Tasting : Alpine Duet clone

Well, this beer has only been bottled for 2-3 weeks now, but since IPAs are usually better when they're young (and since this Duet clone has by far had the most page views of any other posts I've made), I thought I'd put up some tasting notes now, before the beer starts to deteriorate.

Appearance: Pours a medium-golden color (pretty light for an IPA), with a moderate-large, creamy white head that seems to have pretty good lasting power. Leaves a bit of lacing on the glass as it gradually fades to a full finger of foam. The body exhibits very good clarity, despite the recent dry-hopping in the fermenter.

Aroma: Big, citrusy hops... lemons, oranges. Some pine in there as well, but not as much as I was expecting. I'd prefer more pine, to be honest.

Taste: Just a touch of malty sweetness at the beginning, followed by (again) big citrusy hop flavor. Juicy. The pine comes through more in the finish, as does the moderate bitterness (close to moderate-low, as expected with the lower-IBUs compared to most IPAs). The 7% alcohol is hidden very well. No real flaws to complain of.

Mouthfeel: Medium-light bodied, with moderate carbonation.

Overall: Do I like this as an IPA? Yes. But, the real question, is this a clone of Alpine's Duet? The only way I could tell for sure is if I HAD a Duet to do a side-by-side tasting, and I don't... and I'll be lucky to ever try it again. I remember Duet as having an even BIGGER hop aroma and flavor, and to be more prominent on the pine. The Simcoe hops I used were purchased from my local homebrew shop, which is really more of a wine-making store, and I really can't vouch for how old the hops were, OR how they were stored. If I were to brew it again, I'd make sure the hops were as fresh as could be (Simcoe hops are notoriously difficult to get when they become available) AND had been stored properly. I'd also make larger hop additions at all points. The look and feel of the beer is about as I remember Duet being... I just think this is, unfortunately, a more watered-down attempt.

UPDATE: I've had 10-15 of these beers now, and I think now that the recipe I used got a little closer to the real thing than I originally thought. Once the Amarillo started to fade a bit in the aroma and flavor, the Simcoe came through more. Definitely a great IPA, either way!

Doppelbock

After racking the Munich Dunkel that my brother and I brewed last month, I washed and saved the Wyeast 2206 Bavarian Lager slurry to use for another lager. I like brewing two lagers back-to-back, since my deep freezer/fermentation chamber has enough room on the bottom for two Better Bottles or other form of carboy. This way, you can ferment one lager, transfer to secondary, brew another style of lager (and possibly reuse the previous yeast, if appropriate), ferment THAT one while the other is sitting in secondary, and then lager both beers at the same time.

Last year I had brewed a Traditional Bock; I've always really enjoyed that style, and the beer turned out pretty faithful, I think. This time I decided to tackle the bigger version, a Doppelbock. Doppels are maltier, with higher ABVs; like Bocks, they have virtually no hop aroma, flavor, or bitterness. The style definitely is wide enough for some wiggle-room on the part of the brewer... the color range is quite spread out (SRM 6-25, although most versions seem to be a dark brown), as is the OG and resulting ABV. A couple of excellent examples that you can find (but not at the NBLC, of course) are the Ayinger Celebrator and Weihenstephaner Korbinian.

As usual with a style I've never brewed before, I first turned to Brewing Classic Styles for some ideas. The Doppelbock recipe in this book is actually very simple... a majority of Munich malt for the malty toastiness, some Pilsner malt, and 2 lbs of Caramunich. I also came across some other, more complex malt bills in other recipes, and decided to use most of the BCS one, except I cut back on the Caramunich (and had to use Caramunich II, as it was what I had on hand), and added a bit of Pale Chocolate and Crystal 80 L for a bit more character (hopefully). I would have liked to have done a mashout, but with the large amount of grains (18.5 lbs), my 10-gallon mashtun wouldn't have been able to accommodate all of that water.

