon as you've put it down! You wouldn't know that it comes in at over 9%ABV!
Firstly, although this recipe is simple, fermentation temperature control is critical. If you can't control your ferment, try WY3522. Although I haven't used it for this recipe, I know from experience that it's far more temperature tolerant than WY1214 and should give a great beer. DON'T USE WY1214 IF YOU CAN'T CONTROL FERMENT TEMPS!. Why - WY1214 gives sickening levels of acetone and banana if temps get too high - IME above about 68 in the early stages of the ferment. That's ferment temp - not room temp. With temp control, WY1214 gives a delectable balance of spice and fruit with very little alcohol heat.
So, the recipe. I wanted a simple beer that used all base malt and no fancy syrups to give a great beer with fruit and spice. I like a bit more hop than a typical tripel or Golden strong, giving a balanced rather than 'sweet' tasting beer. This is it. This is NOT like chimay white (although the yeast qualities are similar) - if you like chimay, try cutting back on the hops and sugar, and add some crystal malt. It's much sweeter, darker and fruitier than this recipe!
66.67& Pils malt (I use Bestmalz)
16.67% Vienna malt (again, I use Bestmalz - it's what I can get!)
16.67% Dextrose (add at the end of the boil or dissolve and add directly to the fermenter).
26IBU of Perle at 60 mins.
1/2g/L Saaz at 30 mins.
1/2g/L Saaz at 10 mins.
Mash at 145 for 30 mins, then 158 for 30 mins.
If you look at your water profile, aim for 60ppm Calcium with 2:1 sulphate:chloride ratio. Aim for a 5.7 mash pH and 5.2 boil pH (add acid to the boil).
YEAST AND FERMENT:
This is important. More important than for most beers. This is where the flavours and drinkable qualities of the beer come from. The recipe is simple, the ferment needs some love.
Pitch a good amount of fresh, healthy yeast slurry. You can't use a single packet of yeast for a beer of this size (even for a 5 gallon batch) and expect a good beer. Either make a big starter or use some slurry from a prior batch. I use 3/4 cup of slurry per 5 gallons, from a fresh batch of low alcohol (<6% beer). Aerate thoroughly. I use 30 seconds of pure O2.
Pitch yeast at or a bit below 64F (18C).
Maintain this temperature (ferment temp, not ambient temp) for 3 days after the start of active ferment (ferment should be active in about 12 hours if you used nice, fresh yeast) then raise 2 degrees F or 1 degree C per day until you reach 70F/21C. Hold this until beer is at or slightly above 1.012 then transfer to secondary. Secondaries aren't popular these days and I rarely use them, but this yeast just doesn't clear (IME) if left on the yeast cake. Make sure you transfer with some points remaining - it's better to transfer a bit early rather than a bit late, to ensure there is some yeast activity to clean up oxygen. After transferring to secondary, hold 70F/21C for three more days then drop to 54F/12C for 7 to 10 days before kegging or bottling.
Carbonate to 3.5+ volumes - you want this effervescent. If kegging, leave for at least a month at room temp (preferably longer) to help the flavours mellow and meld. This is a big beer - don't rush it. If bottling, it takes at least a month at room temperature to carbonate (I've tried them at three weeks and there isn't any fizz). They taste better after 6 to 8 weeks (the longer the better).
Throughout the ferment this yeast throws some amazingly fruity aromas, along with some awful banana/acetone flavours. Don't worry - as long as the ferment temperatures were controlled, the banana/acetone mellows out to some really nice banana/fruit/spice.
This beer, to me, is perfect. Each sip is rich and intensely flavoured, but dry and bitter enough that you want to pick the glass up again as soon as you've put it down! You wouldn't know that it comes in at over 9%ABV!
After 3 days, ramped up the temp a couple degrees a day, to 72F.
