Microbrewed Adventures - Charles Papazian [129]
After a total wort boil of 90 minutes, turn off the heat and add the crushed coriander and grains of paradise. Let steep for 10 minutes. Keep the cover on the brewing pot. After 10 minutes, place the pot (with cover on) in a running cold-water bath for 30 minutes. Continue to chill in the immersion or use other methods to chill your wort. Then strain and sparge the wort into a sanitized fermenter. Bring the total volume to 5 gallons (19 l) with additional cold water if necessary. Aerate the wort very well.
The yeast: This part is a little strange (not unlike a lot of Belgian beers). I did a lot of research on what yeast worked well with the style/flavor profile I wanted to achieve. I pitched about six different styles of Belgian “abbey” yeasts into their own fermenters, all with the same wort, and tasted the results. The yeast I chose was the abbey strain 500 from White Labs. With this yeast, I still thought that the phenolic character was a little over-the-top, and wanted to mellow it out. That may be achievable with a cooler fermentation, but I was delighted with the balance struck when the same wort fermented with our house yeast was blended 1:1 with the beer from the Belgian yeast strain. This gives an assertive yeast flavor, but doesn’t keep the hops and spices from showing through. So, to pitch this batch for fermentation, split it up into two equal-size batches. A few selections from a Hank Williams Sr. album will surely touch on the hardships of a split-up. Pitch one with the abbey and the other with the yeast you cultured out of a bottle of any of the Stone bottle-conditioned beers. Or ask the guys at White Labs what would be a similar strain to our house yeast.
Split the 5-gallon (19 l) batch evenly between two fermenters.
Pitch one culture of yeast into each fermenter when temperature of wort is about 70 degrees F (21 C). Ferment at about 70 degrees F (21 C) for about 1 week, or until fermentation shows signs of calm and stopping. Rack from each primary to two different secondary fermenters, add dry hop pellets and additional spices and let finish for another week.
When complete, blend the two batches into one. Prime with sugar and bottle or keg when complete.
Now the hard part…wait for 10 years to see what happens. Or just enjoy it when you feel the time is right.
Malt Extract Recipe for 5 gallons (19 l)
9.5 lbs.: (4.3 kg) light malt extract syrup or 7.6 lbs. (3.5 kg) light dried malt extract
1 lb.: (454 g) wheat malt extract syrup
6 oz.: (168 g) Belgian Special-B malt
4 oz.: (113 g) chocolate wheat malt
1.1 oz.: (30 g) Warrior hops 16% alpha (17.6 HBU/493 MBU)—75 minutes boiling
¼ oz.: (7 g) Centennial hop pellets—dry hopping
½ oz.: (14 g) freshly crushed whole coriander seed
½ oz.: (14 g) freshly crushed grains of paradise (alligator pepper)
0.2 oz.: (6 g) freshly crushed whole coriander seed—added with dry hops
0.2 oz.: (6 g) freshly crushed grains of paradise (alligator pepper)—added with dry hops
¼ tsp.: (1 g) powdered Irish moss
White Labs Abbey Ale 500 yeast
Stone “house yeast” cultured from one of their bottle-conditioned ales
¾ cup: (175 ml measure) corn sugar (priming bottles) or 0.33 cups (80 ml) corn sugar for kegging
Place crushed grains in 2 gallons (7.6 l) of 150-degree F (68 C) water and let steep for 30 minutes. Then strain out (and rinse with 3 quarts [3 l] hot water) and discard the crushed grains, reserving the approximately 2.5 gallons (9.5 l) of liquid to which you will now add malt extract. Bring to a boil. After 15 minutes of boiling, add your 75-minute hops.
The total boil time will be 90 minutes. When 10 minutes remain, add the Irish moss. After a total wort boil of 90 minutes, turn off the heat and add the crushed coriander and grains of paradise. Let steep for 10 minutes. Keep the cover on the brewing pot. After 10 minutes, place the pot (with cover on) in a running cold-water bath for 30 minutes, or the time it takes to have a couple of homebrews. Then strain out and sparge hops and direct the hot wort into a sanitized fermenter to which 2.5 gallons