Homebrew Beer Blog

Earlier this month, I posted about the difference extra time made in keeping cold break in the kettle. That was the Belgian Pale I recently did, and I saved that slurry. I also had the slurry from the German Pils I did a few weeks earlier.

The German Pils I didn't really fret over keeping break in the kettle. I just chilled down to 48, stirred it up, and let it sit for just 10-15 minutes as I cleaned up the pump and preped the fermenter. Both used about the same amount of pellet hops.

Below is a shot of the slurries. Both have hand some time to settle out in the lager freezer. The container is a little opaque, but the slurries look very different. The Belgian on the left is much more white and creamy, while the other has more break and hops in it. So, some food for thought on keeping trub in the kettle.

Some day I want to do a split test batch of a light lager, and have little no no break in one fermenter, and dump all the break in the other. Then see if there's any different in the glass. Anyway...

I've never been all that big on Belgians, but over time I've found it's more that I just don't like some of the Belgians, and it just happens that those are some of the most commercially popular. I'm not real big on the wit/white styles, but I've come to appreciate most others. This, by the way, makes for ordering beer annoying in most bars around here during the winter. Most typical bars around here only carry one micro, and that's seasonal Bells. That means they swap between Oberon and Winter White. Diet Coke please!

I wanted to do some kind of light ale to produce some test wort for my ongoing lager experiments. I thought might as well try a Belgian pale. As a bonus here, I used the WLP515 special Antwerp Ale yeast.

515 is listed as an "almost lager like" Belgian, and I assume it's traditional to the Antwerp region. My alternative was 550. This was in stock and lager-like sounded like a good easy drinking beer. WL also says it may put off some sulfur. That was an understatement. This was a stinky one. The sulfur stuck around in the beer for a little while too, so I let it age a little longer at room temp. It did clear up though.

I'm still lagering this a little to let it clean up. Last time I tried it was very nice, but still had a little graininess to it. Probably another week and it will be good. I'm glad I saved this yeast, because I could probably do another of these. Not sure how it will do in a competition though because it's pretty clean, and judges may be insisting on more esters and phenolics.

Anyway, here's the recipe. I pretty much just used Jamil's recipe since I'm not at all familiar with this style. I think it's pretty much it, except I might have changed the hops used my own mash schedule. I used up the last of my Durst Pils, so that's why there's a split.

01/06/08

9 Gal Batch
OG = 1.051
80% Efficiency
20 IBUs

7# Belgian Pils
7# German Pils
1# CaraMunich
.33 # Victory Malt

134 rest for 15 minutes
152 rest for 60 minutes
168 mashout
168 sparge for 30 minutes

0.65 Magnum 12.9AA) @ 60 min
0.75 EKG (6.7AA) @ 1 min

WLP515 at 67 degrees
Whirlfloc

The generic American lager I made a while back is now pretty clean. It’s a little fruity, but I used Maris Otter, rather than Pils malt, so it probably wouldn't have that clean crispness anyway. The test batches too seem fairly clean, but a still a little fruity now that they have fermented out. I had these all lined up in wine glasses and couldn't really get much of anything. I'll have to try again now that they should be pretty well conditioned and I can taste it for defects.

Here's the score the best I can tell.

1. Every beer that used at least the most current bag of Durst Pils malt had AE.
2. Changing levels of O2 didn't seem to make any difference. From just shaking, to hitting with pure O2 until fermentation began.
3. Levels of nutrients haven't seem to make much difference, although, I've yet to get results from a starter w/ no nutrients. That's coming up next.
4. Starter temps seem to make no difference. I've done starters as cool as 50-degrees.
5. Pitching rates don't seem to really matter.
6. Fermentation temps don't seem to matter. I'm already doing it at 48, and warming it at the start and fermentation temp didn't make it stronger or go away.
7. Starter Method - I've done both stir plate and simple starters.
8. Yeast selection doesn't seem to matter. I've got EA with WLP 833, 830 838, and 515. Not certain on 838, but I think so. I've repeated EA with 830 and 833 tons of times.

Could this really have anything to do with my base malt? That MO lager was clean. I went back, and my last good lagers before that were last spring, an extract batch, and a CAP. I had some batches before that with EA also. Not sure I can explain that CAP. My notes say it used Durst, but I'm not 100% that I used it, or just formulated the recipe for it. It did use the cake from that extract batch, so maybe all that yeast helped. Anyway, I'm into a bag of Dingemans Pilsner malt. There's no date on the bag, but I'll assume it's fairly fresh since it was special ordered for me.

So, next up... a double batch German Pils with Belgian Pils malt. I'm also planning to do a split starter on this one, one on the stir plate, the other I'll do a 4L simple starter at 50-degrees made up from from extract. This simple starter will have no nutrients. The batch itself will also have no nutrients. This should test the malt, starter nutrients/excess nutrients, and the canned starter wort I've been using.

I felt like ribs, but it was 10 degrees outside. I did oven ribs for the first time. Basically I just put on my usual rub, put them on my rib rack, put that on a half sheet, and put it all in the oven at 225. I also put a second sheet under that sheet and filled with water. I didn't want them to dry out or get too much direct heat.

They turned out pretty good, although they took longer than I expected. I thought I usually left them on for 4 to 4.5 hours, but these took 5.5+ hours. After that, I gave them a 45-60 minute rest wrapped in foil. I ended up pulling them off a little early. They were still pretty tender, but they probably could have used another 1/2 hour to hour. I even boosted the heat a little the last hour. I also made some cornbread in a skillet. After the corn bread was done, unwrapped the ribs, turned on the broiler, added the sauce and glazed them.

So, next time, I'll either let them go longer, or wrap them in foil after a couple hours. Or just cook them in foil all the way, I suppose. I like to go without foil for a dryer texture with the rub, but if I sauce them up, it doesn't really matter.

They were pretty good though for a cold January day!

Ahhh... hops. I picked this up at Odes to fill up my six pack. This seems basically a big-bad American Red/Amber. Pretty tasty, reminiscent of the Amber recipe Jamil published. Might not be a coincidence. I've kind of been liking the big complex hoppy beers lately. Maybe it's just SN Celebration season.

Anyway. Pretty bitter, caramel, lots of citrus hops. Nice red color, packs a bit of a punch. I'd order it at the bar.