Brewing Master

Question:

1.) A while back, someone here contacted the brewery at Chimay to ask them about yeast.  The answer was that what’s in the bottle was the fermentation strain.   That may have been more than 3 years ago, but I’ve cultured from the bottle as recently as 2 months ago and made a fine Chimay red style dubbel using the yeast.  If it’s not the original fermentaion strain, it’s so close that it doesn’t matter. 2.) I always use 1 tsp. of rehydrated Irish moss with 15 minutes left in the boil.  It works great at that point, so I don’t understand why they’re saying it needs to be added earlier to be effective. As always, I would encourage you to try both of these yourself and make up your own mind.  That’s how you learn… – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Couple answers and questions: <snippage Anyway, sorry for the ramble. I would like to hear from others on (1) if Chimay does a different yeast for bottling and (2) adequate Irish Moss – added to boil – times. But, hey, the recipe is great. Thanks!! Paul

Response:

Denny, Thanks for the advise. I am now starting to brew 10 gal batches so can experiement more widely – and yeast is a good area to experiment. And, thanks for your input on Chimay along with your advise on Irish Moss. Paul – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – 1.) A while back, someone here contacted the brewery at Chimay to ask them about yeast.  The answer was that what’s in the bottle was the fermentation strain.   That may have been more than 3 years ago, but I’ve cultured from the bottle as recently as 2 months ago and made a fine Chimay red style dubbel using the yeast.  If it’s not the original fermentaion strain, it’s so close that it doesn’t matter. 2.) I always use 1 tsp. of rehydrated Irish moss with 15 minutes left in the boil.  It works great at that point, so I don’t understand why they’re saying it needs to be added earlier to be effective. As always, I would encourage you to try both of these yourself and make up your own mind.  That’s how you learn…

Response:

Chimay uses the fermentation strain for bottling, and I’ve cultured it many times.  I’ve always had the best luck culturing from the red label (it’s the same yeast in all Chimay varieties), possibly because the gravity is a little lower and the yeast is a little healthier.  You will need to step it up 2-3 times before you have a sufficient amount to use. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Harvesting from bottles makes the assumption that the beer is bottle conditioned without and additional yeast having been added since the fermentation. I believe a bottle conditioned beer may have been bottled with the addition of a different strain of yeast. Secondly, the yeast in the bottle is very small quantity and, although nothing was noticeable from the beer in the bottle, when scaled up, may also scale up any undesirable flavours/infection.

Response:

Couple answers and questions: (1) The irish moss is added at 60 min. since (I am told) that it’s effectiveness is only good at 40 min. plus. I would like to hear back from others, but it worked for this beer. Some of the local HB’s swear that irish moss is only good at 40min. +. (2) My LHBS (San Francisco Brewcraft. The "Griz") swears that Chimay uses a different yeast for bottling, and that they changed this about 3 years ago (using 2 yeast’s, one for brewing, one for bottling). This guy spent 6 months at one of the abbey’s, and swears this is true. This came up since I got in a debate about culturing yeast from Chimay. I would like to hear what others think. This recipe, IMO, is better than Chimay Blue. I switched to AG and did an AG recently, but have not tried it. Personally, even though I prefer the Chimay Blue and White (Red is so-so), I always found all Chimay’s to have a "twinge" to it. But, I also think it’s important to drink at 55F. With the recipe and only 2 months in the bottle, I (and others) find this recipe smoother than Chimay. The flavors carry through. Rich, chewy, plum characteristics. Anyway, sorry for the ramble. I would like to hear from others on (1) if Chimay does a different yeast for bottling and (2) adequate Irish Moss – added to boil – times. But, hey, the recipe is great. Thanks!! Paul – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Chimay uses the fermentation strain for bottling, and I’ve cultured it many times.  I’ve always had the best luck culturing from the red label (it’s the same yeast in all Chimay varieties), possibly because the gravity is a little lower and the yeast is a little healthier.  You will need to step it up 2-3 times before you have a sufficient amount to use. Harvesting from bottles makes the assumption that the beer is bottle conditioned without and additional yeast having been added since the fermentation. I believe a bottle conditioned beer may have been bottled with the addition of a different strain of yeast. Secondly, the yeast in the bottle is very small quantity and, although nothing was noticeable from the beer in the bottle, when scaled up, may also scale up any undesirable flavours/infection.

Response:

