Over the past two days I’ve bottled two beers – an Imperial IPA and a Belgian Brown Bitter that I brewed just prior to the holidays. I’m a little disappointed that the IPA has finished out with a gravity of 1.030 (it had an OG of 1.084). I tried to bring it down a few points with some Danstar Nottingham, but to no avail. Tasting it before bottling I found it a bit sweet (as you might expect), but not cloyingly so. There’s definitely a pronounced hop presence, so we’ll see how it is after a few weeks of bottle conditioning.
The Belgian Bitter Brown seems to have turned out well. I used Wyeast’s Flanders Golden Ale yeast, which I gather is often used as the base yeast for a sour ale or a lambic. I decided to go for something brown and moderately hoppy (see the recipe below). This was also the first time I tried brewing using decoction and I think that process has resulted in a beer with a maltier backbone than I’ve been able to achieve in the past. Again, it will take a few weeks of bottle conditioning to really see how things have turned out.
Belgian Brown Bitter Recipe
8 lbs. pilsener
1 lb. special B
1 lb. Vienna
0.5 lb. Munich light
2 oz. black patent
0.5 oz. super styrian @ 60 min.
0.5 oz. super styrian @ 30 min.
1 oz. hallertau @ 20 min.
1 oz. saaz @ 10 min.
0.5 lb. brown sugar @ 10 min.
0.5 oz. coriander @ 5 min.
0.5 oz. orange peel @ 5 min.
0.5 tsp. grains of paradise @ 5 min.
1 tsp. Irish moss @ 15 min.
Yeast: Wyeast Flanders Golden Ale (from starter)
OG: 1.052
IBU: 45
Thanks for giving me a bottle of this excellent beer. I agree that the maltiness has to be at least partially attributable to the decoction mash. The coriander and orange peel are undetectable individually but you can tell they really contribute to the complex flavours this beer has. I really enjoyed it.
I had never heard of grains of paradise before so I have no idea what they did for the beer. Any comparisons you can suggest? Do you think it (they?) would work well in a Saison too?