Westvleteren 12 Group Brew & Swap

[KingBrianI]

Getting close to a boil

2 hours!

Bittering hop addition is exactly 1 oz!

I dumped the spent grains on the dock for the ducks and geese

Post-boil color

 

[KingBrianI]

Pre and post boil pictures:

 

[saq]

Looks good! My "new world" brew came out a little darker than that.

 

[KingBrianI]

Looks good! My "new world" brew came out a little darker than that.

Yeah, I'm pretty happy with the color I got. It seems to have darkened significantly over what just pale and pils malt would usually give. I think the boil helped more than the decoction though. Should be right on target after the candi sugar additions for ~40 SRM.

It is bubbling away happily this morning. I held it at 68-70 all night but I'm letting it ramp itself up now.

EDIT: Just checked the temp. It's at 74 now.

 

[saq]

Well, just like clockwork my "New World" recipe hits 1.012 on the 7th day.

 

[KingBrianI]

How's it taste though?!

 

[chri5]

Bunch of cool pics

Looks like a good brew day. I might have to take some spent grain over to the ducks in my neighborhood when I brew this.

ps - I'm jealous of your Meyer lemon, all the fruit dropped off of mine this year.

 

[KingBrianI]

Looks like a good brew day. I might have to take some spent grain over to the ducks in my neighborhood when I brew this.

ps - I'm jealous of your Meyer lemon, all the fruit dropped off of mine this year.

That lemon set hundreds of lemons, but most fell off. There are probably 20-30 that it kept and that are getting big. I've read that they only keep what they can support. Last year it dropped them all, and I think it was because it got too dry, so I've been attentive to keeping it watered this year.

 

[saq]

How's it taste though?!

Like it needs some aging, the banana and fruit phenolics are pretty big. Its cooling right now in the fermeezer before I rack it to a corny where its going to finish conditioning.

 

[KingBrianI]

Like it needs some aging, the banana and fruit phenolics are pretty big. Its cooling right now in the fermeezer before I rack it to a corny where its going to finish conditioning.

I'm scared to take it off the yeast so fast. I know you said the monks let it ferment for 4-6 days then cool it to 50 degrees to condition. Do they rack it off the yeast when they cool it or chill it without racking? I'm not sure I would want to pull it off without letting it clean up at all, especially with the warm fermentation.

 

[saq]

I'm scared to take it off the yeast so fast. I know you said the monks let it ferment for 4-6 days then cool it to 50 degrees to condition. Do they rack it off the yeast when they cool it or chill it without racking? I'm not sure I would want to pull it off without letting it clean up at all, especially with the warm fermentation.

Well at 50f the yeast isn't doing anything. They put it at that temp to get the yeast to drop out. So yeah, they rack off the yeast after 7 days.

 

[KingBrianI]

Alright man, I'll do it but I'm probably going to be twitching the whole time! My batch has hit 84, now it's a matter of checking on it periodically to see whether it looks like it will try to go over. I'll have to move it to a colder room in that case. It's also going gangbusters right now. The s-type airlock has a constant flow of CO2 coming through. I think I'll go ahead and add the homemade candi syrup tonight and the dark candi sugar tomorrow.

 

[saq]

After doing a shot at this I think adding the dark candi syrup early in the boil will increase the darkness of this beer by letting it caramelize some more. I'm going to add the sugar off the bat in the "traditional" recipe next weekend and see how it comes out.

 

[KingBrianI]

I'd be worried about all that boiling time changing the flavors slightly. Probably me just being paranoid though. I just added 2 lbs. of my homemade dark candi syrup. Temp has been holding steady at 84, I was worried about it going over but it seems to have plateaued. Hopefully it doesn't go crazy with the candi syrup and heat up some more. Gravity was 1.032 before I added the syrup. I was surprised at how far it had come. It will get a pound of dark candi sugar tomorrow and then it will be a wait for it to get down to 1.011. I hope it stops there! I also pulled some yeast and added it to a bit or wort I saved yesterday diluted to 1.040. I've got it on the stirplate to use as the yeast added at bottling. Fun stuff.

Edit: Oh, by the way, the sample was surprisingly drinkable! No alcohol harshness, thank goodness. I was worried about that with the quick ramp up to 84 it did. Esters were present but subdued. There was a bit of a tartness from the yeast that was pleasant. Can't wait to try the finished product!

 

[KingBrianI]

Well, the beer had a nice 3 inch krausen all day. Being at a volume of about 5.5 gallons in a 6.5 gallon carboy, it had plenty of room. That is, until the candi syrup was added. Not 10 minutes after I had added the syrup did I go to check on it and krausen was shooting out the airlock and around the sides of the carboy cap. So on went a blowoff tube and a stopper. No more real time temp checks since the carboy cap isn't being used. I didn't realize it was gonna freak over the syrup quite so much!

 

[saq]

Well, the beer had a nice 3 inch krausen all day. Being at a volume of about 5.5 gallons in a 6.5 gallon carboy, it had plenty of room. That is, until the candi syrup was added. Not 10 minutes after I had added the syrup did I go to check on it and krausen was shooting out the airlock and around the sides of the carboy cap. So on went a blowoff tube and a stopper. No more real time temp checks since the carboy cap isn't being used. I didn't realize it was gonna freak over the syrup quite so much!

You need some fermcap!