I sure appreciate your taking the time Bill. Ed – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I just found the original recipe. It was for extract and called for 7lbs of Amber LME. Never tried the extract version but the AG version is very good. It also states the recommended yeast is Wyeast 1968, 1098 or White Labs English,British. And I’ve used both Liberty or Hallertau Mittlefuh as a finishing hop and couldn’t tell the difference. — Bill Bufkin Homebrewing site  http://home.swbell.net/bufkin Thanks again Bill.  FWIW, my #’s come from hbd’s recipator (i.e. I’m not pulling ‘em out of the air (grin)).  I’m going to think things through…  with a 2 lb mix, it’s obviously going to be more than 1 batch.  That special B must be some powerful stuff. Ed Sorry I remembered after I posted you said partial was the most you could do. Promash tells me 7# of LME would replace the 10# 2-Row. And IIRC the Munich should provide enough enzymes to convert anything available in the other specialty grains. — Bill Bufkin Homebrewing site  http://home.swbell.net/bufkin Thanks Bill.  I’ve never mashed more than about a pound of grain in any batch…  Call me a wimp if you want but, it looks like around 5lbs light lme (Muntons) (or one 3.5lb can and 1.25 lbs light dme) would give about the same gravity as the 10 lbs of 2 row.  That would leave 3.7 lbs of specialty grains…  I could probably deal with that.  Any comments on how this might work out?  I’m not set up for all grain…  and nowhere near confident enough. I appreciate the recipe. Ed Try a brown. This is one of my house brews always on tap. If you subtract .5 lbs of CaraMunich 50 and .5 lbs of the Spec B from this recipe and add 1 lb of your Spec B/Crystal mix you should come out close enough. ProMash Recipe Printout Recipe : St. Almost Brown Ale (clone of a local microbrewery, recipe slightly modified from DeFalcos LHBS) Recipe Specifics Batch Size (GAL):         5.00    Wort Size (GAL):    5.50 Total Grain (LBS):       13.69 Anticipated OG:          1.069    Plato:             16.92 Anticipated SRM:          22.3 Anticipated IBU:          54.6 Brewhouse Efficiency:       75 % Wort Boil Time:             60    Minutes Grain/Extract/Sugar %     Amount     Name                          Origin Potential SRM – – – 73.1    10.00 lbs. 2-Row Domestic                Weyermann      1.034 2 11.0     1.50 lbs. CaraMunich 50                 Belgium        1.034 50 11.0     1.50 lbs. Munich Light                  Belgium        1.034 8 3.7     0.50 lbs. Special B Malt 150L           Belgium        1.030 150 1.4     0.19 lbs. Chocolate Malt                British        1.030 400 Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon. Hops Amount     Name                              Form    Alpha  IBU  Boil Time – – – 1.00 oz.    Perle                             Whole    9.75  41.0  60 min. 1.00 oz.    Cascade                           Pellet   4.70  11.1  30 min. 0.50 oz.    Hallertau Mittlefuh               Pellet   4.20   2.6  15 min. Yeast —– WYeast 1968 London Extra Special Bitter — Bill Bufkin Homebrewing site  http://home.swbell.net/bufkin Ok, I have this bag of  1 lb each Special B and Pauls Med. Crystal. The guy at the brewshop mixed them in one bag and I stupidly took it. People made the suggestion of making a Belgian style.  Most of the recipes I find have about 1/4lb of spec.B (max) and most don’t include any crystal.  I’m open to suggestions.  If not a Belgian, then let your mind be free…  Keep in mind I’m a partial mash (at best) brewer. It is looking like I could use the whole 2lbs, about 6 lbs light lme, a lb of Candy Sugar, and Styrian Goldings, Hallertau, and Saaz hops to an IBU of around 22.  Would this get me somewhere in the neighborhood? Or would the whole pound of spec.B really throw it off whack?  I could cut back on the grain to 1lb and add a lb of light lme….  It would still be awfully dark for any of the Belgian’s I’ve seen.  (using recipator) I have a bag of grain…  I wanna make some beer.  Like I said, I’m open.  What uses Spec.B and crystal?  Should I just make something up and learn from it?  No big hurry…  I have 2 other batches to do before I even get to this but no harm in planning ahead. As usual, thanks ahead of time. Ed

Response:

Harvesting from bottles makes the assumption that the beer is bottle conditioned without and additional yeast having been added since the fermentation. I believe a bottle conditioned beer may have been bottled with the addition of a different strain of yeast. Secondly, the yeast in the bottle is very small quantity and, although nothing was noticeable from the beer in the bottle, when scaled up, may also scale up any undesirable flavours/infection.

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – This looks good! I have a few questions… Why boil the irish moss for 60min? Wouldn’t it be better to harvest the yeast from a blue chimay bottle? Okay, here you go! Chimay (Blue) partial-extract Clone: (NOTE: All-grainers can easily change the extract to grain and skip the process below) 5 Gallon OG – 1.087 FG – 1.018 Water treatment: 1 tsp. Gypsum in H20 Ingredients: 7 lbs. Pale extract 1 lb. Belgian (dark) Candy sugar Special grains: 1 lb. Belgian (or domestic) 2-row 2 lbs. Belgian Munich 0.5 lbs. Cara-pils 0.75 lbs. Special B Hops: 1.5 oz. Goldings E.K. pellets, at 60 min. (start of boil) 0.5 oz. Goldings E.K. pellets, at 30 min. 1.0 oz. Fuggles pellets, at 30 min. 1.0 oz. Saaz, at (last) 15 min. Other ingredients: 1.5 oz. Irish Moss at start of boil (60 min.) Yeast: White Labs 500 (trappist) 3/4 cup dextrose for priming Instructions: Since there is a larger (special) grain bill, using a sock is not advisable. So: – In a seperate pot from your regular brew pot (at least 3 gal. capacity), place 1.5 gallons of water and raise the temp to 155F. Add Gypsum. – Place loose grains in water (no bag) – Place lid on pot and cover with towel and leave for 55 min. – After 55 min, place colander in regular brewing pot. Colander should catch on the handles and be suspended on th pot. – Dump loose grains from first pot into colander. – Rinse out first pot and place  1.5 gal. water and raise to 180F. Or, use other pot to pre-prep hot water. – With Pyrex cup or ladle, slowly drizzle water over grains in colander (lautering process or sparging). Again, this is the simplistic process, the all grainers will use their mash turn, etc. – Total boiling time is 60 min. – Bring wort (in boiling pot) to boil and add (7 lb. Pale) extract and Belgian Candi sugar. – Add Irish moss – Add hops per (above) qty. and time Cool and dump yeast at 70F Of course, increasing with additonal 70F water to 5.0-5.25 gallons. 8 days primary at 68-70F 21-30 days secondary at 68-70F add priming sugar for bottling (or prime keg) 6 months plus waiting time, up to multiple years Again, I love this stuff, and others have said it is better (smoother) than a Chimay Blue. Paul I’d be interested in seeing that recipe.  Please post it if you get a chance. Thanks!

