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Monday, February 25, 2013

Westbennetteren 12 b2

I got a corded drill to help me mill
Over a year ago I set out to brew my first Belgium Quadrupel aka quad which I tongue-in-cheek called Westbennetteren 12. Not only did it become one of best beers I've brewed (in my opinion) but helped to kick off QuadFest along with Shawn and Daniel.  If you recall from the post we had such a good time we already started planning the 2013 event. To make the date I needed to get brewing!

According to my notes from QuadFest 2012 
I'm very pleased with how it came out.  Lots of nice dark stone fruit flavor.  Great character from the yeast. Slightly high level of carbonation but not as bad as I had feared.  Similar to the Westvleteren but not as dead on as I was hoping for. It was definitely a little darker and the taste was close but not right there. I had another bottle of it the next day and took some notes for a tasting analysis. Next year I'll follow some of Daniel's advice and simplify the grain bill even more going straight up plisner.
I decided after reviewing Daniel's recipe (which was actually pretty similar to mine) to keep the split between pale and plisner the same. Last year I think I ended up using US grain (despite my notes saying Bel) because it's special order at the shop as I found out when I tried to get Pale Malt (2 Row) Bel so I ended up using some of the 2 row I had on hand (I do love buying grain by the sack). 

A rainbow of flavor
For the sugar portion I again sought out syrup from Candi Syrup Inc. In order to lighten in up and modify the flavor slighty to try and get it more in line with Westvleteren 12 I changed the amount of D-180 from 2 lb to 1 lb and made up for it by adding a pound of D-45.  So my order to Candi Syrup Inc was pretty much one of every syrup they offered (I use Simplicity to prime) with the exception of Golden.

If I recall the logic behind my hop schedule from last year I might have grabbed the Northdown thinking that they were a sub for Goldings which I couldn't find.  This year I was able to find some Goldings so I made that switch.

I briefly toyed with the idea of using East Coast Yeast Trappist Ale (ECY13) but between price, availability and time I decided to stick with good old WLP530 Abbey Ale from White Lab.  To build the projected 336.3 billion yeast cells needed I made a 6 pint starter and tossed it on my stir plate a few days in advance. For some reason BeerSmith 2 stops calculating yeast cell build after 4 pints (which ended up at 465.9 billion) so I know I was nicely north of the required amount.

As before when it came to temperature I took to the mid 80s for the initial fermentation.  I actually got there a little fast (oh no) due to some issues with the balancing act as ask my fermentation cube to do for warming beers. I got it under control and will start lowing it as soon as it enters the below 1.020 range.  After that it will be a nice 6 months of bulking conditioning at lager temps.

Cheers

-SNB




Westbennetteren 12 b2 
Belgian Quadrupel aka Quad
Type: All Grain
Date: 2/17/2013
Brewer: Scott Bennett
Asst Brewer: DG
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.15 gal
Boil Size: 9.40 gal
Boil Time: 90 min
Equipment: SNB Brewhouse (Keggle and Cooler)
End of Boil Volume 6.24 gal
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.70 %

Beer Profile
Measured Original Gravity: 1.098 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.015 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 11.1 %
Bitterness: 36.8
Est Color: 23.8 SRM

Ingredients

Malt and Syrups
9.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)
8.00 lb Pilsner (2 Row) Bel (2.0 SRM)
1.00 lb D-180 - Extra Dark Candi Syrup (180.0 SRM)
1.00 lb D-90 - Dark Candi Syrup (90.0 SRM)
1.00 lb D-45 - Amber Candi Syrup (45.0 SRM)

Hops
1.00 oz Northern Brewer [9.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min
1.00 oz Styrian Goldings [5.40 %] - Boil 21.0 min
1.00 oz Hallertauer Mittelfrueh [4.40 %] - Boil 7.0 min

Yeast
6.00 pt Starter Abbey Ale (White Labs #WLP530)

Other
1.45 tbsp PH 5.2 Stabilizer (Mash 60.0 mins)
1.00 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins)
1.00 tsp Yeast Nutrient (Boil 15.0 mins)

Mash Profile

Mash In Add 5.56 gal of water at 167.7 F 156.0 F 45 min
Sparge Step: Batch sparge with 2 steps (1.30gal, 4.82gal) of 168.0 F water

Pictures

Mashin'
Warming the syrups
Mixing them in
I did a second running...
Ther she boils
Hops
Yeast
Put away for the night
The next morning


2 comments:

  1. How were your phenols on the first brew? I brewed a Westy clone, getting it up to 80ish and (predictably) ended up with a phenol bomb. I'm a month into conditioning and it's definitely mellowing out but I'm thinking it's going to take upwards to 4 months to really calm down.
    Also, what temp are you conditioning at?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Kevin - I think it tasted and smelled great (ask Jeremy he had it a week or so back when he was over)

    I bulk conditioned it in secondary the low 50s for around 4 plus months. Then I moved it to a keg for a week or so before I primed it with candi syrup and fresh yeast to beergun it into bottles. About a month at room temp to condition to bottles then back to 50 for another 3-4 months

    ReplyDelete

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