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Taste Notes

Yeast is the main difference between Golden strongs and tripples. Golden are fruity Triples are spicy You’ll want to pitch WLP570 or Wyeast 1388 at 64° F (18° C), ramp it up slowly over the first week to 78° F (26° C), then hold it at that temperature until the beer is fully attenuated. Some sources suggest taking it as high as 84° F (29° C), but I’ve found that this high a temperature can produce isoamyl acetate (banana esters), and those are definitely not welcome in the style. Pitching at a low temperature and keeping the temperature below 70° F (21° C) prior to high kräusen minimizes fusel production, and you’ll notice that for all its alcohol, Duvel is not a “hot” or fumy beer. It also keeps the yeast from consuming fatty acids too early—these are saved for ester production later, after the temperature increases. About a day after your beer reaches high kräusen (usually on day four) is the ideal time to add the second dose of sugar (six percent of the grain bill, which is 12 oz. or 340 g in our recipe), as the yeast has multiplied to a sufficient degree to tackle the extra food. Prior to this point, the wort gravity is only 1.059 (14.5° P) after the kettle addition of 1 pound (0.45 kg) of dextrose 15 minutes from the end of the boil, so the yeast can go through its growth phase unhindered by excessive osmotic pressure. The fermenter should be at about 68° F (20° F) when adding the primary addition of dextrose, which should be boiled briefly with just enough water to form a solution. Then fermentation temperature can continue to increase to 78° F (26° C) to allow for controlled ester production, specifically the apple, pear, and lemon notes that define the style. The tenacious yeast should have enough energy to attenuate the beer to 1.006 or even lower. Cold Conditioning and Bottling After this, the beer is racked into secondary, blended with gelatin finings, crashed to 32° F (0° C) and held at just under freezing temperatures to cold condition for three weeks. It is then fully attenuated and ready for priming and bottle conditioning. That means dosing it with fresh yeast, blending with more sugar (the final four percent of total fermentables), bottling, and then warming the bottled beer back up to 75° F (24° C) to re-ferment for another two weeks. Finally, after it clarifies, it can be chilled back down to about 40° F (4° C) and stored for six weeks to mellow and allow flavors to mingle. One can even forgo the final priming and dosage with fresh yeast, but there are a few caveats to this particular shortcut. First, you needed to have added the bottling sugar along with the primary addition on the fourth day of fermentation, for a total of 20 oz. (567 g). Second, you need to monitor attenuation closely and cold crash the beer when it reaches the proper gravity in order to stall attenuation. If you are confident in your mash procedure, you can be fairly certain the beer will eventually reach 1.006 in the bottle, so bottling at 1.012 will allow residual sugars to carbonate the beer to the desired 4 volumes of CO2.

Notes

Primary fermentation lasts 120 hours, with the temperature adjusted to assure it remains on schedule. Fermentation begins at 61 to 64 ° F (16 to 18 ° C), depending on how many generations the yeast has been used, and tops out at between 77 and 84 ° F (25 to 29 ° C). Yeast will be cropped during high kraeusen, at about 72 ° F (22 ° C). Hieronymus, Stan (2005-09-01). Brew Like a Monk: Trappist, Abbey, and Strong Belgian Ales and How to Brew Them (Kindle Locations 1411-1413). Brewers Publications. Kindle Edition. Aim for pH 5.3 in mash, to get most fermentables (5.3 to 5.4) and close to ideal for sharpness and tartness in beer (5.1 to 5.2) Batch Volume 20.00 Liters Total Mash 20.00 Liters Mash Dilution 0.00 Liters Total Sparge 8.50 Liters Sparge Dilution 0.00 Liters Mineral Additions (gm) Mash Sparge Gypsum . 2.3 1.0 Calcium Chloride 1.3 0.5 Epsom Salt 2.0 0.9 Mag Chloride 0.0 0.0 Canning Salt 0.0 0.0 Baking Soda 0.0 Not Recommended Chalk . 0.0 Not Recommended Pickling Lime 0.0 Not Recommended Mash Acid Additions 0.00 (ml) 0.00 (ml) Sparge Acid Addtions Phosphoric 85.00 % 0.06 (ml) 0.00 (ml) 3/31: Milled at setting 5. Initial pH 5.43 @ 22.6C. Used excel to calculate that 0.8 ml acid would drop pH by 0.1. Added this to see if I could get it closer to 5.30 without overshooting. New pH 5.36. Added another 0.4 ml acid and almost no difference. 5.35. Perhaps my acid is old or diluted, or that the buffering capacity of the water is more than I thought. Added 0.5 ml more: same Boil went fine. I had a bit of a mix for the Styrian Goldings, as I was out of it. Aerated to 8.22 ppm. Started 1 min timer at 1 bar, but the timer stopped. Don't know how long I was aerating therefore. Picked 600 g yeast slurry. Will check density later. Fermenter currently shows 18 liters, but I have 2 x 2 liter containers with bottom sludge. Ended up with a total of 20 liters. Fermentation has started by 22:00. Pitched yeast at 14:00. 4-1-2015: Very active fermentation. 4-3-2015: pH 4.01, 1.017, 20.7C. Very hazy. 4-6-2015: pH 4.05, 1.014, 19C. Hazy. Added 944 gram sugar dissolved in 860g water, heated to 90C. Added while still hot to bring the temp of the entire batch up. After sugar edition: 1.032. 4/7/2015: pH 3.91, 23.2C. 1.010. 4/9/2015: pH 4.04, 23C, 1.008. Racked it to keg and put it in fridge at 0.5C 4/10/2015: added gelatin 4/11/2015: filtered at 1 micron. VERY Hazy. Almost like milk. Will check when it heats up if it is chill haze. Also wonder where I got the yeast from. I have noted it previously as yeast slurry, but there should have been none.