The hop additions are very simple, as expected... with only 20 IBUs (in a 1.086 beer, no less), the couple of adds are really just to prevent the beer from becoming TOO sweet. I decided to pitch about 500 mL(s) of the 2206 slurry... the pitching calculator at mrmalty.com (which I always refer to) called for about 330 mL(s), but I thought I'd err on the side of caution. Otherwise, I'll be following my normal fermentation routine for lagers, and when I rack to secondary and actually begin lagering this beer, it'll be for at least 2-3 months.

Recipe targets: (5.5 gallons, 70% efficiency): OG 1.086, FG 1.020, IBU 20, SRM 20.2

Grains:
5.68 kg Munich Malt (8 SRM)
1.82 kg Bohemian Pilsner
682 g Caramunich II
113 g Crystal 80 L
113 g Pale Chocolate

Hops:
Hallertau Mittelfruh - 49 g (3.4 % AA) @ 60 min
Hallertau Mittelfruh - 14 g @ 30 min

Misc.:
1/2 tsp yeast nutrient @ 15 min
1/2 tab Irish Moss @ 5 min

Yeast: Wyeast 2206 Bavarian Lager (~500 mL slurry, cultured on Feb 18/12)
 
- Brewed Feb 21, 2012, by myself. 60 minute mash with 21.88 L of strike water, mashed in at 156 F (target was 155 F). Sparged with ~4.5 gallons of 170 F water for final volume of 7.25 gallons in the kettle. 90 minute boil.

- Chilled down to ~60 F with immersion chiller. OG came in on target. Poured into Better Bottle, final volume about on target. Set in fermentation chamber with temp set at 45 F. When cooled down more to below 50 F, pitched yeast slurry, aerating by shaking for several minutes before and after. Set back in fermentation chamber with temp set to 48 F.

29/2/12 - Fermentation has been quite steady for the past week... started to visibly slow down today, so I moved the BB to the laundry room to warm up to the mid-60s for a diacetyl rest for a couple of days.

13/3/12 - Racked to secondary and began decreasing temp in fermentation chamber by 1 F every 12 hours or so, to a final lagering temp of 38 F.

25/9/12 - FG 1.023. Bottled with 95 g table sugar (and ~1/4 pack of rehydrated Nottingham yeast), aiming for 2.25 vol CO2 for 5 gallons, with a max temp of 65 F reached.

Tasting/Recipe : Suits Us Amber

While there are many beer styles that are not, unfortunately, available for purchase here in Fredericton, one that you can find almost anywhere is American Amber. A popular style to brew due to its quick turnaround (if desired), and relative drinkability for most everyone, most North American breweries have at least one Amber that they have available year-round.

There are basically two types of American Ambers that you see... the "normal" one, which is more balanced in terms of maltiness and bitterness/hop flavor and aroma, with it usually tipping towards malty, if anything; and the "West coast U.S." side, which some also often refer to as an "Imperial Amber" or "Red IPA", which is bigger, bolder, and pretty huge with hop flavor and bitterness.

I enjoy both sub-styles very much. One of the really enjoyable regular American Ambers I've had is the Anderson Valley Boont Amber. It's an interesting beer because it's quite malty, with very low hop bitterness, even for the style (15 IBU!), but it still has a nice hop presence in terms of aroma, and to a lesser extent, flavor. Luckily, this was one of the beers that the team from the Can You Brew It podcast decided to tackle, contacting one of the brewers at Anderson Valley and obtaining as much info as possible about how to brew this beer at home.

Back in June of 2011, Geoff and I decided to try this recipe while he was visiting again. You can find a text version of the recipe here, along with all of the CYBI recipes. I was able to get quite close to the recipe, with just a minor change here and there due to available ingredients. The recipe has a large Crystal malt presence, with a total of 2 lbs. Hop additions are generally very low, except for 61 g of Cascade added at flameout, to give that nice, citrusy hop aroma. Anderson Valley uses the equivalent of the Wyeast 1968 London ESB (the Fuller's strain) for their house yeast, which is easily obtainable and provides a lot of character when used. While I only have a few bottles left, this beer has held up quite well, despite the fact that it was bottled over half a year ago.