Response:

This looks good! I have a few questions… Why boil the irish moss for 60min? Wouldn’t it be better to harvest the yeast from a blue chimay bottle? – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Okay, here you go! Chimay (Blue) partial-extract Clone: (NOTE: All-grainers can easily change the extract to grain and skip the process below) 5 Gallon OG – 1.087 FG – 1.018 Water treatment: 1 tsp. Gypsum in H20 Ingredients: 7 lbs. Pale extract 1 lb. Belgian (dark) Candy sugar Special grains: 1 lb. Belgian (or domestic) 2-row 2 lbs. Belgian Munich 0.5 lbs. Cara-pils 0.75 lbs. Special B Hops: 1.5 oz. Goldings E.K. pellets, at 60 min. (start of boil) 0.5 oz. Goldings E.K. pellets, at 30 min. 1.0 oz. Fuggles pellets, at 30 min. 1.0 oz. Saaz, at (last) 15 min. Other ingredients: 1.5 oz. Irish Moss at start of boil (60 min.) Yeast: White Labs 500 (trappist) 3/4 cup dextrose for priming Instructions: Since there is a larger (special) grain bill, using a sock is not advisable. So: – In a seperate pot from your regular brew pot (at least 3 gal. capacity), place 1.5 gallons of water and raise the temp to 155F. Add Gypsum. – Place loose grains in water (no bag) – Place lid on pot and cover with towel and leave for 55 min. – After 55 min, place colander in regular brewing pot. Colander should catch on the handles and be suspended on th pot. – Dump loose grains from first pot into colander. – Rinse out first pot and place  1.5 gal. water and raise to 180F. Or, use other pot to pre-prep hot water. – With Pyrex cup or ladle, slowly drizzle water over grains in colander (lautering process or sparging). Again, this is the simplistic process, the all grainers will use their mash turn, etc. – Total boiling time is 60 min. – Bring wort (in boiling pot) to boil and add (7 lb. Pale) extract and Belgian Candi sugar. – Add Irish moss – Add hops per (above) qty. and time Cool and dump yeast at 70F Of course, increasing with additonal 70F water to 5.0-5.25 gallons. 8 days primary at 68-70F 21-30 days secondary at 68-70F add priming sugar for bottling (or prime keg) 6 months plus waiting time, up to multiple years Again, I love this stuff, and others have said it is better (smoother) than a Chimay Blue. Paul I’d be interested in seeing that recipe.  Please post it if you get a chance. Thanks!

Response:

Okay, here you go! Chimay (Blue) partial-extract Clone: (NOTE: All-grainers can easily change the extract to grain and skip the process below) 5 Gallon OG – 1.087 FG – 1.018 Water treatment: 1 tsp. Gypsum in H20 Ingredients: 7 lbs. Pale extract 1 lb. Belgian (dark) Candy sugar Special grains: 1 lb. Belgian (or domestic) 2-row 2 lbs. Belgian Munich 0.5 lbs. Cara-pils 0.75 lbs. Special B Hops: 1.5 oz. Goldings E.K. pellets, at 60 min. (start of boil) 0.5 oz. Goldings E.K. pellets, at 30 min. 1.0 oz. Fuggles pellets, at 30 min. 1.0 oz. Saaz, at (last) 15 min. Other ingredients: 1.5 oz. Irish Moss at start of boil (60 min.) Yeast: White Labs 500 (trappist) 3/4 cup dextrose for priming Instructions: Since there is a larger (special) grain bill, using a sock is not advisable. So: – In a seperate pot from your regular brew pot (at least 3 gal. capacity), place 1.5 gallons of water and raise the temp to 155F. Add Gypsum. – Place loose grains in water (no bag) – Place lid on pot and cover with towel and leave for 55 min. – After 55 min, place colander in regular brewing pot. Colander should catch on the handles and be suspended on th pot. – Dump loose grains from first pot into colander. – Rinse out first pot and place  1.5 gal. water and raise to 180F. Or, use other pot to pre-prep hot water. – With Pyrex cup or ladle, slowly drizzle water over grains in colander (lautering process or sparging). Again, this is the simplistic process, the all grainers will use their mash turn, etc. – Total boiling time is 60 min. – Bring wort (in boiling pot) to boil and add (7 lb. Pale) extract and Belgian Candi sugar. – Add Irish moss – Add hops per (above) qty. and time Cool and dump yeast at 70F Of course, increasing with additonal 70F water to 5.0-5.25 gallons. 8 days primary at 68-70F 21-30 days secondary at 68-70F add priming sugar for bottling (or prime keg) 6 months plus waiting time, up to multiple years Again, I love this stuff, and others have said it is better (smoother) than a Chimay Blue. Paul – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I’d be interested in seeing that recipe.  Please post it if you get a chance. Thanks!

