jonw
Well-Known Member
Hello folks,
I'm in the process of making an Orval-style Belgian Ale. The recipe is basically the same as that in Jamil's Brewing Network podcast, and goes something like this for a 28L batch:-
Weyermann Pilsner 5.50 kg
Weyermann CaraMunich II 0.850 kg
Sugar - White Sugar/Sucrose 0.650 kg (at end of boil)
Mash for 90min @ 67C.
Hallertauer 80 g @ 60 min
NZ Styrian Goldings 45g @ 15min
NZ Styrian Goldings 45g @ 0 min.
NZ Styrian Goldings 90g dry hopped
Expected IBU (using Tinseth): 40 IBU
Expected Color (using Morey): 26 EBC
Expected OG: 1.057 SG
Expected ABV: 6.2 %
It's taken me so long to get round to posting this that it's a bit late for recipe advice - it's in the fermenter bubbling away with a Wyeast Belgian Ardennes. When the primary is finished, I'll transfer it to secondary, pitch a White Labs Bret Brux, and leave it to rot for a month or two. The dry hops will go in for the last week of secondary, and then I'll bottle.
The brew day went OK - the boil had a fantastic smell of caramel. I ended up with 30L with an OG of 1.055 - should I add a little more sugar? I also had to sub a little (20g) B Saaz in the last addition as I'd run out of Goldings. I had made a starter of the Ardennes and pitched that on Tuesday, and it took off within 24 hours.
I'm really looking for some advice on how to conduct the secondary and bottling. I have an old fermeter that I can dedicate to Brett use - Is it OK to leave beer in plastic for a couple of months (under the house) or should I go with a glass carbouy? I'd rather not fork out for the latter. I've done a fair amount of reading, and it seems most people are pretty wary of getting Brett in contact with anything that'll be used for 'normal' beers. I envisage keeping the fermenter/tap as Brett only, but priming bucket, bottling wand etc. with all just get a good soak in acidified bleach.
Do I need to make a starter for the Brett, or can I just pitch the vial straight into the secondary? It'll be stored under the house at ambient temperature (probably about 13C at the moment) which I'm hoping isn't too cold for the yeast, even if it just does its thing a little more slowly. How do you go about culturing Brett (and is that a good idea?!) I've heard of people adding oak cubes to the secondary, which subsequently get inoculated with bugs. How do you keep those cubes between brews - just dry them out and put them in a placcy bag? The vial of yeast doesn't have the usual thick layer of goo plus liquid - it just looks like a viscous solution, so I'm guessing I'm not going to get a layer of Brett at the bottom of my secondary vessel.
I'm planning on bottling using a starter of the primary yeast. How would I calculate the priming rate i.e. should I use my normal bulk primiing rate (say 8g/L DME) make up a starter, and then bottle before it gets going (and assume that I'm more or less priming with all the suger that was in the starter?)
Thanks in advance for any advice.
Cheers,
Jon
I'm in the process of making an Orval-style Belgian Ale. The recipe is basically the same as that in Jamil's Brewing Network podcast, and goes something like this for a 28L batch:-
Weyermann Pilsner 5.50 kg
Weyermann CaraMunich II 0.850 kg
Sugar - White Sugar/Sucrose 0.650 kg (at end of boil)
Mash for 90min @ 67C.
Hallertauer 80 g @ 60 min
NZ Styrian Goldings 45g @ 15min
NZ Styrian Goldings 45g @ 0 min.
NZ Styrian Goldings 90g dry hopped
Expected IBU (using Tinseth): 40 IBU
Expected Color (using Morey): 26 EBC
Expected OG: 1.057 SG
Expected ABV: 6.2 %
It's taken me so long to get round to posting this that it's a bit late for recipe advice - it's in the fermenter bubbling away with a Wyeast Belgian Ardennes. When the primary is finished, I'll transfer it to secondary, pitch a White Labs Bret Brux, and leave it to rot for a month or two. The dry hops will go in for the last week of secondary, and then I'll bottle.
The brew day went OK - the boil had a fantastic smell of caramel. I ended up with 30L with an OG of 1.055 - should I add a little more sugar? I also had to sub a little (20g) B Saaz in the last addition as I'd run out of Goldings. I had made a starter of the Ardennes and pitched that on Tuesday, and it took off within 24 hours.
I'm really looking for some advice on how to conduct the secondary and bottling. I have an old fermeter that I can dedicate to Brett use - Is it OK to leave beer in plastic for a couple of months (under the house) or should I go with a glass carbouy? I'd rather not fork out for the latter. I've done a fair amount of reading, and it seems most people are pretty wary of getting Brett in contact with anything that'll be used for 'normal' beers. I envisage keeping the fermenter/tap as Brett only, but priming bucket, bottling wand etc. with all just get a good soak in acidified bleach.
Do I need to make a starter for the Brett, or can I just pitch the vial straight into the secondary? It'll be stored under the house at ambient temperature (probably about 13C at the moment) which I'm hoping isn't too cold for the yeast, even if it just does its thing a little more slowly. How do you go about culturing Brett (and is that a good idea?!) I've heard of people adding oak cubes to the secondary, which subsequently get inoculated with bugs. How do you keep those cubes between brews - just dry them out and put them in a placcy bag? The vial of yeast doesn't have the usual thick layer of goo plus liquid - it just looks like a viscous solution, so I'm guessing I'm not going to get a layer of Brett at the bottom of my secondary vessel.
I'm planning on bottling using a starter of the primary yeast. How would I calculate the priming rate i.e. should I use my normal bulk primiing rate (say 8g/L DME) make up a starter, and then bottle before it gets going (and assume that I'm more or less priming with all the suger that was in the starter?)
Thanks in advance for any advice.
Cheers,
Jon