Appearance: Pours a dark copper/reddish color, with a moderate-sized, off-white head that sticks around for a good while before fading to 1-finger after a minute or so. Body is extremely clear.

Aroma: Sweet, bready malt, with a some caramel sweetness present in the background. Some mild fruitiness from the Cascades is definitely there as well.

Taste: The malt definitely dominates in this beer, but I’m having trouble placing the exact flavor of malt. It’s definitely a bit crackery and slightly sweet. Hop bitterness is quite low (too low for the style, but that’s what the Boont calls for). Hop flavor is low.

Mouthfeel: Medium-light bodied, with moderate-high carbonation.

Overall: I can’t remember if this is close to the Boont Amber or not, only having tried it once (over a year ago). It’s a very decent Amber regardless. I'd be happy to brew it again.

Recipe: (5.5 gallons, 75% efficiency): OG 1.054, FG 1.013, IBU 18, SRM 14.7

Grains:
3.98 kg Canadian 2-row
500 g Caramunich II (45 L)
500 g Crystal 80 L

Hops:
Magnum - 4 g (10 % AA) @ 90 min
Magnum - 4 g @ 60 min
Tettnang - 10 g (4.8% AA) @ 20 min
Chinook - 4 g (12.5% AA) @ 20 min
Cascade - 61 g @ 0 min

Misc.:
1/2 tsp yeast nutrient @ 15 min
1/2 tab Irish Moss @ 5 min

Yeast: Wyeast 1968 London ESB (12.5 mL slurry from early May, with a 1 L & 1.75 L starter)

- Brewed June 13th, 2011, with Geoff. 60 minute mash with 16.43 L of strike water, mashed in at 152 F. Sparged with ~5.25 gallons of 173 F water for final volume of 7.25 gallons in the kettle. 90 minute boil. Added half of Cascade hops at flameout, and the other half a couple minutes into chilling.

- Chilled down to 66 F with immersion chiller. Poured and filtered into Better Bottle. Pitched decanted yeast starter, aerating by shaking for several minutes before and after.

- Active fermentation for several days, reaching as high as 71 F. When it began to visibly slow, put the fermenter in a room with the heat on for a diacetyl rest, getting up to 74 F.

- Bottled 3 weeks after brewing with 125 g table sugar, aiming for 2.5 vol CO2 for 5 gallons.

- 30/7/12 - Finally, the comparison with the real thing.

Tasting/Recipe : E-C-K-E-S No. 7

Ah, the freedom of formulating your own recipe! There’s nothing like actually starting a recipe from scratch: having an end product in your mind, and putting together the right grain bill, hop additions, yeast strain, etc. etc., and having it turn out just as good, or even better, than you had hoped.

And, of course, there’s a flip-side. Putting all that thought and work into a beer, and having a big disappointment when you finally take that first sip. E-C-K-E-S No. 7, an American Pale Ale whose name I won’t even begin to try to explain, is that type of beer for me.

Back in September, I was ready to brew another APA. I always like to have at least one APA on hand... the good ones are flavorful, hoppy, bitter but not overly-so, and with an ABV that generally shouldn’t knock you out after one pint. I had a surplus of hops left over from a bulk order a while back, and wanted to use a couple of newer varieties that haven’t been out for too long. One of these was Citra, a high-alpha acid hop that is known for its intense citrusy aroma. The other was Sorachi Ace, which has been available in Japan for quite some time, but is relatively new to the U.S. and Canada. Also quite high-alpha acid, it has a unique lemongrass, lemon-peel aroma and flavor. In terms of the malt bill, generally I wanted to keep it fairly simple, but hopefully with enough character so that the hops wouldn’t COMPLETELY dominate.

