Belgian Beers - Having a crack

I think what really attracts me to Belgian Beers is there is no real retrictions on their styles.  Having read "Brew like a monk" and "Belgian Ale" I've been tempted to get my hands dirty.

Over the long weekend I've put down two different Belgian Inspired beers.  A Belgian Spiced and another of Dkershner's Belgian Tripels.  They're already bubbling away really well, and although the temperature in Brisbane is currently very cold (9 - 20 degrees celcius) the fermentation is keeping the wort above 16 degrees during the cold nights and early mornings.

For the Belgian Spiced Ale I used the "Delirium Tremens clone" as the basis for my beer.  You'll find the recipe here http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f73/pink-elephant-delirium-tremens-clone-112957/  Although I wound back the grains of paradise as I was concerned the spice may dominate.  I used the T-58 Fermentis yeast on this one.

The first time I brewed Dkershner's Blone Tripel, my only complaint was that it was a bit too easy to drink and missing some complexity.  At the end of the boil I added a teaspoon of crack coriander to the boil.  Hoping that it will add something to the beer, but not be enough that it can easily be picked out.  The original recipe from Dkershner can be found here http://brew.dkershner.com/2009/gluten-free-tripel-blonde/

The Spiced Ale is kept in a tub with some ice packs during the day so that it doesn't get too warm.  The Tripel is not being as closely controlled for temperature so I'll see how  the S-33 yeast handles getting up around 24 degrees (wort temperature not ambient).

First time using whirlfloc with these yeasts, hopefully it helps to clear them up a bit.


Centennial IPA update

This had a bit of yeast hanging around and some floaties made it into the bottles, some more than others.  If I can find a bottle with low floaties content I'll submit it to the local IPA competition for feedback.  If this beer turns out as good as I expect it could become a regular.



Saffron & Jaggery Ale

This beer has been bottled last weekend.  Will give an update on it's status in about 4 weeks.  Once it has had time to carbonate and age a little.  I used gelatine to clear up the suspended jaggery in this, it may have effected the end result.  Have to wait and see.

Honey Ale Drinking - Centennial IPA bottling

The Honey Ale has finished carbing up.  Very nice flavour, not overly sweet and a good balance of honey flavour and hop bitterness.  Deceptively easy to drink.

Yesterday I also bottled up the Centennial IPA "The Ex".  I think this will be a cracker of a brew.  Sadly some yeast got into some of the bottles as I kept this vegan friendly by omitting the finings.  I made up 6 bottles in the 330ml Schnitzerbrau bottles for some friends to try. I'm sure they'll go down a treat.  The aroma from the Centennial hops is quite strong as is the bitterness, although I think the bitterness might drop a little as it carbs up.  I hope to put this beer into a local brewing competition to get some unreserved feedback and to put it against gluten based beers.

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