Biran

posted by Jon

This past Tuesday (2/8/11) Ryan and I brewed our Belgian quad, "Biran". This was a bit of a spur of the moment brewing. We didn't actually make the decision to brew until Monday afternoon, which didn't leave much time for the yeast starter. Fortunately we are still using the WLP545 Von Bora yeast which is a pretty aggressive strain. By Tuesday the airlock on the starter was bubbling quite well. I also made another 3 lbs of Belgian candi sugar on Monday.  

3 lbs of Belgian candi sugar in the form of 8 panes

Brewing details after the jump.

6:30 1.75 gal water heated

6:51 Water @ 155°, 1/2 lb Belgian Special "B", 1/2 lb Belgian aromatic, 1/2 lb Belgian biscuit, 1/2 British chocolate and 1 lb CaraMunich malt steeped.

7:21 Grains sparged with 1/2 gal water @ 155°

7:40 12 lbs Pilsen LME and 3 lbs Belgian candi sugar added

8:05 Boil started

8:10 1 oz Magnum hops added

8:25 1/2 oz Styrian Goldings and 1/2 oz Hallertauer hops added

8:40 1 tsp Irish moss and 1 tsp yeast nutrient added

8:50 1/2 oz Styrian Goldings, 1/2 oz Hallertauer hops and 1 tsp ground coriander seed added

8:55 Flameout

9:48 Yeast pitched @ 70°

O.G. = 1.102. If we can get this below 1.030 for our final gravity reading we should be right about 10% ABV, which is pretty close to what we're shooting for.

Adding the last bit of hops

Within 24 hours the airlock on the fermenter was bubbling quite rapidly, as expected. This one will probably be in the primary for a couple of weeks to a month, in the secondary for at least a month and then conditioned in bottles for a couple of months.

We will be having a meeting in the near future to discuss our next few batches of beer. The next batches we need to decide on are April, May and June. These beers will be ready to drink in June, July and August so the plan is to do some summery styles. We are thinking of doing a standard pale, a summer wheat, a Belgian sour, maybe another IPA. We are tentatively planning on a Scotch ale for our July or August beer, as it would be ready to drink in September or October. If you have any input on any of these beers, let us know.