Response:

Ed, Which Chimay: White, Red (my vote), or Blue? Paul Ed,   I just made a Chimay clone with the following ingredients:

snip-snip-snip

Response:

Ed, I have a stellar Chimay Blue partial extract  recipe. Lemme know if you like that style and I will post it. It’s only been 2 months in the bottle, but I have to beat off the friends(!) and myself for another couple months. IMO, it’s better than Chimay Blue. Paul Ok, I have this bag of  1 lb each Special B and Pauls Med. Crystal.  The guy at the brewshop

snip-chop-snip – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – As usual, thanks ahead of time. Ed

Response:

I’d be interested in seeing that recipe.  Please post it if you get a chance. Thanks!

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Ed, I have a stellar Chimay Blue partial extract  recipe. Lemme know if you like that style and I will post it. It’s only been 2 months in the bottle, but I have to beat off the friends(!) and myself for another couple months. IMO, it’s better than Chimay Blue. Paul Ok, I have this bag of  1 lb each Special B and Pauls Med. Crystal.  The guy at the brewshop snip-chop-snip As usual, thanks ahead of time. Ed

Response:

Same here…  I’d sure like to see it.  As goofy as it makes me sound, I honestly don’t know the difference between the "grades"/"colors"/"styles".  It looks like there are at least 3 batches to be made out of this 2 lb bag…   Ed – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I’d be interested in seeing that recipe.  Please post it if you get a chance. Thanks! Ed, I have a stellar Chimay Blue partial extract  recipe. Lemme know if you like that style and I will post it. It’s only been 2 months in the bottle, but I have to beat off the friends(!) and myself for another couple months. IMO, it’s better than Chimay Blue. Paul Ok, I have this bag of  1 lb each Special B and Pauls Med. Crystal.  The guy at the brewshop snip-chop-snip As usual, thanks ahead of time. Ed

Response:

I just found the original recipe. It was for extract and called for 7lbs of Amber LME. Never tried the extract version but the AG version is very good. It also states the recommended yeast is Wyeast 1968, 1098 or White Labs English,British. And I’ve used both Liberty or Hallertau Mittlefuh as a finishing hop and couldn’t tell the difference. — Bill Bufkin Homebrewing site  http://home.swbell.net/bufkin

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Thanks again Bill.  FWIW, my #’s come from hbd’s recipator (i.e. I’m not pulling ‘em out of the air (grin)).  I’m going to think things through…  with a 2 lb mix, it’s obviously going to be more than 1 batch.  That special B must be some powerful stuff. Ed Sorry I remembered after I posted you said partial was the most you could do. Promash tells me 7# of LME would replace the 10# 2-Row. And IIRC the Munich should provide enough enzymes to convert anything available in the other specialty grains. — Bill Bufkin Homebrewing site  http://home.swbell.net/bufkin Thanks Bill.  I’ve never mashed more than about a pound of grain in any batch…  Call me a wimp if you want but, it looks like around 5lbs light lme (Muntons) (or one 3.5lb can and 1.25 lbs light dme) would give about the same gravity as the 10 lbs of 2 row.  That would leave 3.7 lbs of specialty grains…  I could probably deal with that.  Any comments on how this might work out?  I’m not set up for all grain…  and nowhere near confident enough. I appreciate the recipe. Ed Try a brown. This is one of my house brews always on tap. If you subtract .5 lbs of CaraMunich 50 and .5 lbs of the Spec B from this recipe and add 1 lb of your Spec B/Crystal mix you should come out close enough. ProMash Recipe Printout Recipe : St. Almost Brown Ale (clone of a local microbrewery, recipe slightly modified from DeFalcos LHBS) Recipe Specifics Batch Size (GAL):         5.00    Wort Size (GAL):    5.50 Total Grain (LBS):       13.69 Anticipated OG:          1.069    Plato:             16.92 Anticipated SRM:          22.3 Anticipated IBU:          54.6 Brewhouse Efficiency:       75 % Wort Boil Time:             60    Minutes Grain/Extract/Sugar  %     Amount     Name                          Origin Potential SRM – – – 73.1    10.00 lbs. 2-Row Domestic                Weyermann      1.034 2 11.0     1.50 lbs. CaraMunich 50                 Belgium        1.034 50 11.0     1.50 lbs. Munich Light                  Belgium        1.034 8 3.7     0.50 lbs. Special B Malt 150L           Belgium        1.030 150 1.4     0.19 lbs. Chocolate Malt                British        1.030 400 Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon. Hops  Amount     Name                              Form    Alpha  IBU  Boil Time – – – 1.00 oz.    Perle                             Whole    9.75  41.0  60 min. 1.00 oz.    Cascade                           Pellet   4.70  11.1  30 min. 0.50 oz.    Hallertau Mittlefuh               Pellet   4.20   2.6  15 min. Yeast —– WYeast 1968 London Extra Special Bitter — Bill Bufkin Homebrewing site  http://home.swbell.net/bufkin Ok, I have this bag of  1 lb each Special B and Pauls Med. Crystal. The guy at the brewshop mixed them in one bag and I stupidly took it. People made the suggestion of making a Belgian style.  Most of the recipes I find have about 1/4lb of spec.B (max) and most don’t include any crystal.  I’m open to suggestions.  If not a Belgian, then let your mind be free…  Keep in mind I’m a partial mash (at best) brewer. It is looking like I could use the whole 2lbs, about 6 lbs light lme, a lb of Candy Sugar, and Styrian Goldings, Hallertau, and Saaz hops to an IBU of around 22.  Would this get me somewhere in the neighborhood? Or would the whole pound of spec.B really throw it off whack?  I could cut back on the grain to 1lb and add a lb of light lme….  It would still be awfully dark for any of the Belgian’s I’ve seen.  (using recipator) I have a bag of grain…  I wanna make some beer.  Like I said, I’m open.  What uses Spec.B and crystal?  Should I just make something up and learn from it?  No big hurry…  I have 2 other batches to do before I even get to this but no harm in planning ahead. As usual, thanks ahead of time. Ed