Looking back, it seems pretty obvious now that any beer that uses two “intense” hops in equal amounts may have some problems, and that’s how this beer comes across to me. I can never really place exactly what it is, but every time I smell it or taste it, the citrus and lemongrass seem to be fighting against, instead of complementing, each other. Of course it’s entirely possible that I screwed up somewhere in the process, but I followed the usual routine that I use, had a clean fermentation from what I could tell, used a fairly neutral American Ale yeast... not sure. It’s definitely a shame, as I like both of these hops when I’ve had commercial beers that have specifically put one or the other front-and-center. Maybe they just weren’t meant to be combined! Still, it was an interesting experiment to say the least, and the beer certainly isn’t undrinkable... in fact, some people who have tried it actually enjoyed it. But in the end I definitely won’t duplicate this recipe again, or even likely use Citra and Sorachi Ace hops in the same beer.

Appearance: Poured with a moderate-sized, white, creamy head that exhibits pretty good retention. Fades slowly to 1/2-finger. Body is dark gold/light copper, with good clarity.

Aroma: Very strong citrusy hop aroma... orange, mango, grapefruit... and the lemongrass is pushing in there, too.

Taste: Strong hop flavor, again, very orangey and citrusy, and then, again, the lemongrass, ultimately giving an odd, half-sweet, half-fruity flavor. Low malt presence... maybe a bit grainy. Moderate bitterness in the finish.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied, moderate carbonation.

Overall: Definitely a very hoppy (but not overly bitter) APA... as I mentioned above, ultimately I’m disappointed with the flavor clash. I think it would have been better just showcasing ONE of the two hops, and maybe using a more-neutral, earthy hop in the background. However, I’ve made worse beers... I DO like how the fermentation finished clean, and there’s no off-flavors that I can detect.

Recipe: (5.5 gallons, 78% efficiency): OG 1.055, FG 1.012, IBU 37.5, SRM 7.6

Grains:
2.05 kg Canadian 2-row
2.05 kg Maris Otter
227 g Wheat malt
227 g Victory malt
227 g Caramunich II (45 L)

Hops:
Magnum - 6 g (9.4 % AA) @ 60 min
Sorachi Ace - 28 g (9.5% AA) @ 10 min
Citra - 28 g (10.3% AA) @ 10 min
Sorachi Ace & Citra - 14 g each @ 5 min
Sorachi Ace & Citra - 28 g each @ 0 min
Sorachi Ace & Citra - 42 g each dry-hop for 7 days

Misc.:
1/2 tsp yeast nutrient @ 15 min
1/2 tab Irish Moss @ 5 min

Yeast: Wyeast 1056 American Ale (PD July 19/11) (with a 1.75 L starter)

- Brewed Sept 6, 2011, by myself. 60 minute mash with 15.75 L of strike water, mashed in at 154 F. Sparged with ~5 gallons of 170 F water for final volume of 6.75 gallons in the kettle. 60 minute boil.

- Chilled down to 66 F with immersion chiller and pump with ice water. Poured and filtered into Better Bottle. Pitched decanted yeast starter, aerating by shaking for several minutes before and after.

- Active fermentation for several day, temp getting up to 72 F. After 3 weeks, racked to 5-gallon secondary fermenter, and dry-hopped as indicated. Set fermenter in fermentation chamber with temp set to 50 F to cool-crash.

- Bottled with 122 g table sugar, aiming for 2.5 vol CO2 for 5 gallons. Also added ~1/4 pack of rehydrated Nottingham yeast.

Munich Dunkel

A couple of times every year, my brother Geoff comes for a visit... usually a fairly long one at that, and a couple of weeks ago was no exception. It always results in 7-10 days of drinking good beer, with usually a short trip thrown in... to drink good beer. This January, we made a quick jaunt down to Portland, ME for a one-day pub crawl, and then did the same in Bangor so that he could check out the new beer bar there, Nocturnem Draft Haus.

