Easy Strong Golden Belgian IPA (Now Extra Strong)

[mashani]

To hot to brew regular IPA. Too tired/busy to mash anything. So I made this. As 2.25ish gallon batch. Because it needs the headspace (evil yeast). 2 gallons was the target boil volume, the rest of the volume came from the starter.

3.00# MoreBeer Pils Extract
0.75# Dextrose (Corn Sugar)
0.25# Maltodextrin

2oz Whole Leaf Cascade (8.4%) @15, in a large mesh bag. (only Cascade I had)
Lid on pot @5 to keep out Brett if possible.
1oz Styrian Goldings (4.4%) @0, commando. Lid back on pot to keep out brett if possible.

All hops stayed in for 20 minute hop stand with the lid on pot. Pulled the bag of Cascade, let it drain for as long as I could stand (probably will get Brett from that... but not much I could do there, so much wort was in there that I wanted to recover).

Cooled checked, was 1.077 which is right about where it should have been at 2 gallons.

Pitched 1L stir plate starter of krausening Wyeast 3787 (Trappist High Gravity). (the whole starter, wort and all).

That should have diluted it down to around 1.070, but I didn't test gravity after pitching it. My house Brett is bad right now.

I'll let it free rise into the 80s if it wants to. And it will want to.

Should be about 4-5 SRM. Will be > 7% ABV. Will be somewhere between 60-70 IBUs after hop stand utilization, since I started at flameout temps.

Lid on preserves all the aroma/flavor even though its a hot hop stand.

For its simplicity, it should be wicked brett or not.

[BigPapaG]

Love the hop choices, and you already know I am a slave to that evil yeast...

Gonna be a winner!

[mashani]

Yeah, I was trying to get a nice balance between American and Belgian 'tude. I've used Styrians and Apollo and Cascade together and that made great beer. This one has more Cascade. I'd make a normal straight up strong golden with Styrian Goldings anytime, I love them.

I might dry hop this, but not sure if I will do it with more Styrians, or more Cascade or something else.

And yeah, it's still my favorite yeast. Although Abbaye is making me very happy too. I've never made beer I didn't like a lot with either of them.

[BigPapaG]

I used Willamette, Citra, Cascade and Centennial in my Belgi-Merican IPA but Not really thrilled about the yeast choice...

Used two pretty old packs of T-58... Not a big fan of that one but it'll be ok anyway I'm sure...

[mashani]

I liked T-58 best as a pseudo-saison yeast, where you use as much as 20% sugar to make up for it's lower attenuation.

It tastes similar to French Saison if you do that. Sorta. Doesn't give you the citrus like tartness, but the peppery vibe is there. I usually use some Sorachi to get lemon if I use T-58, Sorachi lemon tastes good with it.

But I haven't used T-58 for anything since Bella came on the market. I don't need to "fake it" with dry yeast when there is the real thing.

[mashani]

Bottled this. At somewhat higher levels of attenuation than I expected, even with all that sugar.

IMG_1074.JPG (16.22 KiB) Viewed 1017 times

It bottled a lot clearer then that makes it look, totally clear actually. That's just a trubby sample that cleared out the spigot. Very light in color.

It tasted great. Nothing seemed off. It's going to be nice, with some insane amount of alcohol that I don't even want to think about (9% or something).

I didn't see any pellicle, but it's possible my Brett C got into it. There is a lot of pine and grapefruit, so it could be hiding the pineapple from me. Time will tell, as the hops fade, it might start to show through. The 3787 esters are somewhat suppressed at the moment too, they should come forward more as it ages.

[BigPapaG]

Mix it in a glass with the Jarrylo or the Face Punch to knock down the ABV and maybe end up with a great new taste!

[mashani]

That's a good idea. Especially with the nelson's face punch, I bet that would be a tasty blend.

[mashani]

Drinking my sample bottle, straight up.

Lots of grapefruit flavor. Some pine but more grapefruit. Some grapefruit aroma, but mostly styrians. Some plum and pear and green apple (not the same as acetaldehyde, there is none of that) esters from the yeast. Little bit of spice. It's quite bitter up front, like grapefruit juice, but much drier - and has a very dry and earthy finish. You taste the cascade up front and the styrians at in the finish. So it sort of starts off like "IPA!" and then finishes like "Strong Golden!". The dryness makes the IBUs seem much higher then they are, beer is quite bitter up front. But it's like an initial hit, and then mellows as it finishes. The alcohol isn't hot, but it's a bit peppery and noticeable, and between it and the carb levels, it kicks up the dry/bitter/earthy vibe even more. That pepperiness might mellow a bit or go away with some age.

It's good. If I made it again I think I'd throw some late cascades or centennial in or dry hop some cascades or centennial. Or use more styrians. It could use a little bit more of "something" for aroma/flavor. I'd like more pine then it has. That said, if I had used 2oz of pellet cascades it might make the difference too. I think you get more out of the pellets when it comes to flavor. Or maybe throw some Simcoe in at the end too. That might be wicked.

[BigPapaG]

As you know, this will probably come together nicely in another three or four weeks.

[mashani]

Popped another one. Liking it a good bit more. Everything is blended better from start to finish. It is certainly on IPA side of the fence as far as bitterness and hop flavor but still has enough "Belgian" in it that lets you know it's not your typical IPA. It actually has a bit of a bite even though it was short boiled. I think that's just because of how dry it is. Hops have not faded at all, just blended in better. I am pretty happy with this. I think I'd double the amount of Styrians next time though. That would put the nose where I want it. Or maybe double them and do 1oz of each for both additions. That would probably work nicely too.

It does not taste "strong" or heavy. It's very easy to drink. It's a really good Belgian in that regards. That makes it really dangerous.