Response:

Thanks a million Mark. Ed – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Ed, Just mix up the bag of Special B and Med. Crystal, and just use a half pound of it.  That way, in theory, you’d get about 1/4 pound of each.  I just made a Chimay clone with the following ingredients: 7 lbs. Dingemans Pale malt 3 lbs. Dingemans Pils malt 1/2 lb. Dark Belgian candy sugar 1/2 lb. Clear Belgian candy sugar 1/2 lb. Dingemans Aromatic malt 1/4 lb. Special B 1/4 lb. DWC Caravienne crystal So, if you want to make a Belgian, just get some aromatic (or something similar) and steep it with the Special B/Crystal mixture.  In the research for my recipe, most people say that the Belgian candy sugar is a key ingredient in a Belgian Dubbel type recipe.  The color from that recipe above was dead-on for Chimay’s color. If your starting gravity is high (i.e. higher than 1.060) you could probably bump the IBU’s higher than 22.  My O.G. was 1.065, and my IBU’s were in range for style at about 31.  Bitter it using the Styrian Goldings & Hallertauer, and give it some flavor with Saaz and/or Hallertauer.  Use a good Belgian yeast, and you’re off to the races!  My WLP500 yeast got the gravity down to 1.008 (should have used more crystal?) in about 12 days. The flavor was really close to Chimay too, but mine seemed to have more clove notes than Chimay.  It’s mellowing in the secondary now, so I’m sure it will change from now until the time it’s been in the keg for a couple months. Go ahead and use your mixture – a little crystal in a Belgian ale should be fine. Cheers, Mark Ok, I have this bag of  1 lb each Special B and Pauls Med. Crystal.  The guy at the brewshop mixed them in one bag and I stupidly took it. People made the suggestion of making a Belgian style.  Most of the recipes I find have about 1/4lb of spec.B (max) and most don’t include any crystal.  I’m open to suggestions.  If not a Belgian, then let your mind be free…  Keep in mind I’m a partial mash (at best) brewer. It is looking like I could use the whole 2lbs, about 6 lbs light lme, a lb of Candy Sugar, and Styrian Goldings, Hallertau, and Saaz hops to an IBU of around 22.  Would this get me somewhere in the neighborhood?  Or would the whole pound of spec.B really throw it off whack?  I could cut back on the grain to 1lb and add a lb of light lme….  It would still be awfully dark for any of the Belgian’s I’ve seen.  (using recipator) I have a bag of grain…  I wanna make some beer.  Like I said, I’m open.  What uses Spec.B and crystal?  Should I just make something up and learn from it?  No big hurry…  I have 2 other batches to do before I even get to this but no harm in planning ahead. As usual, thanks ahead of time. Ed

Response:

Thanks again Bill.  FWIW, my #’s come from hbd’s recipator (i.e. I’m not pulling ‘em out of the air (grin)).  I’m going to think things through…  with a 2 lb mix, it’s obviously going to be more than 1 batch.  That special B must be some powerful stuff. Ed – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Sorry I remembered after I posted you said partial was the most you could do. Promash tells me 7# of LME would replace the 10# 2-Row. And IIRC the Munich should provide enough enzymes to convert anything available in the other specialty grains. — Bill Bufkin Homebrewing site  http://home.swbell.net/bufkin Thanks Bill.  I’ve never mashed more than about a pound of grain in any batch…  Call me a wimp if you want but, it looks like around 5lbs light lme (Muntons) (or one 3.5lb can and 1.25 lbs light dme) would give about the same gravity as the 10 lbs of 2 row.  That would leave 3.7 lbs of specialty grains…  I could probably deal with that.  Any comments on how this might work out?  I’m not set up for all grain…  and nowhere near confident enough. I appreciate the recipe. Ed Try a brown. This is one of my house brews always on tap. If you subtract .5 lbs of CaraMunich 50 and .5 lbs of the Spec B from this recipe and add 1 lb of your Spec B/Crystal mix you should come out close enough. ProMash Recipe Printout Recipe : St. Almost Brown Ale (clone of a local microbrewery, recipe slightly modified from DeFalcos LHBS) Recipe Specifics Batch Size (GAL):         5.00    Wort Size (GAL):    5.50 Total Grain (LBS):       13.69 Anticipated OG:          1.069    Plato:             16.92 Anticipated SRM:          22.3 Anticipated IBU:          54.6 Brewhouse Efficiency:       75 % Wort Boil Time:             60    Minutes Grain/Extract/Sugar  %     Amount     Name                          Origin        Potential SRM – – 73.1    10.00 lbs. 2-Row Domestic                Weyermann      1.034 2 11.0     1.50 lbs. CaraMunich 50                 Belgium        1.034 50 11.0     1.50 lbs. Munich Light                  Belgium        1.034 8 3.7     0.50 lbs. Special B Malt 150L           Belgium        1.030 150 1.4     0.19 lbs. Chocolate Malt                British        1.030 400 Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon. Hops  Amount     Name                              Form    Alpha  IBU  Boil Time – – 1.00 oz.    Perle                             Whole    9.75  41.0  60 min. 1.00 oz.    Cascade                           Pellet   4.70  11.1  30 min. 0.50 oz.    Hallertau Mittlefuh               Pellet   4.20   2.6  15 min. Yeast —– WYeast 1968 London Extra Special Bitter — Bill Bufkin Homebrewing site  http://home.swbell.net/bufkin Ok, I have this bag of  1 lb each Special B and Pauls Med. Crystal.  The guy at the brewshop mixed them in one bag and I stupidly took it. People made the suggestion of making a Belgian style.  Most of the recipes I find have about 1/4lb of spec.B (max) and most don’t include any crystal.  I’m open to suggestions.  If not a Belgian, then let your mind be free…  Keep in mind I’m a partial mash (at best) brewer. It is looking like I could use the whole 2lbs, about 6 lbs light lme, a lb of Candy Sugar, and Styrian Goldings, Hallertau, and Saaz hops to an IBU of around 22.  Would this get me somewhere in the neighborhood?  Or would the whole pound of spec.B really throw it off whack?  I could cut back on the grain to 1lb and add a lb of light lme….  It would still be awfully dark for any of the Belgian’s I’ve seen.  (using recipator) I have a bag of grain…  I wanna make some beer.  Like I said, I’m open.  What uses Spec.B and crystal?  Should I just make something up and learn from it?  No big hurry…  I have 2 other batches to do before I even get to this but no harm in planning ahead. As usual, thanks ahead of time. Ed

Response:

Sorry I remembered after I posted you said partial was the most you could do. Promash tells me 7# of LME would replace the 10# 2-Row. And IIRC the Munich should provide enough enzymes to convert anything available in the other specialty grains. — Bill Bufkin Homebrewing site  http://home.swbell.net/bufkin

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Thanks Bill.  I’ve never mashed more than about a pound of grain in any batch…  Call me a wimp if you want but, it looks like around 5lbs light lme (Muntons) (or one 3.5lb can and 1.25 lbs light dme) would give about the same gravity as the 10 lbs of 2 row.  That would leave 3.7 lbs of specialty grains…  I could probably deal with that.  Any comments on how this might work out?  I’m not set up for all grain…  and nowhere near confident enough. I appreciate the recipe. Ed Try a brown. This is one of my house brews always on tap. If you subtract .5 lbs of CaraMunich 50 and .5 lbs of the Spec B from this recipe and add 1 lb of your Spec B/Crystal mix you should come out close enough. ProMash Recipe Printout Recipe : St. Almost Brown Ale (clone of a local microbrewery, recipe slightly modified from DeFalcos LHBS) Recipe Specifics Batch Size (GAL):         5.00    Wort Size (GAL):    5.50 Total Grain (LBS):       13.69 Anticipated OG:          1.069    Plato:             16.92 Anticipated SRM:          22.3 Anticipated IBU:          54.6 Brewhouse Efficiency:       75 % Wort Boil Time:             60    Minutes Grain/Extract/Sugar   %     Amount     Name                          Origin        Potential SRM – – 73.1    10.00 lbs. 2-Row Domestic                Weyermann      1.034 2 11.0     1.50 lbs. CaraMunich 50                 Belgium        1.034 50 11.0     1.50 lbs. Munich Light                  Belgium        1.034 8  3.7     0.50 lbs. Special B Malt 150L           Belgium        1.030 150  1.4     0.19 lbs. Chocolate Malt                British        1.030 400 Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon. Hops   Amount     Name                              Form    Alpha  IBU  Boil Time – –  1.00 oz.    Perle                             Whole    9.75  41.0  60 min.  1.00 oz.    Cascade                           Pellet   4.70  11.1  30 min.  0.50 oz.    Hallertau Mittlefuh               Pellet   4.20   2.6  15 min. Yeast —– WYeast 1968 London Extra Special Bitter — Bill Bufkin Homebrewing site  http://home.swbell.net/bufkin Ok, I have this bag of  1 lb each Special B and Pauls Med. Crystal.  The guy at the brewshop mixed them in one bag and I stupidly took it. People made the suggestion of making a Belgian style.  Most of the recipes I find have about 1/4lb of spec.B (max) and most don’t include any crystal.  I’m open to suggestions.  If not a Belgian, then let your mind be free…  Keep in mind I’m a partial mash (at best) brewer. It is looking like I could use the whole 2lbs, about 6 lbs light lme, a lb of Candy Sugar, and Styrian Goldings, Hallertau, and Saaz hops to an IBU of around 22.  Would this get me somewhere in the neighborhood?  Or would the whole pound of spec.B really throw it off whack?  I could cut back on the grain to 1lb and add a lb of light lme….  It would still be awfully dark for any of the Belgian’s I’ve seen.  (using recipator) I have a bag of grain…  I wanna make some beer.  Like I said, I’m open.  What uses Spec.B and crystal?  Should I just make something up and learn from it?  No big hurry…  I have 2 other batches to do before I even get to this but no harm in planning ahead. As usual, thanks ahead of time. Ed

