In the Fermentor: A Dog Bit My Enkel, or how to have fun at a brewing party.

I was invited to my first brewing party a few weeks ago. A bunch of people would be brewing beers and I wanted to get in on the action. With only one brewing station setup, I knew the KISS method was important. With that in mind, I threw together this simple Belgian Abbey Enkel (Single) recipe. Enkels; usually seen in the US as an Abbey Blonde or 6, have a lower strength than their Dubbel, Tripel and Quad cousins. Mine is at the lower end of the Single strength scale, with a target ABV of 5.4%. Here's the recipe for a five gallon batch:

Grains:
6 lbs Pilsen Light LME (Liquid Malt Extract)
12 oz CaraVienne
4 oz Special B

Hops:
0.5 oz Sterling: 60 min
0.5 oz Saaz: 20 min
0.5 oz Saaz: 7 min

Yeast:
Safbrew T-58

Extras:
1 lb Clear Belgian Candy Sugar

Original Gravity:
1.052
Estimated Final Gravity:
1.011

Fermentation Schedule:
3 Weeks Primary
2 Weeks Bottle Conditioning

Cost: $15 per case
Rough Commercial Equivalent: Avery Karma: $29 per case
Savings: $14

It was a party, so there wasn't exactly careful monitoring going on. Grains were steeped at ~158F for about 30 minutes. The hops went in more or less on schedule during the 60 minute boil. Candy Sugar was added with 15 minutes-ish left.

I usually shy away from dry yeasts, but I'd read positive things about Safbrew T-58. Rumor has it that it comes from Chimay. Dry yeasts are easier to work with and less expensive (a recurring theme here) than liquid, so I grabbed a pack for the party and gave it a whirl. I was shocked at how quickly the yeast went to work. Within a few hours, the fermentation lock was bubbling rapidly. I was also shocked with how fast it was done doing its thing. After 48 hours, fermentation ground to a halt. I'd read that T-58 was a fast worker, but had low attenuation. I'll report back in a few weeks with gravity readings, tasting notes and a pretty picture.

To the astute reader, it probably looks like I have a love of both Belgian Beer and Belgian Candy Sugar. You would be correct. However, I promise that in the next "In the Fermentor" article, I will be brewing something completely different.

Comments

Out of the Bottle: Oak Aged La Petite Orange

I said in my previous post that I'd saved some of Northern Brewer's La Petite Orange kit to age with Sherry Infused Oak Cubes. The aged beer is ready to go, so let's see what the Oak and Sherry did. I've had more than a few Barrel Aged beers that were completely dominated by the wood and whatever alcohol (Rum, Bourbon, Sherry, etc) the barrel originally contained. In my beer, the oak and sherry are subtle. That's what I was shooting for, so I'm quite happy with that. The flavors and aromas from the original beer are still present. There's no point in revisiting them. What I really care about is the changes the wood made. Vanilla is the most significant contribution. There's also a very mild almond note at work. The Sherry really cuts through in the aroma. It provides an extra helping of dark fruits, plus a little more alcohol heat. The beer is definitely more wine-like than before. On a side note, I took my own advice and bumped the priming su

Out of the Bottle: Big Beers and a Haze

I'm doing a 4-for-1 with this installment, and will be bundling my finished beers going forward, rather than writing a blog for each. That should leave me space for more brewing oriented posts. This month, I've got beers I posted the recipes for back in November, December and January. First out of the gate is Enchanted Nightmare Imperial Stout. This beer is an amalgamation of extra grains and hops I had that were combined with some 2-Row and additional hops to create a 9.95% ABV Stout for the depths of Winter. So what if it wasn't actually ready until the Spring Equinox arrived? A beer like this can't be rushed. My beer pours nearly pitch black, and has nice ruby highlights. The head could stand a touch more staying power, but is appropriately dense. In the mouth, the body is a little lighter than I expected. The carbonation is very soft, and feels just about right for this beer style. When I bottled this beer, I was slightly worried that the whiskey and oak were a li

Kitchen Brewing Part 3: Sparge and Boil

The mash emerges from the oven. Now that we're finished with Part 1 and Part 2 of this series, it's time to Sparge. As you can see from the photo, the grains have absorbed a lot of liquid. In a traditional all-grain setup, your Mash Tun has a valve at the bottom to release the first running of Wort. The grains are then rinsed with the sparge water to extract any remaining sugars. My stove-top method doesn't afford such luxury, so a different method is called for. The grains have gained a little weight. There are a couple of choices at this point. One choice is to lift the grain bag out of Pot A and place it into the sparge water in Pot B to steep for 10-15 minutes or more. The other is to lift the grain bag up, put a colander under it and slowly pour the sparge water through the grains into the original pot. I prefer the former, because I get a better extraction rate from my grains. All that absorption means that the grains weigh a lot more than they did going i

Colorado Kitchen Brew

Search This Blog