True Brew Belgian Ale

[Chewy107]

I was thinking of adding some hops when I rack next week. What hops would you recommend? Plus, do I just throw the hops in without stirring or boiling? Sorry for the newbie questions.

I've recorded most of the brewing process. Feel free to view and comment. I brewed straight from my backyard spring.

Part 1

[ame]http://youtu.be/GR9TTnadv8s?hd=1[/ame]

Part 2

[ame]http://youtu.be/NpwFZ3zroIo?hd=1[/ame]

 

[Oldsock]

Yep, dry hops are added right to the beer without boiling or sanitizing. I like to put them in a hop bag with some glass marbles to make it easier to rack the beer to the bottling bucket, but that isn't a requirement.

Not sure what type of hops to suggest, it depends on what you are going for. The popular thing recently has been to add citrusy American hops to Belgian beers (Amarillo, Centennial etc&#8230 although the more classic approach would be to use spicy/herbal European (Hallertau, Goldings etc&#8230 or European-ish varieties from America (Willamette, Sterling, Mt. Hood etc&#8230.

Hope that helps good luck.

 

[Chewy107]

Thanks for the advice. I just visited your website. Impressive!

http://www.themadfermentationist.com/

 

[Oldsock]

Glad you enjoyed it, let me know what you end up using and how it turns out.

 

[Chewy107]

Glad you enjoyed it, let me know what you end up using and how it turns out.

I picked mt hood pellets. The fermentation seems to have stopped at 1.018. I'm going to take another hydro reading in 24hrs and then rack.

 

[Chewy107]

I picked mt hood pellets. The fermentation seems to have stopped at 1.018. I'm going to take another hydro reading in 24hrs and then rack.

A big cake of mt. Hood is sittin on top. Should I be concerned?

 

[Calder]

Looks fine. They should sink to the bottom over the next 10 to 14 days.

I usually wait until they have sunk before bottling, but you can rack and bottle from under them. Some people think they get a 'grassy' flavor from dry hops if left too long; I've never noticed it.

 

[Chewy107]

Thanks for the response.

 

[Chewy107]

This is incredible! Is it possible for the beer to be still fermenting?

Pitched yeast on April 30th.
Racked and Dry hopped on May 7th.

I moved the carboy last night and it went down from 72F to 68F.

 

[Oldsock]

How are you judging fermentation? Krausen? Attenuation? CO2 bubbles? Attenuation is the only real way to know what is happening. BUbbles in the airlock just means CO2 is leaving solution.

 

[Chewy107]

Hmm..It will be 14 days in the secondary on Sat. Ill grab a reading and bottle. I figured it was still fermenting if I saw the CO2 burp.

 

[Chewy107]

So, I bottled the Belgian Ale seven days ago. I know you should wait at least two weeks before opening but I decided that is was important to check on the progress. It could have an infection. Right? Luckily, its fine! It open with a loud roar letting out a nice smoke of hops aroma. It poured with a medium size head and has a beautiful golden color. I'm excited. My only issue is the clarity! My question is will the beer clear up with some time or is that a hazard of dry hopping with pellets?

[ame]http://youtu.be/uzGz_JUjSUU?hd=1[/ame]