Belgian Beer Lovers Unite!

[neonmeate]

Have a crack at the Chimay Grand Reserve. It's the one in the 750ml bottle with the champagne cork. It's better than the Blue in my opinion.

don't be put off by the "grande reserve" thing - only difference between these is the cork. (and sometimes they are corked which is a bugger).

but the big bottles can age better. i got a 2000 magnum under the house that i will crack out one of these days.

i agree, good beer doesn't seem so expensive when you compare what you would get for a similar amount with wine.

 

[mhan7073]

Had a go at the chimay reserve last friday night. Nectar of the gods comes to mind. I love the way head retention and body.

Where did you get the magnum from? I could only see the 750ml bottles.

Mic

 

[monkale]

love the belgians the trappist monks are doing gods work. Im only new to this site but I got into brewing to try to clone some of those great works of art and a Duvel or a chimay tastes so much better out of its own glass also gives it that holy grail look you can det some great belgian beer glasses on E-bay sent straight to your door at a good price a seller in SA has a store on E-bay called Bar Gear which has all the classic Belgian glasses cheers :beerbang:

 

[sinkas]

That Ebay store, is not cheap at all, you should not have to pay more than about 7.50 for a belgian glass...

 

[mhan7073]

Hey Sinkas,

I've already bought four glasses from Bar gear (2 for me and 2 for a friend). If you know a place to get cheaper glasses share the knowledge.

I'd really like one of the big hoegaarden mugs, and definately the chimay blue glass.

Mic

 

[MHD]

My first experience with Trappists was in Belgium last year. I had heard of them but never tasted them, and I didn't know one from the other. I told the barmaid "I'd like to try a Trappist". She asked which one and I said "something nice". She handed me a Rochefort 10. My beer world changed completely right there.

[post="119732"][/post]​

Oh wouldn't it be wonderfull!

 

[Linz]

guys,

you realise that you can buy those glasses new from the belgian beer cafe??

 

[bconnery]

The Cantillon range is absolutely awesome!
I've heard that the International Beer Shop site based in Perth now has them and I would heartily recommend it if you can spare the large wad of cash.
I was fortunate enough to spend a long weekend in Brussels a few years back and visited the brewery.

Rose de Gambrinus is everything a fruit beer can and should be. Hints of sweetness but a lovely tart flavour and so much complexity. For years I considered it my favourite beer ever tasted.
It has since lost to an aged Gouden Carolus Grand Cru de Kaiser but it was a close run thing...

I'm a big fan of the way Belgians use malts and yeasts to achieve the majority of their flavours. I do love hops but you can get hop biased beers everywhere.
As for the Reihensgebot (sp...) It is a nice idea in theory, and great when you are talking about pilsners and dunkels etc etc but I've never been one for restrictions...
Fruit, spice whatever. If it tastes great who's to argue?!

 

[mhan7073]

The Cantillion beer labels are pretty cool. Website is http://www.cantillon.be if anyone wants to check it out.

Anyway, I cracked open another bottle of one of my belgian-esque homebrews. I made it really basically, just using the brewferm triple kit, substituting actual sugar for caster sugar, and boiling the water I used (and then cooling it). Followed the instructions on the pack, aerated the yeast and so on.

My first tasting was after 8 weeks, the head didn't last long enough, the beer tasted like normal beer, not belgian-esque at all.

I had another tasting last week (after 16 weeks) and the head problem was solved (nice and generous and good retention), the flavour was maturing (though a bit sweet still), and hopefully with a bit more bottle conditioning under the house it should come along well.

My other belgian brew, made with Gallia kit has a nice colour, and plenty of head, but the flavour is severly lacking, not in intensity, but in "niceness." I don't think it had anything to do with how I made it (again pretty basic, but this time used Belgian candy sugar). It reminds me of Orval, which for my palate, is merely a ludicrous attempt to combat rising petrol prices...

Has anyone else had a go with the Brewferm kits? I think I'm going to try the Ambiorix next, largley because I like the name (ref From Caesar's Gallic Wars, but conjures up fond memories of Asterix and Obelix cartoons).

Would like to know how others are getting on.

Thanks,

Mic

 

[Jens-Kristian]

I definitely have a thing for Tripel Karmeliet. It has a lot of those Marzipan/Caramel/Vanilla notes mentioned earlier in the thread and just makes you want more. I like a beer with a good bit of alcohol, but only really if you don't taste it. I'm not much for strong beers where you know there's a high percentage of alcohol in it because . . well, it tastes of Vodka.

As for the Reihensgebot (sp...) It is a nice idea in theory, and great when you are talking about pilsners and dunkels etc etc but I've never been one for restrictions...

[post="129766"][/post]​

In my opinion, the Reinheitsgebot is heavily overrated. Yes, it sounds nice in many ways - a law on beer set down in 15 . . is it 56? My main problem though, is that the law wasn't set down in order to create any form of quality standard - it was merely done as a a consequence of the King of Bavaria having the sole rights to growing barley and therefore did not want to risk brewers substituting part of the grist in order to save money. In short . . well, it was an act of trade monopoly, really.

What annoys me with it isn't that it exists - that's alright, but I think there should be more freedom from it. Brewers should be allowed to brew as they like and if they choose to adhere to the Reinheitsgebot, then let them. After all, the Reinheitsgebot was changed along the way anyway in order to include hops, which were not originally in the list of allowed ingredients.