Response:

Thanks Bill.  I’ve never mashed more than about a pound of grain in any batch…  Call me a wimp if you want but, it looks like around 5lbs light lme (Muntons) (or one 3.5lb can and 1.25 lbs light dme) would give about the same gravity as the 10 lbs of 2 row.  That would leave 3.7 lbs of specialty grains…  I could probably deal with that.  Any comments on how this might work out?  I’m not set up for all grain…  and nowhere near confident enough. I appreciate the recipe. Ed – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Try a brown. This is one of my house brews always on tap. If you subtract .5 lbs of CaraMunich 50 and .5 lbs of the Spec B from this recipe and add 1 lb of your Spec B/Crystal mix you should come out close enough. ProMash Recipe Printout Recipe : St. Almost Brown Ale (clone of a local microbrewery, recipe slightly modified from DeFalcos LHBS) Recipe Specifics Batch Size (GAL):         5.00    Wort Size (GAL):    5.50 Total Grain (LBS):       13.69 Anticipated OG:          1.069    Plato:             16.92 Anticipated SRM:          22.3 Anticipated IBU:          54.6 Brewhouse Efficiency:       75 % Wort Boil Time:             60    Minutes Grain/Extract/Sugar   %     Amount     Name                          Origin        Potential SRM – 73.1    10.00 lbs. 2-Row Domestic                Weyermann      1.034 2 11.0     1.50 lbs. CaraMunich 50                 Belgium        1.034 50 11.0     1.50 lbs. Munich Light                  Belgium        1.034 8  3.7     0.50 lbs. Special B Malt 150L           Belgium        1.030 150  1.4     0.19 lbs. Chocolate Malt                British        1.030 400 Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon. Hops   Amount     Name                              Form    Alpha  IBU  Boil Time –  1.00 oz.    Perle                             Whole    9.75  41.0  60 min.  1.00 oz.    Cascade                           Pellet   4.70  11.1  30 min.  0.50 oz.    Hallertau Mittlefuh               Pellet   4.20   2.6  15 min. Yeast —– WYeast 1968 London Extra Special Bitter — Bill Bufkin Homebrewing site  http://home.swbell.net/bufkin Ok, I have this bag of  1 lb each Special B and Pauls Med. Crystal.  The guy at the brewshop mixed them in one bag and I stupidly took it. People made the suggestion of making a Belgian style.  Most of the recipes I find have about 1/4lb of spec.B (max) and most don’t include any crystal.  I’m open to suggestions.  If not a Belgian, then let your mind be free…  Keep in mind I’m a partial mash (at best) brewer. It is looking like I could use the whole 2lbs, about 6 lbs light lme, a lb of Candy Sugar, and Styrian Goldings, Hallertau, and Saaz hops to an IBU of around 22.  Would this get me somewhere in the neighborhood?  Or would the whole pound of spec.B really throw it off whack?  I could cut back on the grain to 1lb and add a lb of light lme….  It would still be awfully dark for any of the Belgian’s I’ve seen.  (using recipator) I have a bag of grain…  I wanna make some beer.  Like I said, I’m open.  What uses Spec.B and crystal?  Should I just make something up and learn from it?  No big hurry…  I have 2 other batches to do before I even get to this but no harm in planning ahead. As usual, thanks ahead of time. Ed

Response:

Try a brown. This is one of my house brews always on tap. If you subtract .5 lbs of CaraMunich 50 and .5 lbs of the Spec B from this recipe and add 1 lb of your Spec B/Crystal mix you should come out close enough. ProMash Recipe Printout Recipe : St. Almost Brown Ale (clone of a local microbrewery, recipe slightly modified from DeFalcos LHBS) Recipe Specifics Batch Size (GAL):         5.00    Wort Size (GAL):    5.50 Total Grain (LBS):       13.69 Anticipated OG:          1.069    Plato:             16.92 Anticipated SRM:          22.3 Anticipated IBU:          54.6 Brewhouse Efficiency:       75 % Wort Boil Time:             60    Minutes Grain/Extract/Sugar    %     Amount     Name                          Origin        Potential SRM –  73.1    10.00 lbs. 2-Row Domestic                Weyermann      1.034 2  11.0     1.50 lbs. CaraMunich 50                 Belgium        1.034 50  11.0     1.50 lbs. Munich Light                  Belgium        1.034 8   3.7     0.50 lbs. Special B Malt 150L           Belgium        1.030 150   1.4     0.19 lbs. Chocolate Malt                British        1.030 400 Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon. Hops    Amount     Name                              Form    Alpha  IBU  Boil Time –   1.00 oz.    Perle                             Whole    9.75  41.0  60 min.   1.00 oz.    Cascade                           Pellet   4.70  11.1  30 min.   0.50 oz.    Hallertau Mittlefuh               Pellet   4.20   2.6  15 min. Yeast —– WYeast 1968 London Extra Special Bitter — Bill Bufkin Homebrewing site  http://home.swbell.net/bufkin

