Friday, July 22, 2011

El Diablo: Belgian Golden Strong


It has been a while since I last posted. Between the end of the school year, NHC and some out-of-town work trainings I haven't had a chance to brew or post much. At one point just before NHC, I had 17 fermentations of some form going. Club night allowed me to "get rid" of some beers, along with a work party. Last week I racked my Berliner, Pilsner and 100% BRETT beer into kegs. I also bought grain for 4 beers (Golden Strong, IPA, Summer Saison, Gose) that I will be brewing over the next couple of weeks. These should get me through the summer and then I will turn my attention towards my Fall beers (Festbier, Rauchbier and some others tbd).

Today I am brewing a Belgian Golden Strong. I brewed this style back a few years ago with a friend and it fermented a little too warm and I had it on the higher end of the abv level for the style. Because of these two factors it ended up pretty hot and with a bunch of fusel alcohols. I did some research and decided that I wanted to shoot for something like Russian River's Damnation. Vinnie Cilurzo says that when he dialed the beer back down close to 8% the beer was way more drinkable. I am shooting for a very drinkable beer. The style is so dry, crisp, with a nice hop profile, and a restrained Belgian yeast profile that it is a perfect summer beer. I have a yeast cake left over from my Belgian Pale so I will be pitching that for this beer.

Ingredients: Belgian Pilsner Malt, Sugar, Goldings at 60, 30, and 15. Saaz at Flameout. WLP575 Belgian Ale Blend.

1 comment:

  1. The beer was infected by a random Brett strain in my brewery. Luckily, I think it will make this beer even better. I plan on kegging and carbonating this week.

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