Brewferm

[jimjohson]

Anybody ever used one of these? I was given a can of this it seems to be a HME for a 6l batch, wow, I just realized how small that will be. Just a shade under 1.6 gal (I think). This is a Dark Abbey. Are they any good?

[BigPapaG]

JJ, is it the ABDIJ?

I have a couple of those and they are for 9 liters each...

My plan is to either add Pilsen DME to one to hit 3 gallons,or combine them with sime DME and possible steep and try to bump them up to a 5 gallon quad.

They are supposed to be very good...

BTW: I believe Munton's owns them now...

[John Sand]

I made a BrewFerm Wheat, that called for a lot of sugar added. I followed the directions, it is taking a while to be ready.

[jimjohson]

JJ, is it the ABDIJ?

I have a couple of those and they are for 9 liters each...

My plan is to either add Pilsen DME to one to hit 3 gallons,or combine them with sime DME and possible steep and try to bump them up to a 5 gallon quad.

They are supposed to be very good...

BTW: I believe Munton's owns them now...

Yeah it's a ABDIJ I'll retread the instructions I only saw 6 l of water used over all, but I'm blind sometimes. It also claims to be a 8% brew with an expected of OG of .070. I was figuring to add some dme and make it a 2.5 gal at least (use a LBK)and I'll be steeping 4 oz of cara pils at the least.

[BigPapaG]

I just took a looky loo at the instructions and had to open them up to get to the 'English' version...

So, it talks about soaking the can in warm water to soften the LME...

Then scraping it out of the can (that's a liter right there)...

Then rinsing the can out with a liter.... And adding two liters to that... So that's four so far...

Dissolve the pound of sugar....

Etc. Etc... Topping off with the amount of water from the Water1 column on the chart, which is 5 more liters bringing the total to nine liters.

Now, if I add DME as well, I'll add more water to keep the OG around 1.070...

Unless I turn it into something heavier.... Naw... I'll probably just use two cans, a pound and a half of sugar and enough DME to hit 1.070 ish at 5 gallons.

[russki]

I have actually made the Brewferm Abdij according to the instructions, table sugar and all - it came out quite tasty after about 6 months of conditioning. Even with half a kilo of sugar, the FG was 1.015 or so as far as I remember, so I would not use DME/LME, otherwise you'll have a very sweet beer with a high FG.

[BigPapaG]

I have actually made the Brewferm Abdij according to the instructions, table sugar and all - it came out quite tasty after about 6 months of conditioning. Even with half a kilo of sugar, the FG was 1.015 or so as far as I remember, so I would not use DME/LME, otherwise you'll have a very sweet beer with a high FG.

Great info!

Any benefit in your opinion from using Candi Syrup instead of table sugar?

Maybe a small steep of Special B?

[russki]

I have actually made the Brewferm Abdij according to the instructions, table sugar and all - it came out quite tasty after about 6 months of conditioning. Even with half a kilo of sugar, the FG was 1.015 or so as far as I remember, so I would not use DME/LME, otherwise you'll have a very sweet beer with a high FG.

Great info!

Any benefit in your opinion from using Candi Syrup instead of table sugar?

Maybe a small steep of Special B?

I wouldn't use anything darker than clear candi for this one - it's pretty dark as it is, and I believe it has some Special B in it already. It's been a couple years since I made it, but I remember it having plenty of dark fruit as it was. The only tweak I would do is to use WY3787 instead of Brewferm dry yeast to get even more of the fruit flavors...

[BigPapaG]

Thanks...

And agreed on the yeast... Love me some 3787!

It's my all time favorite for Belgian styles!

[duff]

I made a couple of them after they were donated to me.

I have to find where I put my old brew notes when I moved in order to see which flavors they were. They were pretty decent overall but I didn't feel like most of them were the style they said they were. The one I really remember was the Rasberry Frambiose which tasted like Raspberry soda not bad but it didn't taste like beer to anybody.

[jimjohson]

I just took a looky loo at the instructions and had to open them up to get to the 'English' version...

So, it talks about soaking the can in warm water to soften the LME...

Then scraping it out of the can (that's a liter right there)...

Then rinsing the can out with a liter.... And adding two liters to that... So that's four so far...

Dissolve the pound of sugar....

Etc. Etc... Topping off with the amount of water from the Water1 column on the chart, which is 5 more liters bringing the total to nine liters.

Now, if I add DME as well, I'll add more water to keep the OG around 1.070...

Unless I turn it into something heavier.... Naw... I'll probably just use two cans, a pound and a half of sugar and enough DME to hit 1.070 ish at 5 gallons.

Yeah I saw that when I re read it. It's close enough to 2.5 as is. (2.3 or .4 gal.) I'll brew it straight except for a steep with 4oz carapils.

[John Sand]

I think mine was a four gallon batch.

[mashani]

Thanks...

And agreed on the yeast... Love me some 3787!

It's my all time favorite for Belgian styles!

^^ This ^^

[jimjohson]

Well I got the carapils, and the only Belgian yeasts my lhbs carries is Belle Saison. (only carries dry yeast) As I going to be fermenting in a cooler (no room in the chamber) I figure the higher temps allowed by the saison yeast to be an advantage and so will be using it...unless there's a reason not to.

[mashani]

Question: I though Brewferm pulled their extracts out of the US and were only selling their yeast here now, with extracts only being sold across the pond. Where are you finding them, and are they "old" or do they have recent dates?

RE: The Bella Saison, it's a beast. It will ferment out an all extract beer down below 1.004, even if it's a 1.06ish beer. At least for me, every time. A beer that is mashed at a low temp or starts off at a low OG or if you add sugar to the mix can go below 1.0. I just made a beer that went down to 0.98ish with it, which was just wheat DME...

So, you may want to avoid using sugar and replace some or all of the sugar with some extra light or pilsner dme or wheat dme. Just because I think the intended flavor profile of that isn't supposed to be quite as "bone dry" as a saison, but just "Belgian digestible dry". Which you will get I think with the Bella without sugar.

It will make a beer that is more "tart" then most other Belgian strains, except for some WIT strains. It will have some peppery spice and mystery funky spice. Not much in the way of cloves/banana. No dark fruit except for what comes from the extract/wort. No bubblegum like Belgian saison. The fruit it makes is more tart citrus like.

I like it - a lot - but it is very different animal then 3787.

EDIT: RE temps, if it gets anywhere in the 70s it's pretty happy. Doesn't *need* to get into the 80s like Belgian saison. Won't ruin the beer if it hits 80, but it doesn't *need* to get that warm.