BeerBorg

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...

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

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

John Sand wrote: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!

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.

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...

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.

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.

John Sand wrote: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?

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

Yup, already ignoring it...

mashani wrote: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 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.

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$

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.

BigPapaG wrote:

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

Yup, already ignoring it...

mashani wrote: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...

Cool, sounds good!