I really enjoyed every bottles of this beer the last time I made it. It’s strong, but still very drinkable. It’s a very simple recipe, with the coriander adding a very nice citrus and spice note to the Belgian yeast. A good percentage of wheat malt partnered with some high carbonation gives the beer a great head. Given that it’s very strong, I’m planning on bottling as much as I can into 330ml bottles. I’m also planning on doing a “cork and cage” presentation on a few bottles, to test out the technique.
Recipe Specifications
Boil Size: 27.90 l
Post Boil Volume: 23.40 l
Batch Size (fermenter): 19.00 l
Bottling Volume: 17.00 l
Estimated OG: 1.068 SG
Estimated Color: 10.3 EBC
Estimated IBU: 27.5 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 60.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 73.0 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes
Ingredients
5.500 kg Pilsner (2 Row) Bel (3.9 EBC), 84.6 %
0.300 kg Wheat Malt, Bel (3.9 EBC), 4.6 %
0.200 kg Aromatic Malt (51.2 EBC), 3.1 %
20 g Styrian Goldings [3.00 %] – Boil 60.0, 8.6 IBUs
19 g East Kent Goldings [5.70 %] – Boil 60.0, 15.5 IBUs
0.50 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 10.0 mins)
25 g Saaz [4.80 %] – Boil 10.0 min, 3.4 IBUs
0.500 kg Corn Sugar (Dextrose) [Boil for 10 min], 7.7 %
10.00 g Coriander Seed (Boil 5.0 mins)
1.0 pkg Trappist Ale (White Labs #WLP500)
Mash Schedule: Bubbles’ Single Infusion, Light Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 6.500 kg
Mash In Add 16.80 l of water at 71.2 C 65.0 C 60 min
Sparge: Batch sparge with 2 steps (Drain mash tun , 17.61l) of 77.0 C water
10/10/2015 – Took a sample from the fermenter. First taste was pretty alcoholic and very hazy. A bit alarming. The gravity reading was even more alarming at 1.006! I was thinking something had gone wrong with the fermentation until I checked the recipe notes of the last brew of this beer. I was pleased to see that I got the same FG that time too. Will leave another week or so in the fermenter before bottling.
18/10/2015 – Followed the same bottling regimen that I used the last time I brewed this beer. Batch primed with 181g of corn sugar (17.5 litres @ 3.5 vol). 15 x 500ml bottles, 12 x 750ml bottles. 2 of the 750ml bottles are ex-Champagne bottled which I corked and caged. Hopefully the corks stay where they’re meant to be and there’s no beer fountains!
23/11/2015 – A bit disappointed with the first opening of this beer. Although it tastes really nice already, the head retention is zero. My notes from the last brew of this recipe show that it was already holding a good head at this stage. Will give it another 2 weeks before opening another 330ml bottle. Very pleased with the flavour and aroma though.
24/11/2015 – So much for waiting two weeks! I was interested to see if the head retention problem is there in a different bottle, poured into a different glass. Head is marginally better, less than a centimetre a few minutes after pouring. Great honey-like flavours, candy like sweetness. Dry finisg with light body. Pear drops and bubblegum in the flavour. Alcohol needs to mellow for another month. Hopefully in that time, the bubbles will reduce in size and the head will become tighter and more mousse-like.
16/12/2015 – The head has improved quite a bit, but I’m picking up some acetone in the flavour, which may have been caused by the beer I drank before this one, which was the amber saison.
24/03/2015 – I opened one of the corked champagne bottles at a meet. I discovered that the cages are prone to over-tightening when I was bottling the beer. Tonight I discovered that a slight tip off the cage can break it, and loosen the cork. Thankfully the cork only came out partially. The carbonation is pretty spritzy. I’m happy with the cork and cage packaging, a technique that will come in handy when it’s time to bottle some sour and funky beers. The beer itself is a bit of a loss. But it’s a learning experience. I re-pitched yeast from a fermentation that was stressed, and I won’t be doing this again.