On top of that, in early January my wife and I were also in Portland for a few days. On one of those days we made the hour-drive down to Portsmouth, NH, so that we could finally visit the Portsmouth Brewery and Brewpub. It didn't let us down... great food, and more importantly, great beer. One of their drafts I got to try was their Munich Dunkel. Up to this point, I don't think I'd ever had a beer of this style. Quite enjoyable, a well-made Munich Dunkel is a dark lager that has an aroma and flavor rich in Munich-sweetness (like bread), with optional notes of chocolate, caramel, and/or toffee. There's virtually no hop aroma/flavor, bitterness is low, and it shouldn't have any of the burnt flavors that you see in stouts and porters. Being a lager, it's meant to finish clean, with no fruity esters.

So, when Geoff and I were trying to pick out a style to brew while he was here, Munich Dunkel was the winner. I was looking to brew another lager, and the Portsmouth version was so smooth and easy-drinking, it felt like a good style to try. When deciding on a recipe, I was initially leaning towards the Brewing Classic Styles version, which is essentially all Munich malt, and some Carafa Special II for color and a bit of flavor (a darker malt, it doesn't provide roastiness to a beer when used in reasonable quantities, due to the fact that it doesn't have a husk). I also found a winning recipe from the NHC in 2010, called Tara's Slam Dunkel (brewed by Shekhar and Paula Nimkar), that used a majority of Munich malt, some Pilsner, and 1/4 lb of Chocolate malt. I ended up going with a mishmash of both recipes, hopefully to the point where it won't become roasty.

Hallertau pellet hops were used... while there isn't a lot of hop character in this style, I still like to use hops from the beer's "original" region, if I can. One bittering addition and a very small flavor addition was all it took. For fermentation, I used the Wyeast 2206 Bavarian Lager yeast... I've used this yeast before, in last year's Oktoberfest, and I was really happy with the malty, not-overly-sweet flavors that it helped produce, while remaining nice and clean like a Lager yeast should. Once fermentation is complete, I'll rack the beer to a secondary fermenter and let it lager for about 2 months or so. Being a medium-gravity beer, at best, it shouldn't need to sit at lagering temps for much longer (as opposed to something like a Doppelbock, which ideally should be lagered for 6 months or more).

Recipe targets: (5.5 gallons, 80% efficiency): OG 1.052, FG 1.014, IBU 21.7, SRM 18.4

Grains:
3.41 kg Munich malt (8 SRM)
795 g Bohemian Pilsner malt
113 g Carafa Special II
91 g Chocolate malt

Hops:
Hallertau - 67 g (2.2% AA) @ 60 min
Hallertau - 21 g @ 20 min

Misc.:
1/2 tsp yeast nutrient @ 15 min
1/2 tab Irish Moss @ 5 min

Yeast: Wyeast 2206 Bavarian Lager (PD Sept 27/11) (with two 2.1 L starters)

- Brewed Jan 26, 2012, with Geoff. 60 minute mash with 12.13 L of strike water, mashed in at 154 F. Added 6.43 L of water at ~200 F for 10 minute mash-out. Sparged with ~4.5 gallons of 170 F water for final volume of 7.25 gallons in the kettle. 90 minute boil.

- Chilled down to ~55 F with immersion chiller. OG came in high at 1.056. Poured and filtered into Better Bottle, final volume a tad low (say a bit under 5.5 gallons). Set in fermentation chamber with temp set at 45 F. When cooled down more to below 50 F, pitched decanted yeast starter, aerating by shaking for several minutes before and after. Set back in fermentation chamber with temp set to 50 F.

28/1/12 - 31/1/12 - Slow, steady fermentation, never really going over 3-4 blips per 10 seconds in the airlock.

1/2/12 - Fermentation appeared to be slowing some, so I moved it out of the chamber and left it on top, to try to bring the temp up for a diacetyl rest. Never really got over 62 F over the next few days.

5/2/12 - Took a gravity reading of 1.018... I'll be lucky if it drops even another point or two. Moved the fermenter back into the chamber and gradually decreased the temp by 3 F every day until it was resting back at 50 F.

