10.29.2011

Finally brewed a Belgian Tripel / Double IPA! Houblon Chouffe Clone



I've been closely watching my Cream Ale Split batch to see how the different yeasts performed (American Ale 1 vs. Belgian Ardennes).   To be honest, I thought that the Belgian batch may have been infected because it was giving off some odors that made me wonder.   I decided to chill out, not jump to conclusions, shake up the carboy a bit and get the yeast back into suspension and let them clean up whatever funkyness was going on.   My first thought was, shit, brett, pedio, lacto, or all three were still hanging out in the carboy from either my saison bretts or my flanders beers..   Luckily all it needed was a bit of time like I suspected.   The main reason I was worried about infection was because I had been planning on using the yeast cake for a big Hoppy Tripel!

Finally I brewed a Belgian Tripel / Double IPA!  A year and a half ago when my wife and I found out we were pregnant I celebrated with a fantastic beer, Houblon Choufe's: Dobbelen IPA Tripel.   If you haven't tried this beer, you really should.  It's essentially a Belgian Tripel with American hops.   When I first tasted this beer I immediately declared it my favorite beer of all time!  I love american hops.  I love belgian yeast (unless it has banana flavor going on, for some reason I don't dig on banana in my beer.)  I guess I could swoon about Houblon Chouffe all damn night and how it's the perfect beer for me....maybe not for you who even knows.   It really is a great beer...for me.  If you don't like it that's your own damn problem.

Here's what I ended up doing for my attempt to create something similar to Houblon Chouffe Dobbelen IPA Tripel.  It should be a little more assertive on the hops then Houblon Chouffe but very similar concept and recipe basics. Mash at 144 degrees for 30 min. Step up to 154 for 30 minutes. Batch sparge and collect 8 gallons for 90 minute boil rigorous boil.

Rock Stead Easy - Dobbelen IPA / Tripel

malt & fermentables

%
LB
OZ
Malt or Fermentable
ppg
°L
68%
13
0
Belgian Pilsner Malt
34
2
21%
4
0
American Two-row Pale
37
1
11%
2
0
Belgian Candy Sugar Light
36
0

19
0



Original Gravity - 1.088
Final Gravity -1.011

ABV:  10.1%

Color  5° SRM
Mash Efficiency
70% 
hops
use
time
oz
variety
form
aa
first wort
90+ mins
1.0
Columbus
pellet
15.4
boil
30 mins
0.25
Saaz
pellet
3.5
boil
30 mins
0.25
Sorachi Ace
pellet
13.7
boil
7 mins
1.0
US Fuggles
pellet
4.5
boil
5 mins
0.75
Saaaz
pellet
3.5
boil
5 mins
0.75
Sorachi Ace
pellet
13.7
boil
1 min
1.0
Amarillo
leaf
7.0
boil
1 min
1.0
Glacier
pellet
5.6
dry hop
10 days
3.0
Amarillo
leaf
7.0

11.20.11 - Transferred to secondary and took a sample.  Lots of orange citrus. Tasted a little bit hot, maybe a little fusel but other then that it tasted really good.  Put it on 3 oz. of Amarillo hops.  Gravity reading is 1.020.
12.4.11 - Gravity reading is 1.011 after shaking up the fermenter and raising temp from 68 to 77 over 10 days.  Terminal Gravity is 1.011 which is a little higher then I was hoping for, but the fusels are completely gone now and this seems to be ready to drink!   I'll crash cool, and then keg in the next couple of days!
12.15.11 - First tasting- Yum!
Appearance:  Golden crystal clear.  nice head and decent retention
Aroma: Yeast is not present.  I'll stress the yeast next time instead of overpitch like I did on this batch. bready initally which surprises me. sweetness in the nose.  I'm not getting the Amarillo dry hops and I'm not getting the Amarillo, Glacier in the nose.  Maybe I have a cold.  All I smell is bread.
Flavor: starts of with sweet lemons, and mixes with maltyness in the middle.  Finish's citrusy sweet on the finish.  Really smooth and extremely drinkable.  No alcohol present what so ever.
Mouthfeel: smooth creamy mouthfeel.  light bodied.

10.10.2011

Blonde Ale split batch (American Ale 1056 vs. Belgian Ardennes 3522)


Busted out a 10 gallon batch last night as the leaves fell around me on a warm Minnesota Autumn evening!

For this beer I took my inspiration from Northern Brewers: Cream Ale kit.  This kit was the fifth batch of beer I ever brewed almost 3 years ago now.   It turned out really well and the toasty, bready quality was something that I really loved and still remember.  I switched it up a bit in that I used Simcoe instead of Cluster hops and I FWH'd it as I thought the fruityness of the Simcoe would work well with both yeasts, but still hopefully let the biscuit and honey malt shine.  We shall see!


Here are the details:
Crushed the grains really fine (thought I'd get better efficiency but didn't)
Mashed 10 gallons of Nordeast Mpls tap for 60 minutes at 153 degrees
Sparged 6 gallons of Nordeast Mpls tap for 15 minutes at 169 degrees
Used 5.2 stabalizer
Collected 13.5 gallons


malt & fermentables

%
LB
OZ
Malt or Fermentable
ppg
°L






89%
16
8
American Two-row Pale
37
1
8%
1
8
Honey Malt
37
25
3%
0
8
Belgian Biscuit Malt
35
24

18
8



Batch size: 11
Original Gravity
1.040
Final Gravity
1.007 - American Ale @65 degrees
1.009 - Belgian Ardennes @65 degrees 
Color
5° SRM
Mash Efficiency
68%(crap!)

hops

use
time
oz
variety
form
aa
first wort
60+ mins
1.0
Simcoe
leaf
13.0


bitterness
24.0 IBU
alcohol
4.4% ABV for American Ale
4.1% ABV for Belgian Ardennes

My tap water is actually still really warm because of the unusually warm fall weather in Mpls, so I could only get the wort down to 77 degrees.  I decided to put the carboys in my lagering chamber.  I taped the temperature probe to the side of one carboy and set the Johnson Temp control to 65 degrees with the lid slightly open.  I'm hoping that I have a nice solid fermentation going in both vessels when I get home from work today. 

I pitched each carboy with different yeast as glorified yeast starters. I've been wanting to brew a Houblon Chouffe type beer for over a year now, so I pitched Belgian Ardennes 3522 yeast onto 5 gallons to get a nice supply ready for my Belgian Tripel/DIPA that I'll be brewing in a few weeks. I also pitched American Ale II onto the other 5 gallons and I'll most likely be brewing another version of The Chronic in a few weeks.   ***Update..American Ale II didn't get started (old smack pack) after 24 hours so am pitching 1056 tonight!  

Rant: Most of you are brewing Stouts right now, but me, me...I'm brewing a session beer.   I also have a bunch of ECY (East Coast Yeast) I recently acquired so I'll be brewing a bunch of sour beer very soon.  In planning is a 10 gallon batch of Lambic (half on ECY Lambic Blend and half on my 3rd generation yeast cake from my Flanders Red Project).   Also, I will brewing another Flanders 5 gallon batch and Pitching ECY Flanders Blend.   Then, I'll be doing a 10 gallon split batch of Saison, half with the American Farmhouse blend (The Lost Abbey blend) and half with the ECY Saison Blend!
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