Belgian ale questions

[Brewski]

Hi fellas, thanks for the previous advice on the blueberry beer. it's been kegged, so i'm just gonna hope for the best, ill let you know how it turns out in another month or two. now that i'm getting more familiar with the brewing process, i couldn't wait and have already started my third batch. the primary fermentation was much stronger this time, and i've also expanded a bit and am currently going through secondary fermentation. the beer i made is a belgian ale, i loosely based the recipe on an Orval clone recipe that i have from a brewing magazine. i used about 2 lb. of malt grain (half pale, half caravienne), 3 lb of briess pilsen light dry extract, and 2 lb. of briess sorghum light liquid extract. i also added 1 lb. belgian candi sugar, and a little coriander and bitter orange peel. as far as hops, i put in 2oz. of hallertau for 60min. and 1oz. yakima goldings for 15 minutes. i'd like an opinion or two on one part of my process though - i didn't strain or filter out the grains or hops when transferring from the cooled wort to the primary fermenter. i figured that since i was planning on doing a secondary fermentation, the grain and hops particles would be filtered out when i siphoned from my primary to my secondary. like i said, the primary fermentation seemed like it went really well, it was consistently bubbling for about 3-4 days before i transferred over to the secondary. it was still bubbling a little when i transferred it, but it had slowed a little. i pitched some fresh yeast to the secondary - Wyeast 3526 - and that has been bubbling well for about 3 days so far. im planning on keeping the beer in the secondary until it stops bubbling, but at that point i was wondering if i should go straight from the secondary to the keg, or should i transfer to another plastic bucket to let the yeast and remaining grain particles settle out even further. i was thinking that if i transferred it to another bucket, i could let it sit for a few days then siphon over to the keg to improve clarity. any thoughts?

also, if you have any comments on my recipe/process overall, feel free to provide feedback

thanks again

[Brewski]

oh, and i just thought of a few more details that i left out. for the primary fermentation i used Safale US-05 Dry Ale Yeast. i'm not sure if this is ideal for the beer i'm going for, but it's what i had so i went with it. i also purchased a heating belt that i strapped onto the fermenter, and it kept the temp right around 72... i think this helped.

also, i took a hydrometer reading this time, but i'm not sure if it's accurate. i took a sample once the wort had cooled, right before i pitched the yeast. the sample had a good amount of grain and hop particles floating around in it, so this probably affected the density. anyways, the hydrometer had a reading of 1.10. does this sound about right? ill let you know what the hydrometer reading is after my secondary fermentation has completed.

cheers.

[brahn]

It sounds like you're actually boiling your grains along with the wort, is that correct? This could result in tannin extraction from the grain husks and should be avoided. Pale malt also needs to be mashed, not just steeped. Mashing is basically just steeping at a specific temperature with a measured water-grain ratio, it's really not much more complicated than steeping.

Maybe you could describe your process up through boiling the wort in a little more detail, I'm curious about what you're doing with your grains.

Stuff floating in your sample won't affect the gravity, but if you're doing a partial boil and topping up with water it can be tough to get it properly mixed to get an accurate gravity reading.

IMO, transferring beer to a secondary fermenter isn't really worth the trouble and risk of infection/oxidation. I just let my beer sit in primary until I keg it, everything will settle out in the primary the same way it does in a secondary fermenter. I'm pretty sure Brad doesn't rack to a secondary either, I don't know about everyone else on here.

[Brewski]

sorry i should have provided more detail about the grain steeping.

i heated 1 galllon of water to about 160 F, put the malt combo (1lb. pale malt, 1lb. caravienne) in a steeping sock, and poured the heated water over the grain and into a container that was separate from the wort. I then heated up 2 gallons of water to a boil for use in the wort, and poured the separate grainy liquid into the boiling wort water and proceeded with the rest of the recipe. also, when i poured the grainy liquid into the wort, i put the steeping socks in a strainer, held it above the boiling wort water, and poured the grainy liquid through the strainer. i hope this makes sense. i did it this way b/c that's what the Orval recipe said to do. i also did the secondary fermentation and added the second round of yeast b/c the recipe called for that. do you think i have to worry about oxidation? my secondary fermenter is a clear carboy, and there is about 1/2 inch of foam sitting at the top.

[brahn]

Ok, that sounds like a pretty normal steeping procedure. I was confused because you said you poured the grains into your primary fermenter.

As long as you've still got active fermentation, and based on the foam you're seeing in the secondary you most likely do, you shouldn't have problems with oxidization. The yeast should use up any oxygen that might have been introduced.

I wouldn't bother with a transfer to another fermenter. It will clarify where it is just as well as it would after a transfer. Just try to leave as much of the yeast/trub behind when you transfer to the keg.

[Brewski]

sounds good, ill just wait until the bubbling stops then transfer directly from the secondary into the keg. do you have any other feedback or critiques of the methods or ingredients that i used for this batch? feel free to fire away if you think i did something wrong, i'm very interested in learning more about this process... and i'm obviously a beginner so i'm very welcome to outside opinions. i figure the more i learn this time, the better the next batch will be

also, do you use gypsum in your recipes? i've seen a few recipes that call for it, but i don't understand what it is used for. same for irish moss, which pretty much every recipe calls for. do you use both, or either, and what significance do they have? should they only be used for certain types of beer?

thanks again

[brahn]

I use gypsum in a lot of recipes to lower my mash pH. In extract brewing you really don't need to worry about that. Gypsum is also used to enhance the perception of bitterness so you'll see it in a lot of IPA recipes.

Irish moss will help break material to coagulate and helps you get clearer beer. I typically use whirlfloc instead.

[Brewski]

hey whats up guys, i just kegged my beer. i took a hydrometer reading right before i kegged and it came out to 1.012.

i detailed my recipe above, but i think i took an incorrect reading the first time... i think i just took it of the wort, i forgot to combine it with fresh water first... so i'm pretty sure it's off

anybody have any idea what my alcohol content will be?

[Rezzin]

hey whats up guys, i just kegged my beer. i took a hydrometer reading right before i kegged and it came out to 1.012.

i detailed my recipe above, but i think i took an incorrect reading the first time... i think i just took it of the wort, i forgot to combine it with fresh water first... so i'm pretty sure it's off

anybody have any idea what my alcohol content will be?

I plugged your numbers into promash and came up with 5.67% ABV. How does it taste? oh yeah, this was before i noticed you said you added water to it so it's probably lower.

[Brewski]

can't it be calculated somehow using just the recipe and the hydrometer reading taken after fermentation? i know the 1.012 post-fermentation reading is accurate...

[Rezzin]

can't it be calculated somehow using just the recipe and the hydrometer reading taken after fermentation? i know the 1.012 post-fermentation reading is accurate...

I plugged your numbers into Promash using the ingredients you posted and based on a 5 gallon batch I came to something like 1.055 but that's before I noticed in a later post you added water. We can factor for dilution as well but we would need to know how much your starting volume was. Based on this - I came up with 5.67% ABV. Is this what you were looking for?

[Brewski]

just to clarify, i only used 5 gallons of water overall... i was just saying that i believe my initial hydrometer reading was off b/c i took it before i combined the wort with the rest of the fresh water... i used about 2.5 gallons of water to make the wort, then combined it with 2.5 gallons of fresh water before pitching the yeast

so considering this, do you think the 5.67% is accurate for my recipe and an ending hydrometer reading of 1.012? i hope so, that's about what i expected...

[Rezzin]

If your 2.5 gallons of wort was 1.10 when you tested and you aded 2.5 gallons of water to make 5 gallons, then your SG was 1.050. If it finished at 1.012, then you should be around 5% ABV.

Hope this helps!

[Brewski]

perfect. that's exactly what i was hoping to here.

one more question. i just kegged the batch last night. most things i've read says to let the beer age in the keg for about two months to get the true flavor. do you agree? would you recommend longer aging or does it really matter?

[spkrtoy]

If you've got it in a keg, did you prime it with sugar or are you force carbonating?
What will be the temperature of the storage?

I've got a belgian strong I brewed in Feb 2005 that's been in my kegerator at 31 degrees for 18 months. It's dropped all yeast and is brilliantly clear, if only a couple of SRM too dark for style.

The other belgian strong dark's been in for about 8 months and is also very clear and the extended ageing has mellowed the phenols and the malt character has come up to match. I plan to enter these into this years AHA homebrewer's comp. I did one last year and got a 38 and did not place 1/2/3.