18/2/12 - Racked to secondary and kept in fermentation chamber with temp set at 45 F. Ideally would begin lagering now, but I need to share the space for the Doppelbock that I'll (hopefully) be brewing in a few days.

13/3/12 - Now that the Doppelbock has been also racked to secondary, I started decreasing the temp by 1 F every 12 hours or so to a final lagering temp of 38 F.

24/4/12 - FG 1.016. Bottled with 106 g table sugar (and ~1/5 packet of Nottingham dry yeast, rehydrated), aiming for 2.5 vol CO2 for 4.75 gallons, max temp of ~64 F reached.

12/5/12 - Tasting notes...

Alpine Duet clone

Wow, my first brew day in 2 months. Since I started homebrewing in November of 2009, this is by far the longest period without brewing that I've gone. Happy to be back at it, so I thought I'd go with a clone recipe of a fantastic beer, of one of my favorite styles...

A few months ago, in September, I was lucky enough to get away to San Diego for a 4-day beer trip. I'd been once before, but that was years ago, and long before I was into beer. It was a great trip; I was introduced to lots of great beer bars, and breweries whose beers aren't available anywhere near where I live.

One of these breweries was the Alpine Beer Co. Located in Alpine, CA, they opened in 2002 and seem to make mostly hoppy beers (like a lot of breweries in CA). I had read a lot of good things before the trip, and wasn't disappointed when I got to try some of their beers. One in particular that stood out for me was Duet, a very high-hop-flavored IPA that wasn't extremely bitter at the same time (only 45 IBUs according to their website; quite low for an IPA in this day-and-age where most brewers are trying to "out-IBU" the other). I had it on tap at Toronado in San Diego, and actually got to take a bottle back home, which I drank several days later. Pale gold, with a very strong citrus/pine aroma and flavor, it's my idea of a perfect IPA, finishing dry and bitter, but NOT knocking you back with too MUCH bitterness. I like bitter IPAs as much as the next hop addict, but sometimes its nice to see a beer that concentrates even more on hop FLAVOR as opposed to flavor and bitterness.

I knew when I left San Diego that my chances of getting Duet again were slim, so I decided to try emailing the brewery to see if they'd help me with a clone recipe. I was answered almost immediately by the owner/brewer, Pat McIlhenney:

"Thank you for your interest in Alpine Beer Company. All the way across the continent? Alpine Lager doesn’t do it for you? No clones, but I’ll tell you it’s a simple recipe with some dextrin malt, white wheat, amber malt acidulated and some fructose to lighten the body. Equal amounts of Simcoe and Amarillo hops “in harmony.” Good luck!"

This is more information than I've had from some other brewers in the past, so I put together a pretty simple recipe based on Pat's info. Using Canadian 2-row as the base malt, I added some white wheat malt, Victory malt (subbing in for the Amber), a bit of Carapils, and some Acid malt. I hadn't used Acid malt before, but decided to go on the light side, just in case. Acid malt is a light-colored malt that has been subjected to a lactic-acid fermentation after kilning, so that lactic acid resides in the malt and can therefore be used to lower mash pH. Apparently, for every 1% of the grist, the mash pH will be lowered by 0.1. Fredericton's city water leads to a more basic mash pH as it is (about 5.8, as opposed to the desired ~5.4), so I went with about 2% Acid malt as a first try. I went with a relatively low mash temperature (150 F), to try to emulate the apparent high-attentuation and dry finish that Duet has.

As for the hops, I used only 1/2 oz of Magnum as the bittering addition... to only 13.7 IBU. The rest of the IBUs would be obtained through equal amounts of both Simcoe and Amarillo at 10 and 5 minutes, as the flavor additions, followed by these two hops again at flameout, and for a week of dry-hopping. I know I could have easily went with even more Simcoe and Amarillo, especially in the dry-hopping, but with their low availability recently, I thought a total of 5 oz of each would have to suffice.

After my long hiatus of brewing, I didn't have any liquid yeast on hand. Duet seemed to really be all about the hops, with a neutral yeast character from what I could tell. Normally, I would have used the Wyeast 1056 American Ale, but with low availability of yeast in Fredericton, and the fact that I didn't have time to make a starter, I went with a package of US-05 Safale dry yeast that I had on hand. I haven't used dry yeast since my first brew, but I've heard good things about this yeast, and since I wasn't looking for any major yeast character, I figured it would do.

This brew session also marks the first time that I've performed a mash-out. I've never been concerned about doing this in the past, but lately I've been wondering about how long conversion continues after I've vorlaufed and drained to the boil kettle. While I'm sparging, vorlaufing, and draining again, the first runnings are sitting in the kettle, NOT being heated up to halt enzyme activity, which may be contributing to a lighter body and higher fermentability. This really isn't an issue with this IPA, but I thought I'd try it for once and see what type of temperature results I had.

Recipe (5.5 gallons, 75% efficiency): OG 1.065, FG 1.011, IBU 45, SRM 6.7

Grains & Other:
4.36 kg Canadian 2-row
454 g Victory malt
454 g Wheat malt
227 g Carapils
113 g Acid malt
227 g Table sugar (to be added when fermentation slows)

Hops:
Magnum - 14 g (9% AA) @ 60 min
Simcoe - 28 g (12.2% AA) @ 10 min
Amarillo - 28 g (6% AA) @ 10 min
Simcoe - 28 g @ 5 min
Amarillo - 28 g @ 5 min
Simcoe - 42 g @ 0 min
Amarillo - 42 g @ 0 min
Simcoe - 42 g dry-hop for 1 week
Amarillo - 42 g dry-hop for 1 week

Misc.:
1/2 tsp yeast nutrient @ 15 min
1/2 tab Irish Moss @ 5 min

Yeast: US-05 Safale, rehydrated

- Brewed Jan 10, 2012, by myself. 60 minute mash with 15.44 L of strike water, mashed in at 150 F. Added 9.35 L of water at ~201.5 F for 10 minute mash-out, resulting temp a little low at 163.5 F (target 168 F). Sparged with ~2.5 gallons of 170 F water for final volume of 6.75 gallons in the kettle. 60 minute boil.

- Chilled down to 68 F with immersion chiller. OG came in a touch high at 1.066 (assuming 4 points for future sugar addition). Poured and filtered (most of it) into Better Bottle, final volume on target. Pitched yeast at 64 F, aerating by shaking for several minutes before and after. Left in room with temp set at 64 F.

11/1/12 - Bubbling almost every second by the evening, temp 64 F. By the next morning, activity was even higher, temp had crept up a bit to 66 F. Later that evening, I added the table sugar (boiled in ~1 cup water) to the fermenter.

12/1/12 - 16/1 - Fermentation was very active by the second day after pitching, with temps getting as high as 68 F. Gradually began to slow down, with temp dropping with activity, as low as 62 F by today.

25/1/12 - Dry-hopped in the primary fermenter as indicated in the recipe.

4/2/12 - FG 1.012. Bottled with 118 g table sugar, aiming for 2.5 vol CO2 for 5 gallons with a max temp of 68 F reached. Bottled 45 x 12 oz (due to the high amount of hop sludge left over in the fermenter, I lost several litres of beer).

23/2/12 - First tasting... pretty good, but probably falls slightly short of the intense goodness that is the real Duet.

15/4/12 - Just found out this beer won a bronze medal in the IPA category in the ALES Open, qualifying it for the final round at the NHC!

Tasting/Recipe : Feeling Duvelish

In late February/early March of 2009, my wife and I went on a week-long trip to Belgium. Anything positive you have heard about this country is completely true, and, of course, the beer is outstanding. It was this trip that triggered my love of beer, and ultimately led to my passion/infatuation with brewing. While I have a lot of Belgium-beer moments in my memory, one of the clearest is when I had my first Duvel (pronounced DOO-vel, not Doo-VELLE) at a small beer bar in Bruges. Few would argue against it being THE penultimate Belgian Golden Strong Ale; in fact, it seems like Duvel actually STARTED the style.

I've tried several BGS ales since having my first Duvel, and while some have been quite impressive (such as Russian River's Damnation), most fall far short of the one that started it all. A bit spicey, with some fruity esters (especially pear, which helps distinguish it apart from others), it finishes moderately bitter, and bone dry. VERY carbonated, the beer supports a huge, long-lasting white head. The alcohol is amazingly deceptive, hence the name... most BGS ales have some form of the word "Devil" in their name.

I don't know why it took me so long to get around to brewing a Belgian Golden Strong myself, but in September I finally did, using the recipe from Brewing Classic Styles. Probably one of the simplest recipes (at least in terms of the grist and hop schedule) I've ever done, the real aspect that makes it stand out is the yeast. I went with Wyeast 1388 Belgian Strong Ale, which is similar to that used by the Duvel Moortgat brewery, providing that pear aroma/flavor that you look for in Duvel. The amount of table sugar may seem high, but you need it to dry the beer out and boost the alcohol level. The recipe called for the fermentation temperature to be raised gradually, to as high as 80 F... much higher than you'd normally use, but a lot of Belgian beer styles call for warm fermentations, to help bring out the spicey and fruity characters of the beers. Now that the beer has had a few months to mature in the bottle, I find it's really turned out quite well, and surprisingly close to Duvel itself.

Appearance: Poured with a large, white head that hangs around for quite awhile before finally fading to 1/2-finger. Body is a light yellow (the picture doesn't have enough light to show this), with excellent clarity. Bubbles jetting up to the top from the center bottom of the glass.

Aroma: Aroma is fruity (apples and pears), with a background of phenolic spiciness. There is a hint of alcohol in the aroma as well.

Taste: Fruity and spicy... nice. I’d say the apple/pear flavor comes through first, followed by some spiciness and a very dry, moderately bitter finish.

Mouthfeel: Light-bodied, high carbonation. A bit prickly on the tongue as a result. A bit of alcohol warmth, but quite deceiving (as the style calls for).

Overall: I think I’m pretty happy with this beer... definitely improved over even a few weeks ago, especially in terms of the appearance (originally was a bit hazy, and the head dropped almost immediately).

Recipe (5.5 gallons, 80% efficiency): OG 1.075, FG 1.009, IBU 32.5, SRM 3.4

Grains/Adjuncts:
4.2 kg Bohemian Pilsner malt
1.36 kg table sugar

Hops:
1. Saaz - 63 g (4.5% AA) @ 90 min

Misc.:
1/2 tsp yeast nutrient @ 15 min
1 tab Irish Moss @ 15 min

Yeast: Wyeast 1388 Belgian Strong Ale (PD Aug 15) (with a 1 L starter)

- Brewed Sept.12/11 by myself. 75-minute mash with 13.88 L of strike water, mashing in at 149 F. Sparged with 6 gallons of 168 F water for final volume of 7.25 gallons in the kettle. Both strike and sparge water treated with 1/4 tablet of Campden. 90 minute boil.

- Chilled down to 67 F with copper immersion chiller. OG a bit high, 1.050 (original recipe called for 1.047 before sugar addition). Pitched yeast, aerated by shaking for several minutes before and after.

- Fermentation started by the next day. Temps in the low 70s. After a couple of days, when fermentation started to visibly slow, I added 454 g of table sugar each day for 3 days. You can add the sugar during the boil, but this way the yeast gets used to breaking down more complex sugars that glucose before having the "dessert" of the table sugar, and it also means a smaller yeast starter is needed when pitching the yeast.

- Temp got as high as 78 F during active fermentation. Bottled after ~4 weeks in primary with 235 g table sugar, aiming for 4 vol CO2 for 5 gallons. Bottled 10 x 500 mL, 41 x 12 oz. Left in room at ~72 F for 2 weeks to carbonate.