Belgian Dark Strong With Dates

[Online Brewing Supplies]

Looks totally Gay good, trust you.
Nev

Sorry
I was just saying to Cess how Ab Fab it looks, I have a bit of PMS this morning.
Nev

 

[jyo]

Sorry
I was just saying to Cess how Ab Fab it looks, I have a bit of PMS this morning.
Nev

Just for that I'm gonna bring a couple of bottles of it tomorrow and you will have to drink some..."Some" is a substance not yet indicated.

 

[Online Brewing Supplies]

Just for that I'm gonna bring a couple of bottles of it tomorrow and you will have to drink some..."Some" is a substance not yet indicated.

Thats what I was hoping for, mission complete Extra big sausage for you tomorrow
Nev

 

[jyo]

Thats what I was hoping for, mission complete Extra big sausage for you tomorrow
Nev

NOT AGAIN!

 

[vykuza]

Finally pitched this today. What a wort! The date aroma really comes through in the wort, and it smells like an amazing combo of dates, dark fruits, molasses and rich malt. I would drink it like this if I could.

I missed my gravity targets by 10%, so will be adding some white sugar during ferment to shore up the alc content and hopefully cut some of the dextrines from all the crystal malts. I pitched it on a yeastcake from Wyeast Leuven pale ale, which has just finished fermenting a blonde to get the cell count up.

I think I've screwed the pooch on this one. Hydro samples were tasting very good and promising before the sugar addition. One 500g addition later I have a fermenter full of hot alcohols and solvent flavours, really unpleasant. Brew never got above 21c, but I should have split up that addition over multiple days. I'm going to keg it (rather than bottling in belgs and corking as I intended) and leave it a few months, see if it comes good.

 

[jyo]

I think I've screwed the pooch on this one. Hydro samples were tasting very good and promising before the sugar addition. One 500g addition later I have a fermenter full of hot alcohols and solvent flavours, really unpleasant. Brew never got above 21c, but I should have split up that addition over multiple days. I'm going to keg it (rather than bottling in belgs and corking as I intended) and leave it a few months, see if it comes good.

Nick, I really can't confidently comment on brewing Belgians like this due to my inexperience but I found the same thing after the sugar addition. I thought I had screwed it completely with fusel alcohols in the hydro samples.
I shared a couple of these with a few brewers on the weekend (7 weeks old) and there were no solvents at all. The alcohol was very subtle. Just hoping yours is the same, mate.

I'm not touching any more for a few months now

 

[bkmad]

Nick, I really can't confidently comment on brewing Belgians like this due to my inexperience but I found the same thing after the sugar addition. I thought I had screwed it completely with fusel alcohols in the hydro samples.
I shared a couple of these with a few brewers on the weekend (7 weeks old) and there were no solvents at all. The alcohol was very subtle. Just hoping yours is the same, mate.

I'm not touching any more for a few months now

I've had the same on the one dark strong I've brewed. At bottling it tasted like metho. A few weeks in the bottle it was much improved and a few months in the bottle there is next to no fusel alcohol. Just give it time and it should come good.

It must be something about these Belgian yeasts because I brewed and IPA last year with US05 that ended up getting a bit of fusel alcohol and it never went away.

 

[vykuza]

Thanks guys, you've put me at ease a little. I've very little experience with stronger belgian beers. I've had fusels in hot ferments before that never went away, but I guess I'll sit on this one and see how it goes. I'm going to give it another few days on the yeast to finish up and keg and forget.

 

[brettprevans]

it may have just been alc without it being hot alc. a little bit of a stir through bottling/keging and it might have 'blended' it back in. and yes big beers, as with dark beers, time works wonders. it should let it soften, flavours meld, alc to die off a little (providing it not alctual fusil alc).

I think I've screwed the pooch on this one. Hydro samples were tasting very good and promising before the sugar addition. One 500g addition later I have a fermenter full of hot alcohols and solvent flavours, really unpleasant. Brew never got above 21c, but I should have split up that addition over multiple days. I'm going to keg it (rather than bottling in belgs and corking as I intended) and leave it a few months, see if it comes good.

yeah 500g might have been a bit much. nothig wrong with gradual feeding. nothing wrong with kegging it, cold condition, then put into bottles with a cpbf or just pour it straight out of the tap. thats way you ensure consistant carbonation, which is something my bigger beers have had issues with (ie some bottles carb better than others). so all my big beers i now keg, then bottle (if im bottling)

RDWHAHB

 

[vykuza]

Cheers, I guess I'll just wait and see!

Time to buy more kegs I think...

 

[manticle]

My notes from the bottle JYO sent to me.

Pours cloudy brown with a fairly dense white head that lingers. Aroma of date evident just on opening the bottle. Slight alcohol aroma and yeast phenolics.
Mouthfeel moderate/full, slightly creamy but higher carb pulls back from the creaminess somewhat.
Flavour of dried fruit, some warming alcohol (not unpleasant, not fuselly but definitely present), subtle Belgian yeast flavours, nice balance.

A pretty damn nice beer mate. Definite Belgian dubbel/dark strong character, nice complexity and will probably develop more with age. Good to see such a great head on it - I doubt we'll get that with our rochefort tribute when I consider what happened to the dubbel head*. Significant lingering head and lacing remained after I left the glass sitting for 20 minutes or so too. Nicely rich and warming - would be great as a winter warmer.


*Refers to a beer I bottled separately from a main batch of Belgian dark strong that is currently bulk aging - had cacao nibs and something I've forgotten added to it and traded with JYO for this beer.

 

[jyo]

Cheers, Manticle.

 

[vykuza]

Well, it's been three months (nearly) in the keg, and my version of this is still tasting like paint thinner.

Strong fusel/hot solventy flavours that I've had before from hot/stressed ferments. Tasting around that, the beer has a huge amount of promise. Date has come through beautifully, and it has a nice, strong raisin/dried fig going on as well, with a solid malt background. The final gravity is good, and if I hadn't screwed up the sugar addition/ferment then it would have been tops.

This keg is destined for the back lawn, but the recipe is a winner and I'll be attempting it again (without the brain explosions). Jyo, there's a bottle here I can post you if you want, but it's probably a waste of time.

 

[jyo]

That is bloody disappointing, Nick Lawn food sucks...

Mine are still drinking very nicely, I'm aiming to down one next week sometime to sample again.

Once again, commiserations, mate.

 

[machalel]

bugger

This one sounded really good.

 

[jyo]

Just to update on this.

It scraped in with a sneaky fourth place at the Nationals this year. Some good comments from the judges, yet was lacking the typical Belgian esters, probably due to my choice of yeast of 1762. Anyway, pretty happy. No bottles left, though.

Cheers.