 

[Freezeblade]

Ok, so tomarrow is brew day, and I'm doing a 3 gallon batch, it might be blasphomy, but I have to make some hop substitutions because I'm on a shoestring budget, and the hops I've got are the hops I've got (this is also why I didn't order candi syrup, making it myself)

4# Pale Malt (bel)
4# Pilsner Malt (bel)
1.5# Dark Syrup (sugar #5 from snick-a-saurs's post)
.7oz EKGs @ 120 mins
.5oz Williamette @ 25 mins
.5oz Hallertauer @ 25 mins

Mashing is a double decoct: 122, 145, 158
I did a 1.5L starter of the WLP530. We'll see how it turns out

 

[KingBrianI]

You need some fermcap!

It already had 7 drops in it. I went ahead and added 5 more this morning since it was still blowing off. That's about all I'm comfortable with. I'm a bit worried I lost too much yeast though. I was blowing off into a quart size jar with maybe a cup of starsan in the bottom, and it was overflowing this morning. Fermentation also seems to have slowed down and temp was down to 80. Hopefully there is enough yeast left to finish this thing out!

 

[saq]

It already had 7 drops in it. I went ahead and added 5 more this morning since it was still blowing off. That's about all I'm comfortable with. I'm a bit worried I lost too much yeast though. I was blowing off into a quart size jar with maybe a cup of starsan in the bottom, and it was overflowing this morning. Fermentation also seems to have slowed down and temp was down to 80. Hopefully there is enough yeast left to finish this thing out!

My 7g conical with 5.5g in and quite a bit of fermcap barely managed to contain it w/o blowoff. What day into fermentation are you when the temp drops down some? By day 3 my beer was at 78% attenuation. Time to take a gravity check!

 

[KingBrianI]

My 7g conical with 5.5g in and quite a bit of fermcap barely managed to contain it w/o blowoff. What day into fermentation are you when the temp drops down some? By day 3 my beer was at 78% attenuation. Time to take a gravity check!

I was at about 36 hours this morning. I still have one sugar addition left tonight. I'll take the gravity before adding it.

 

[KingBrianI]

Well, I'm an idiot. I added the boiled candi sugar before taking the gravity. I took it right after and got 1.032. Not sure how much the candi sugar solution I poured in had mixed though. I'll take gravity again in a couple days to see where we are.

 

[Dubcut]

Hey guys, I've been enjoying checking up on your progress. I was curious to know, if any of you used a cooler for your mash, and what size it was, and whether or not you had stuck sparge issues with such a big grain bill.

I'm looking to start all grain soon, and wouldn't mind giving this a shot further down the line. I just want to make sure the cooler i convert is big enough for a beer like this (for a 6 gall batch).

 

[Displaced MassHole]

Hey guys, I've been enjoying checking up on your progress. I was curious to know, if any of you used a cooler for your mash, and what size it was, and whether or not you had stuck sparge issues with such a big grain bill.

I'm looking to start all grain soon, and wouldn't mind giving this a shot further down the line. I just want to make sure the cooler i convert is big enough for a beer like this (for a 6 gall batch).

Green Bay Rackers--Mash Calculators

On that site is a calc that will tell you how much space you need in your mash tun depending on the amount of grain and how much water per/lb of grain you plan to use.

 

[saq]

A general rule of thumb, you will need a MLT twice the size of your finished batch size to get to about 1.12 OG @ 75% eff if you do 1.25qt/lbs.

 

[Saccharomyces]

Stole some yeast vials from Soperbrew. Now I just need to make the candi sugar and brew the beast. I need to make more Wit for summer comps first, this one'll be after that... Hopefully next week.

 

[Sigafoos]

Ok, saq just pointed me to this thread, and as long as there's still room I want in. I had been planning on making a Dubbel or something to age until the birth of my baby in December, and while I'll have to make this earlier than I had planned to meet the deadline it will be a good challenge for me. I just hope I don't totally screw it up

 

[KingBrianI]

Gravity update: 1.026. We're getting there. It's holding steady at about 80 degrees. As much yeast as was blown out, there is still a ton in there! It's still blowing off, even with all the fermcap. And when I stick a thermometer in there, it comes out coated with gooey yeast. And the wine thief does the same. I could barely read the thermometer or the hydrometer in the wine thief for all the yeast.

 

[chri5]

I started up a 1.5 liter starter of 530 last night. I'll probably step it up to a full 2 liters tomorrow, in anticipation of brewday on saturday.

 

[KingBrianI]

Gravity is down to 1.017 with the fermentation slowed to about a bubble every 5 seconds. Taste is REALLY good. The sugary sweetness is greatly reduced. It's surprisingly smooth with the candi syrup and sugar flavors coming through nicely. There is also a biscuity/yeasty note in the aftertaste. Banana esters are very light. Hoping to hit 1.011 in the next day or so when I'll begin chilling to 50 degrees and holding it there for 2 months.

 

[Freezeblade]

I brewed up a 3 gallon batch of this (posted my recipe earlier) and oh man is that yeast crazy, I had a less than 2 hour lag time, and when I checked 4 hours later the foam was huge. Good thing I decided to do the 3 gallon in a 6.5 gallon bucket, then I'll transfer it to the 3 gallon glass for secondary. I also pulled enough second runnings for a gallon of Westy 8 as well, should be good.