Brew Dudes Homebrewing Blog

Belgian Witbier Brew Day

On July 26, 2011

The Belgian Witbier was brewed on Sunday without a hitch.

I did use a little bit of rice hulls in my mash tun to make sure I didn’t have a stuck sparge. I am still not sure if I needed them or not but I used them and I didn’t have a problem.

It was the first time that I had a multiple temperature mash. I infused the grains with 3 gallons of water to 122°F and let it sit for 15 minutes. After that, I used boiling water to raise the temperature to 152°F and let it rest for 45 minutes.

The boil went on for 90 minutes with one hop addition at 60 minutes to go. I added coriander and fresh sweet orange zest with 5 minutes to go. After I put the immersion chiller into the boil, I spent the next 10 minutes zesting.

Yeah, zesting. I nicked my thumb while I was doing it too. It was just a nick so it didn’t become blood orange zest.

The plan is to keep the fermentation at 68°F for the first week and then raise it to 72°F for the second week. I had to create a water bath for the better bottle because I can’t get low enough ambient temperatures in the house.

Here’s a photo of the setup. I need to drop the water temp by a degree.

Northern German Altbier Recipe

By John Krochune

On July 20, 2011

In Recipes

With the Magnum hops growing out back, I am looking forward to brewing a nice harvest ale and I think this German Alt recipe will do the trick. This is a Northern German Altbier recipe. This beer style shows a lot of hop restraint and focuses on the malt profile. I went with a split Pilsner/Munich malt base with some German specialty malts.

I think it will be interesting to have this beer alongside the Oktoberfest.

Ingredients:

5 lbs Pilsner Malt
5 lbs Munich Malt
0.75 lbs CaraMunich 60° L
3 ounces Carafa Special Type II
3 ounces Melanoidin Malt
0.5 oz Magnum Pellets 14.5 %AA boiled for 60 mins
Yeast: WYeast 1007 German Ale

Predictions:

Original Gravity: 1.050
Terminal Gravity: 1.012
Color: 14.86 °SRM
Bitterness: 32.5 IBUs
Alcohol % by volume: 4.9%

Instructions:

This is an all grain recipe. You can convert it to an extract with grains recipe if you want. I start off with a 6.5 gallon boil volume with the goal of ending with a 5.5 gallon volume and putting 5 gallons into the fermenter. Mash at 152° F for one hour. You can boil for 90 or 60 minutes based on your experience with DMS in your beer. Ferment for two weeks at 60° F. Bottle or keg as usual. Carbonate to 2.5 volumes.

Becoming A Beer Judge

By John Krochune

On July 18, 2011

In General

Mike and I were brainstorming last week about how to become better home brewers and we got on the subject of beer judging.

We have read through the BJCP guidelines a number of times, especially when brewing unfamilar styles. What we never seriously considered was becoming beer judges.

Personally, I think studying and taking the exam will be a good test of my homebrewing knowledge. I am not sure how much time I will have to dedicate to studying, but I will make some time and that’s all that matters.

The process should also make the content we post on this blog better and should lead to brewing better beer.

Have you gone through the process of taking the BJCP exam? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

Hops Harvest 2011

By John Krochune

On July 11, 2011

In Hops

Much to my chagrin, I harvested some of the hop cones this past weekend. Last year, I picked all the cones in one session near the end of August.

This year, there were a ton that were drying out on the bine and needed to be cut off for further drying.

I placed them on this screen that I used last year. The cones I had last year dried out pretty well and I was able to use them in the Blonde Ale that placed in the Boston Homebrew Competition.

Here’s what they look like post harvest:

Mother Nature willing, this harvest won’t be the last one of the year. I still have more cones to pick and more li’l flowers blooming.

Belgian Witbier Ingredients Ordered

By John Krochune

On July 8, 2011

In Brew Log

Now that the Oktoberfest duel has entered its slumber phase, it is time to start thinking about the next brew session and start up the next brew log.

This time it’s going to be a Belgian Witbier or White Beer.

I went with Midwest Supplies this time around. I have bought from them in the past and I have been happy with the service.

Lots of wheat and oats going into this one. More wheat than oats, but I am happy to be brewing with grains that I don’t use regularly. Plus, I have a ton of rice hulls sitting on my shelf that will be put to good use for the mash.

I also went with the Wyeast Belgian White Ale strain for this brew. I am changing things up! I am a White Labs guy usually…but I am going to use the smack pack this time.

Last year, the Saison was the summer brew. The witbier should taste really good in August.

It’s going to have some special ingredients too.