Quad post, part 2: Von Bora

posted by Jon

Monday evening was our chance for a side batch, partially financed by Ryan Beld. This was Ryan's first foray into the homebrewing world and he decided to make the most of that chance by showing up late. Really late. Like, about to pitch the yeast late.

We had decided on a Belgian strong ale, in the style of a Rochefort 10. You will notice the use of Belgian candi sugar in this recipe. Belgian candi sugar is an invert sugar. Regular old white sugar is made of two types of simple sugars, Glucose and Fructose.When a yeast is attempting to ferment white sugar, it spends quite a lot of time breaking the sugar down into a more fermentable form. Inverting the sugar breaks it down to that form, making it less work for the yeast. Now, Belgian candi sugar costs about $6 per lb. We needed 3 lbs for this recipe. That's $18. How is Belgian candi sugar made? Take regular old white sugar, add water and a pinch of citric acid and heat to 160°. After 15 minutes or so the sugar turns from clear to pale yellow. Another half hour or so it is a deep amber. Heat to 300° (hard crack), pour out, cool and crack. 3 lbs of Belgian candi sugar. For about $2.

Why do Belgian-style beers often contain Belgian candi sugar, you ask? Belgian candi sugar raises the gravity, and thus the alcohol, of the beer without adding a lot of body. If you take a Belgian strong and an Imperial Stout, they might have the same ABV%, but the stout will be much thicker.

On to the beer geek stuff:

Von Bora Belgian Strong Ale (my lord Katie)

6:48 Water heated

7:05 Water @ 155°. 1 lb Belgian biscuit malt, 1/2 lb British chocolate malt and 1 lb CaraMunich malt steeped.

7:35 Grains sparged with 1/2 gallon hot water

8:00 12 lbs Pilsen LME and 3 lb Belgian candi sugar added

8:36 Boil started, 1 oz Northern Brewer hops added

Somewhere in here Ryan B shows up

9:06 1 oz Hallertauer and 1 oz Styrian Golding hops added

9:21 1 tsp irish moss and 1 tsp yeast nutrient added

9:31 1 tsp Ground coriander seed added

9:36 flameout

At this point we would normally use the wort chiller to cool the wort down to a pitching temperature, however, since this is a side batch, we are using our new plastic fermenter tub. Which is skinnier. As in it is skinny enough that the wort chiller won't fit into it. So, we take the bucket and place it in the sink surrounded by cold water and a bag of ice. An hour and a half later we're still not close to a pitchable temperature, so I leave the bucket (covered) in the sink and pitch the yeast the next morning.

6:20 Yeast pitched @ 72 °

O.G. = 1.130. That's right, this baby's gonna be around 13%.