Brew Dudes

You put your hand in the jar – The Homebrew Jar of Destiny – and pull out a style. This time, I received 26C from the 2015 BJCP guidelines – Belgian Tripel.

Once you are melded to the style, you have to do your research, maybe look up a recipe on your own blog, certainly taste a commercial example of the beer. All of these steps lead to a recipe formulation, a purchase of brewing ingredients, and a brew day.

Then, you get a video like this one that sums it all up with the payoff of a tasting.

First, let’s examine the recipe I put together.

Belgian Tripel Recipe

Recipe:
Boil Size: 5 US Gallons (18.9 L)
Batch Size (in fermentor): 3.5 Gallons (13.2 L)

Grains:
9 pounds (4.8kg) of Dingemans Pilsen Malt
0.5 pounds (.23 kg) of Rahr White Wheat
1 pound (.45 kg) of White Table Sugar (Sucrose)

Hops:
1.5 ounces (43 g) Saaz Hops (2.7 %AA) boiled for 60 minutes
1 ounce (28 g) Styrian Goldings Hops (4.2 %AA) boiled 15 minutes

Yeast: Wyeast 3787 Trappist High Gravity™

Water: Spring water from Maine was used for this beer

Mash at 149°F (65° C) for 60 minutes. Boil for 90 minutes. Ferment at 64° F (18°C) for 10 days or until active fermentation appears over. Slowly raise temperature to 72°F (22°C) over 4 days and hold for another 7 days. Package in bottles and prime to get 3.5 volumes of CO2.

Original Gravity: 1.085
Final Gravity: 1.008
Color: 4.44 °SRM
Bitterness: 35.2 IBU
Alcohol (%volume): 10.11%

Our Tasting Notes

This beer came out as a golden ale. The video doesn’t do it justice. I wanted to hit the color and it looks pretty good. It needs a few months in the bottle to clear.

I was trying to hit the bitterness note with the hops. The amount of Saaz is more than I expected to use. The finishing hops blend well with the yeast flavors.

Not too much clove flavor or other phenols, the cool fermentation worked well for me. This beer finishes dry and is deceptive. I can sense the high alcohol in this beer without any taste of it.

By this winter, the flavors should smooth out and I am excited to taste it then.

BREW ON!

We are proud to present Mike’s second pick from the Jar of Destiny – International Amber Lager. It’s style 2B on the old 2015 BJCP guidelines. He did the research, came up with a plan, and brewed from the heart. Here’s the video:

International Amber Lager Plan

Mike’s take on the style is a beer that is an adjunct style lager. It has an amber, red-light brownish color.

The flavor profile should be clean and crisp like a lager but have a noticeable bread crust and biscuit note to it.

In researching commercial styles of this beer, Mike was inspired by Yuengling Amber Lager and wanted to brew something similar to that beer.

Jar of Destiny Recipe

Grains:

4.5 pounds (2 kg) of Rahr Pilsner Malt
4.5 pounds (2 kg) of Weyermann Vienna Malt
2 pounds (907g) of Flaked Corn
12 ounces (340 g) of CaraCrystal Wheat Malt (55°L)
2 ounce (57 g) of Midnight Wheat Malt (550°L)

Hops:

0.7 ounces (20g) Cluster Hops (7% AA) at 60 minutes left to go in the boil (~15 IBUs)
0.5 ounces (14g) Cascade Hops (6.5% AA) at 15 minutes left to go in the boil

Yeast:

Saflager Fermentis W34/70 Dry German Yeast

Instructions:

Step mashed for 60 minutes:
148°F (64°C) for 30 minutes
158°F (70°C) for 20 minutes
168°F (76°C) for 10 minutes
Fermented at 55°F/12.7° C for 6 days
Then, ramped up the temperature to 65°F/18° C and then let it sit for another 10 days.

Outcome

We think Mike hit the nail on the head here with a crisp drinkable lager, but one with just enough character malt flavor to keep bringing you in for more.

Thanks for following the Jar of Destiny Series. We have other posts for you to check out.

Check out the British Strong Ale post
Check out the Black IPA post

BREW ON!