Saturday, 27 December 2014

Belgian Dark Strong - Test Batch Number 1

I brewed this beer in the approach leading up to Christmas.  Always great to have something different and stronger for the special day.

Due to attenuation problems (the yeast died before eating all of the sugar) this beer finished a little on the sweet side.  Although for a dark strong Belgian this isn't a big deal.  The packet of yeast was past it's best before so I won't write off the yeast just yet.

Recipe:

Batch Size 18L
OG:  1086
FG:  1030 (as noted this was a fault, should have been way lower)
Brew date:  01/12/2014

3Kg Sorghum @ 60 minutes
1Kg Rice Malt @ 60 minutes
600g Dark Candy Syrup @ 60 minutes
200g Dark Muscavado Sugar @ 60 minutes
300g Maltodextrine @ 60 minutes
14g Perle Hops @ 60 minutes (30 IBUs)
1 whirlfloc tablet @ 15 minutes
1 tsp yeast nutrient @ 10 minutes

T-58 Belgian Yeast (best before April 2014)



Tasting Notes:

Aroma; dark fruit, plum and raisin, small amount of alcohol in the nose.
Taste; dark fruit, plum and raisin, long sweet finish.  Balanced more towards sweetness  which is caused by attenuation but still fits the style.
Body; Medium light body.  Pours with a great head that dissipates and leaves lacing behind.



Posted by at

3 comments:

  1. Anonymous27 December 2014 at 15:18

    Sounds nice, despite the problems.

    Do you know the color of the dark candy syrup? Also, what is the rice malt? A syrup or malted rice grain that you mashed?

    As for the attenuation, I checked the Brewer's Friend calculator out of curiosity, and it recommended about two packets for 1.086. The actual amount is a bit of a mystery given their cell density measurement (pretty high for T-58) but two packets seems safer than one.

    http://www.brewersfriend.com/yeast-pitch-rate-and-starter-calculator/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. BrewMan1015 January 2015 at 20:41

      Hi Dcylab,

      The dark candy syrup was D2 http://www.darkcandi.com/d2.html

      This is the rice malt I used. I have also used the Briess product. http://www.pureharvest.com.au/product/organic-rice-malt-syrup

      You are spot on about the attenuation. I actually brewed this as a half batch which would have made my one packet two packets when the recipe was doubled. This is the second time I've done a half batch and I usually just convert it to a full size batch here for ease of reading.

      Hope this helps and good pick up on the yeast. I'm honestly pretty slack with that.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous8 January 2015 at 17:16

      Thanks! The rice syrup sounds a lot like the Lundberg Rice Syrup we have here in the US. I'll use that when I get around trying this for myself.

      I've been brewing with malted maize and millet (and soon, rice) but am still very interested in brewing better sorghum syrup beers. Thanks a lot for your recipes.

      Delete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)