I Love a Good Blonde

[BigPapaG]

Brewed this one late yesterday...

Belgian Blond Ale
Extract W/ Steep (5.00 gal)
ABV: 7.16 %
OG: 1.066
FG: 1.011
IBUs: 21.5
Color: 6.1 SRM

5 gallon batch, 30 minute boil

4 Gallons of Lake Erie (1 gallon for steeping grains, add three more to begin the boil, top off fermenter before pitching yeast)

70% Pilsen LME (half at T-30 and remaining half @ T-10)
10% Wheat DME @ T-10
5% Aromatic Malt (steeped 30 minutes in 1 gallon of water @ 148*F)
5% CaraFoam Malt (steeped 30 minutes in 1 gallon of water @ 148*F)
10% Table Sugar @ T-30

0.5 tsp Yeast Nutrient at T-10

1.5 oz. Hallertauer (N.Z.) @ 4.5% AA (3.0 Beta) at T-30 minutes
1.0 oz. Strielselspalt (France) @ 2.3 AA (8.8 Beta) at Flameout (let stand 5 minutes then begin cooling)

Wyeast 3787 Trappist High Gravity yeast

YUM!

Here it is this morning...

[RickBeer]

Oh, a thread about beer. My mistake. Nevermind...

[John Sand]

I loved my good blonde on Sunday. Is that better Rick?
Papa, any temp control?

[BigPapaG]

Papa, any temp control?

Well, sort of...

It's pretty warm around here and so ambient is 78*F.

I've got a swamp cooler on it as you can see from the pic (wet t-shirt), and at the base are two blue ice packs.

I am changing those out every 8 hours or so... And re-wetting the t-shirt, trying to hold it below 78*F...

Now, with 3787, that's tough to do as this stuff is a beast and heats up a lot during primary...

I pitched at below 70ish... It was at 76 last night and this morning... But, it's just past the heat of the afternoon and it's approaching 80*F

Am I worried? Naw... It's a Belgian, it's 3787, and it's out of control!

Ergo... It's all good!

[John Sand]

Thanks. My basement is warming up, I'm thinking of brewing something Belgian too. I'm also thinking of upgrading from the cooler to something that can handle the Ale Pale. I don't want to swamp cool, the basement is musty, I'll get mold. I'm thinking of two 32 gallon trashcans, one in the other for insulation, water and ice inside. I saw on HBT, a guy used an aquarium chiller in a set up like that. The aquarium chiller and controller put it over the price of a chest freezer or mini fridge. But the trash can rig is lighter and rust proof.

[BigPapaG]

That's a cool idea for an ale pail... Need to figure a good way to empty though...

Wouldn't work as well for my glass carboys probably...

Working on another solution that involves an STC-1000...



Building the controller housing now, and have a heat source figured out...



Still debating on the cool source...

Thinking about something like this...



Ice Probe Thermoelectric Chiller

Probably just get a small fridge though...

[mashani]

It's gonna make good beer even if it hits 78-80.

I went looking for some 3787/WLP530 today but no luck. Ended up with some WLP400.

Not in the mood for a wit since I just brewed 5 gallons of wheaty stuff, so I think I'm going to make some Belgian IPA out of some can of the on-sale Mr. beer seasonal I have laying around looking for a use. Maybe.

[John Sand]

That ice probe chiller is what I had in mind for the trashcan cooler. I think that instead of emptying it, I might add some nontoxic antifreeze to the water. You have to use less than 5 gallons cooling water, or your fermenter will float. If I'm adding ice, I'd use ice packs or cubes in a baggie to avoid adding liquid. With only 5gal, emptying can be accomplished by picking it up, bailing it, or use a modest hand pump.

[BigPapaG]

That ice probe chiller is what I had in mind for the trashcan cooler... I might add some nontoxic antifreeze to the water.

How about a pound or two of salt in the chiller water instead of anything glycol based?

[BigPapaG]

It's gonna make good beer even if it hits 78-80.

Yup, already ignoring it...

I went looking for some 3787/WLP530 today but no luck. Ended up with some WLP400.

WLP 400 is the Celis/Hoegaarden strain, it would make a nice Dunkleweizen...

Just thinking...

[John Sand]

I thought about salt too. I kind of hesitate because of my boating background. Salt is corrosive and hydroscopic, saltwater is highly conductive to electricity. None of those should matter in a plastic cooler though. I'll let you know what I do.

[Inkleg]

My vote goes for a fridge, what ever size is best for you. It is insulated already so works great cold or with heat. I took my fermentation vessel of choice to Sears. Pulled out shelves, laid them on the floor and verified EXACTLY what size I needed. Watched Craig's list and picked one up cheep.
Just my .02$

[John Sand]

And you're right Ink. But I have other issues. (Not personal. Okay, well, those too. But I digress) My basement is full of stuff and my house is old. I would need to add a circuit for a fridge, clear a path and a place for it. And I may, after doing some cleaning. But right now my basement is 68 and rising. A trash can and ice packs are cheap, easy, light, and readily re-purposed.

[mashani]

It's gonna make good beer even if it hits 78-80.

Yup, already ignoring it...

I went looking for some 3787/WLP530 today but no luck. Ended up with some WLP400.

WLP 400 is the Celis/Hoegaarden strain, it would make a nice Dunkleweizen...

Just thinking...

I agree with that. But like I said I don't want any more wheaty beer ATM, I have a german wheat, a white IPA and the wheaty saison and American wheat in my pipeline right now... so I ended up doing the Belgian IPA thing but it's more like a Belgian Session IPA - AKA overhopped Belgian Pale Ale. Used one of the cans of the Winter Belgian as a base without the spices (I have 3 of them, I have to use them up somehow). That stuff is like an over bittered dubbel. So it should make a good bittering/malt base for bigger volume split batch of this I think. The bit of extra maltyness from the more dubbel like base should help balance the extra hops.

The WLP400 from what I remember at the temps I am fermenting at will be tart, fruity and slightly phenolic. A lot like WLP550, but with a bit less phenols, and more tartness. I mixed it with a little bit of S-05 to keep it a bit cleaner then if it was on it's own so the hops will pop a bit more. I've done that before so I know it works well for this kind of thing. (note to the random reader - I don't recommend you mix yeasts unless you know exactly why you are doing it). I used Meridian hops. I'll post the recipe in case someone has a can of this stuff and wonders what they can do with it...

[BigPapaG]

Cool, sounds good!