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Ok, I have this bag of  1 lb each Special B and Pauls Med. Crystal.  The guy at the brewshop mixed them in one bag and I stupidly took it.  People made the suggestion of making a Belgian style.  Most of the recipes I find have about 1/4lb of spec.B (max) and most don’t include any crystal.  I’m open to suggestions.  If not a Belgian, then let your mind be free…  Keep in mind I’m a partial mash (at best) brewer. It is looking like I could use the whole 2lbs, about 6 lbs light lme, a lb of Candy Sugar, and Styrian Goldings, Hallertau, and Saaz hops to an IBU of around 22.  Would this get me somewhere in the neighborhood?  Or would the whole pound of spec.B really throw it off whack?  I could cut back on the grain to 1lb and add a lb of light lme….  It would still be awfully dark for any of the Belgian’s I’ve seen.  (using recipator) I have a bag of grain…  I wanna make some beer.  Like I said, I’m open.  What uses Spec.B and crystal?  Should I just make something up and learn from it?  No big hurry…  I have 2 other batches to do before I even get to this but no harm in planning ahead. As usual, thanks ahead of time. Ed

Response:

Ok, I have this bag of  1 lb each Special B and Pauls Med. Crystal.  The guy at the brewshop mixed them in one bag and I stupidly took it.  People made the suggestion of making a Belgian style.  Most of the recipes I find have about 1/4lb of spec.B (max) and most don’t include any crystal.  I’m open to suggestions.  If not a Belgian, then let your mind be free…  Keep in mind I’m a partial mash (at best) brewer.   It is looking like I could use the whole 2lbs, about 6 lbs light lme, a lb of Candy Sugar, and Styrian Goldings, Hallertau, and Saaz hops to an IBU of around 22.  Would this get me somewhere in the neighborhood?  Or would the whole pound of spec.B really throw it off whack?  I could cut back on the grain to 1lb and add a lb of light lme….  It would still be awfully dark for any of the Belgian’s I’ve seen.  (using recipator) I have a bag of grain…  I wanna make some beer.  Like I said, I’m open.  What uses Spec.B and crystal?  Should I just make something up and learn from it?  No big hurry…  I have 2 other batches to do before I even get to this but no harm in planning ahead. As usual, thanks ahead of time. Ed

Response:

Ed, Just mix up the bag of Special B and Med. Crystal, and just use a half pound of it.  That way, in theory, you’d get about 1/4 pound of each.  I just made a Chimay clone with the following ingredients: 7 lbs. Dingemans Pale malt 3 lbs. Dingemans Pils malt 1/2 lb. Dark Belgian candy sugar 1/2 lb. Clear Belgian candy sugar 1/2 lb. Dingemans Aromatic malt 1/4 lb. Special B 1/4 lb. DWC Caravienne crystal So, if you want to make a Belgian, just get some aromatic (or something similar) and steep it with the Special B/Crystal mixture.  In the research for my recipe, most people say that the Belgian candy sugar is a key ingredient in a Belgian Dubbel type recipe.  The color from that recipe above was dead-on for Chimay’s color. If your starting gravity is high (i.e. higher than 1.060) you could probably bump the IBU’s higher than 22.  My O.G. was 1.065, and my IBU’s were in range for style at about 31.  Bitter it using the Styrian Goldings & Hallertauer, and give it some flavor with Saaz and/or Hallertauer.  Use a good Belgian yeast, and you’re off to the races!  My WLP500 yeast got the gravity down to 1.008 (should have used more crystal?) in about 12 days. The flavor was really close to Chimay too, but mine seemed to have more clove notes than Chimay.  It’s mellowing in the secondary now, so I’m sure it will change from now until the time it’s been in the keg for a couple months. Go ahead and use your mixture – a little crystal in a Belgian ale should be fine. Cheers, Mark

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Ok, I have this bag of  1 lb each Special B and Pauls Med. Crystal.  The guy at the brewshop mixed them in one bag and I stupidly took it.  People made the suggestion of making a Belgian style.  Most of the recipes I find have about 1/4lb of spec.B (max) and most don’t include any crystal.  I’m open to suggestions.  If not a Belgian, then let your mind be free…  Keep in mind I’m a partial mash (at best) brewer. It is looking like I could use the whole 2lbs, about 6 lbs light lme, a lb of Candy Sugar, and Styrian Goldings, Hallertau, and Saaz hops to an IBU of around 22.  Would this get me somewhere in the neighborhood?  Or would the whole pound of spec.B really throw it off whack?  I could cut back on the grain to 1lb and add a lb of light lme….  It would still be awfully dark for any of the Belgian’s I’ve seen.  (using recipator) I have a bag of grain…  I wanna make some beer.  Like I said, I’m open.  What uses Spec.B and crystal?  Should I just make something up and learn from it?  No big hurry…  I have 2 other batches to do before I even get to this but no harm in planning ahead. As usual, thanks ahead of time. Ed

Response: