Monday, September 28, 2009

Neuken Noël


So this is my set-up. The cooler is the mash tun and the pot above is what I drain the sweet wort into. That sink is used for wort-chilling, too.

So the Neuken Noël is a big Belgian Dark Strong. I made it by using all my leftover grains. The recipe:
  • 9 lbs Gambrinus Pils
  • 2 lbs Gambrinus Pale
  • 2 lbs Belgian Aromatic
  • 1lb Flaked Triticale 
  • 10 oz Belgian Special B
  • 1 lb Belgian Dark Candi Syrup (at flameout)
  • 1 lb Raw Pumpkin Blossom Honey (at flameout)
  • FWH 1 oz Mt Hood (5.1 AA)
  • 60 min 1 oz Perle (8.0 AA)
  • 90 min mash at 149 degrees
  • 3L starter of Wyeast 3787 Trappist High Gravity (Westmalle/Westvleteren Strain)
  • 32 IBU
  • 20 SRM
  • Expected FG ~1.013
  • Expected ABV ~8.8%

My hydrometer broke, so I didn't get an SG rating, but I assume it's around 1.090. The wort looked like this:


Yes, I brew on a standard gas stove. That stove gets CRAZY HOT, though, so it isn't much of a problem

It also looked like this.
I use fermencap, so the vigorous boil doesn't create any boilover situation... often.











Penelope didn't help.


This 7lbs of hop porn is why I am excited to start IPA season (hence using all my Belgian ingredients).

This is 1lb each of:
Simcoe
Cascade
Mt. Hood
Tettnanger
Willamette

Along with a lot of Amarillo, Zeus, and Summit, and some leftover Centennial.
The Neuken Dark is going to be bottle conditioned and aged, but most of the beers I brew go in here:




This is my kegerator, just next to my fermentation fridge (which will someday be converted into a 4-tap kegerator).