The fact is, the Reinheitsgebot doesn't assure good beer by any standards. It merely means . . well, that you know the ingredients can only be water, malted barley, hops and yeast.

Still . . . the Germans do make great beer though!

I just think it would be more relevant if it was a quality standard instead of, historically at least, a trade standard.

Cheers,

Jens-Kristian

 

[Stuster]

Hi mhan7073

just wondering about your belgian beers. i've never used those kits, but they certainly should be good for the price. what yeast do those kits come with? did you use the kit yeast or a liquid yeast?

 

[mhan7073]

Hey stuster,

I just use the kit yeast that they come with. Figured I couldn't knock them until I tried them, and they seem to do really well for packaged yeasts. Certainly aerating them helps.

If keeping costs down is an issue (isn't it always), where do you source your liquid yeasts, particularly where can you source any belgian liquid yeasts in Aus?

That's assuming you are using liquid yeasts... which I figured your question implied.

As for the cost of the brewfem kits, I found interesting reading the cost of coopers kits from a UK distributer of Homebrewing supplies. At 9 pounds a go or 22 Aussie dollars it really gives you an idea of import costs, taxes and charges. Infact, there Brewferm pricing is cheaper than there Coopers. Plus once you've converted from Euros and Pounds it always going to cost you many more in Aussie dollars.

Check out http://www.innhousebrewery.co.uk/ and for currency conversion

http://www.xe.com/ucc/

Mic

Dislaimer. I am in no way affiliated with Brewferm or their subsidiary companies. Just thought I'd let you know.

 

[Stuster]

Liquid yeasts are more expensive to buy than dry yeasts, but for some styles there are no dry yeasts that give you those flavours. If you split your yeasts up before use using the 'Ross' method, here. For me, the top two airlocked thread in the Common Ground forum were invaluable guides to yeast farming. (Thanks again Batz and Chiller.) You can also use the yeast from some bought bottles.

I've just made three batches of beer from the yeast I saved from the Xmas case swap last year. I just poured out the dregs from the bottle into a pre-sanitised sample vial from the chemist. Pour on some pre-boiled, pre-chilled water and seal it up. I made a starter a few months later and it took off within a few hours. After a few step ups, I pitched it into a brew and it came out well IMO.

The packet yeast is probably a more standard ale yeast that can stand up to drying. Most homebrew shops will carry White Labs of Wyeast products. They both make excellent yeasts which will give you more Belgian flavours in your brews. If they don't have Belgian yeasts they should be able to order some for you. If they can't, get a new homebrew shop. If you fill out your location in the Profile info in My Control Panel somebody can give you advice on where to get some from.

Wow, sorry for all the waffle. Hope that's helpful. Ask if any of that is unclear. Love those Belgians. :beerbang:

 

[mhan7073]

Thanks Stuster,

I'll definately look into it.

From what I've read liquid yeasts are the go. But I still reckon you should give the brewferm ones a go, if you buy one of their kits. With the triple I seem to remember I had action in the airlock within half an hour.

Mic

 

[Stuster]

Certainly worth giving the included yeast a go I agree.

Did the yeast have a number or something? Just wondering what yeast it is.

 

[mhan7073]

Hey,

There is definately a number on the yeast package. But I didn't record it, sorry.

Mic

 

[zoidberg99]

Ive recently become a lover of belgian beer, and the one that really floats my boat is a Kwak.
Pauwel Kwak is indescribable. fantastically good! its not cheap, but so worth it. i first guzzled one down at the Belgian Beer Cafe at the Rocks in Sydney, served in a minature yard glass.
I recomend the belgian beer cafe and the Kwak to any belgian beer fan.

 

[tangent]

If anyone's interested, I've formulated an easy drinking (6%) version of a Dubbel:
View attachment Dubbel_Light__1.html The yeast could be subbed for any number of Belgian yeasts since it's not really a high gravity beer but the strong ale yeast gives a bit of spicyness.
I'll bring a couple of bottles along to: http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...topic=10470&hl= tonight if anyone wants to try some. Maybe a young APA as well.

Cheers

 

[mhan7073]

Hi Stuster,

I was driving past ESB on Monday and saw the door open, so I thought I'd pop in and maybe get some stuff. Someone (Gerrard?) was there clearing out there stock, but I was still able to buy two brewferm cans. I wanted to get a can of the triple, as my last attempt with that beer produced some reasonably good results and I only have one bottle left (albeit magnum sized).

Anyway I picked up the Breferm Ambiorizx and Diablo. Regarding the yeasts, they have a code on the packet. The ambiorix yeast has the code VDB and the Diablo yeast PQB. To my pleasant surprise when I opened the diablo kit there were two packets of yeast and two small brewferm instruction manuals.

I'll let you know how I go. I'm thinking of throwing in some brown sugar with the ambiorix and maybe some honey with the diablo, I might also add some malt extract.

Lastly, now that ESB is closing down there Peakhurst store, who else stocks brewferm kits? I tried to find out their distributors in Australia from the brewferm website, but my computer is having issues with macromedia flash.


Hope that helps,

Mic

 

[Stuster]

I've no idea about those yeasts, mhan, but if they've worked for you in the past, go for it.

For the sugar, it appears that dark brown sugar is not good in a double, but demarara or raw sugar will be fine. White sugar too probably. I've never used honey in a beer at all, but if that's the triple I can't see it going to wrong. White sugar is probably the most authentic thing to add, but experimentation is half the fun. :super: