Blame the weather, blame the sun, blame… the Belgians! Anyway, two recent brews that have not yet been documented, for your consideration.

pLambic 2011
10 gallons, grain/extract with fruit

My annual batch of pLambics, aged on fruit. Soured with bacterial cultures and various Lambic dregs… This is a semi-complicated fermentation, although the brewing process itself is pretty straightforward. I try to time this brew to coincide with ripe fruit, although this year I am using last year’s harvest.

Ingredients:

• 9 lbs. lager malt
• 5 lbs. malted wheat
• 1 lb. unmalted wheat
• 1 lb. flaked wheat
• 1/2 lb. carapils malt
• 1 lb. extra-light dry malt extract (DME)
• 1 lb. wheat dry malt extract (DME)
• 1 oz. whole (stale) Chinook hops (home-grown)
• 1 oz. whole (stale) Cluster hops (home-grown)
• White Labs Belgian Ale Yeast Blend (WLP575)
• 4 lbs. frozen cherries
• 4 lbs. frozen blackberries and/or raspberries
• 4 lbs. frozen black and/or red currants
• 4 lbs. frozen blueberries
• White Labs Belgian Sour Mix (WLP655)
• Wyeast Lambic Blend (3278)
• 2 cups corn sugar (for priming)

Procedure:
Crush grains. Heat 22 quarts water to 164°F. Mash in grains, hold at 150°F for 90 minutes. Heat another 22 quarts of water to 170°F, begin runoff and spargeProcess of rinsing mashed grains.. Collect 42 gallons QUARTS of sweet wort. Stir in the DME, bring wort to a boil, add Chinook hops. Boil 30 minutes. Add Cluster hops, boil another 30 minutes (60 total), remove from heat. Chill to 80°F, take a hydrometer reading. Pour into sanitized fermenters, spalshing well to aerate, and pitch yeast. Seal and ferment 10 to 14 days at 70°F. Rack to separate carboys with each of the fruit (approximately 2.5 gallons each), add the Lambic cultures and age in carboys 4 to 6 weeks. Prime each small batch with 1/2 cup corn sugar, bottle and condition 6 to 8 weeks.

OG: unimportant
IBU’s: meaningless

Notes on style: True Lambics are produced in one very specific region of Belgium. These being produced in Vermont, I use the lower-case p to indicate that they are pseudo-Lambics. I’m sure that my land, my equipment and my process give mine a distinct “terroir”…

Notes on fermenters and kettles:My set-up is very convenient for 5-gallon batches. Brewing 10-gallons pushes the limits, hence it is rare that I brew this much at once. I needed three kettles to bring this all to a boil, and needed to add some DME because I could not get a high enough OG from a mash-only wort. The primary fermentation took place in two 6.5 gallon plastic buckets (pre-bacteria), and the secondary aging on fruit is taking place in 4 3-gallon glass carboys.

Left to right: kriek (cherries), cassis (currants), framboise (rasberries) and bleuets (blueberries).

Note on yeast and cultures: Some Lambic brewers will do the entire fermentation with a blend of ale yeast and bacteria. I prefer to ferment out the beer first with a straight yeast and add the Lambic cultures along with the fruit in the secondary. I get a milder sourness, overall, and I don’t ruin my fermenters .

Note on fruit: Cherries and raspberries are traditional in Belgium (Kriek and Framboise, respectively); currants are found occasionally as well (Cassis). I have had marvelous results with my blueberries in the past, but there is probably no traditional Belgian Lambic with “bleuets”.

Note on hops: These beers really have no discernible hop flavor or aroma. Hops are used in Lambics basically for their preservative value. Many Lambic brewers will use stale hops, as I have in this batch, which will still contribute some preservative but very little bitterness.

Gargouille

5 gallons, all-grain

Another beer inspired by a mention in the Northern Brewer catalog, meant to be a highly hopped Belgian Strong Ale. Their name for it was in incorrect French, I fixed it and then decided to change it entirely. The result is basically a Belgian IPA, hence the new name which is a tribute to the one brewed by Stone.

Ingredients:

• 10 lbs. Belgian pale malt
• 1 lb. malted wheat
• 2 lbs. cara-pils malt
• 1/2 lb. light candi sugar
• 1 oz. Perle hop pellets (@8% aa)
• 1 oz. Saphir hop pellets (@5.6% aa)
• 1 oz. Magnum hop pellets (@8.8 % aa)
• 1 oz. Saaz hop pellets (@4% aa)
• White Labs Trappist Ale yeast (WLP500)
• 3/4 cup corn sugar (for priming)

Procedure:
Crush grains. Heat 15 quarts water to 168°F. Mash in grains and hold 60 minutes at 156°F. Heat another 15 quarts water to 170°F. Begin runoff and spargeProcess of rinsing mashed grains., collecting 27 quarts sweet wort. Add candi sugar, bring to a boil. Add Perle hops, boil 15 minutes. Add Saphir hops, boil 15 minutes. Add Magnum hops, boil 15 minutes. Add Saaz hops, boil 15 more minutes (60 total), remove from heat. Chill to 80°F, take a hydrometer reading. Pour into a sanitized fermenter, splashing well to aerate. Pitch yeast, seal and ferment 8 to 10 days at 68 – 70°F. Rack to secondary, age two to three weeks at 65°F. Prime with corn sugar, bottle and condition three to four weeks.

OG: 1080
IBU’s: 90

It started off innocently enough. I have a tremendous 8-month old Belgian Golden Tripel that I am rationing, hoping to still have some left when it’s two years old or more. But I like Belgian Golden ales well enough that I decided to brew another one, this one not as strong but just as flavorful. As I pictured how it might taste, an evil thought crept into my mind: What if you added… No, my mind said, you can’t. That would ruin it. The evil thought insisted: But just imagine… No! Make it straight, you know you’ll be disappointed if it doesn’t come out…

So I went back to my original plan, I wasn’t going to add anything. Or was I? I decided to leave it to fate. If at the last minute, as I was brewing, the evil thought came back to me, I would see what I could do…

Long story short, I did it. I put a couple of secret ingredients into the boil as “aroma hops”… I will not divulge the exact nature of what I added until I am sure I like it (a couple months down the road…), and maybe I will not even notice them, maybe I didn’t add enough… maybe I will decide to add more as “dry hops” in the secondary… but at least I’ll know, and I will have tried something different.

Basilique, Belgian Golden Ale with herbs

5 gallons, all-grain

Ingredients:

• 8 lbs. Belgian pale malt
• 1 lb. cara-Belge malt
• 1 lb. malted wheat
• 1 oz. Perle hop pellets (6% aa)
• 1 oz. Saaz hop pellets (4% aa)
• small pinch each of 2 secret ingredients…
• White Labs Belgian Golden Ale yeast (WLP570)
• 2/3 cup corn sugar (for priming)

Procedure: Crush grains. Heat 14 quarts water to 162°F. Mash in grains, hold at 152°F for 75 minutes. Heat another 14 quarts water to 170°F, begin runoff and spargeProcess of rinsing mashed grains.. Collect 26 quarts sweet wort. Bring to a boil, add Perle hops, boil 30 minutes. Add Saaz hops, boil another 28 minutes. Add small pinch of first secret ingredient, boil 2 more minutes (60 total). Remove from heat, add small pinch of second secret ingredient. Steep 5 minutes then chill to 80°F. Take a hydrometer reading, pour into a sanitized fermenter, splashing well to aerate. Pitch yeast, seal and ferment 8 to 10 days warm (65 – 68°F). Rack to secondary, age two to three weeks cool (50 – 55°F). Prime with corn sugar and bottle, condition cool for four to six weeks.

OG: 1055

IBU’s: 35.1

Secret Ingredients: don’t worry, nothing illegal going on here. Common kitchen herbs, I am just reluctant to share the recipe until I have tasted it! Even a Guru gets to have some secrets… I will let you all know what I used when I know if it worked or not – stay tuned!

2009 was a tremendous year for me, in terms of brewing. I brewed some of the best beers of my life this past year, and got back into the home brew supply business, taking over the home brew department at a local cooperative market. I decided to end the year with a bang, brewing a big (maybe HUGE) Belgian Tripel on New Year’s Eve.

Ingredients:

• 10 lbs. Belgian pale malt
• 1 lb. malted wheat
• 1 lb. Cara-pils malt
• 1 lb. light Belgian candi sugar
• 5 HBU’s Perle hop pellets (6.0% aa)
• 2.1 HBU’s Styrian Goldings hop pellets (4.2% aa)
• 2 HBU’s Saaz hop pellets (4.0% aa)
• White Labs WLP570 Belgian Golden Ale yeast
• 3/4 cup corn sugar (for priming)

The night before brewing, crush the 12 lbs. of grain.  On brew day, heat 16 qts. water to 165°F and mash in, reaching a temperature of 151°F. Hold the mash at 151°F for 90 minutes. Heat 14 quarts of water to 170°F and then begin runoff. Collecte 27 qts. of sweet wort and add the candi sugar. Bring the wort to boiling and add 2 HBU’s (1/3 oz.) Perle pellets. After 45 minutes add 2/1 HBU’s (1/2 oz.) Styrian Goldings pellets. After another 15 minutes (60 total so far) add 3 HBU’s (1/2 oz.) Perle. After an additional 15 minutes (75 total) add 2 HBU’s (1/2 oz.) Saaz pellets and continue boiling for another 15 minutes. Shut off heat after a total of 90 minutes. Chill the wort to 85°F (10 minutes from boiling to 85°), pour it into a sanitized 6-gallon fermenting bucket, take a hydrometer reading and pitch the Belgian Golden Ale yeast.

Original Gravity: 1080 The ale is now sitting at a room temperature of 64°F.

Brewing notes: I had intended to put 1/4 oz. of Perle at each of the two points in the boil but I spilled about 1/8 oz. of pellets into the gas flame on the stove top. Rather than repackage and keep a minuscule quantity of hops, I opted to put in the remaining whole package, minus the burning pellets under the kettle. The kitchen smelled like a Grateful Dead concert for a few minutes, if you know what I mean…

Style notes: A very strong golden ale, emphasis on the malt and aclohol, hop bitterness is a balance but not an overwhelming flavor. The use of candi sugar (derived from beet sugar, usually used in crystal or rock form) adds to the strength of the beer without darkening the color or adding to the body. Belgian Tripels are primarily brewed by the Trappist monasteries and the licensed Abbey breweries throughout Belgium. What’s the difference between “Trappist” beers and “Abbey” beers? Trappist beers can only legally be brewed at one of the seven actual brewing monasteries (Chimay, Orval, Rochefort, Westmalle, Westvleteren and Achels, in Belgium, and La Trappe in the Netherlands); Abbey beers are brewed at secular commercial breweries, often (but not always) under license of a monastery that used to brew but no longer does so (Leffe and Grimbergen are examples of the latter). “Tripel” denotes a beer of high alcohol content, usually the strongest in a range, although a couple Belgian brewers make an occasional “Quadrupel”. In theory, traditional Trappist brewers made three different beers from the same mash. The first was naturally the strongest, and was marked with a XXX; the second, less potent, and often darker, was marked XX; the third, marked, if at all, with a single X, was the everyday table beer for the monks.

Bottling notes: 3/4 – I have added a photo of the beer in bottles – I opted for large Belgian bottles with corks and wires. Now to wait for it to be ready…