Abbey Grand Cru - Brew Day

Brew Day for the next beer, an extra strong Dark Belgium Style ale - Abbey Grand Cru. We're aiming at 9%, and a rich dark copper beer.

Recipe for 60 x 500ml bottles

3kg (6.6lb) light dried malt

3kg (6.6lb) amber dried malt

2.25 lb Special 'B' malt

1.5 lb Crystal Malt 60L

6 oz chocolate malt

6 oz biscuit malt

3 oz fuggles hops

1.5 oz Kent Golding hops

1-2 lb molasses sugar

Abbey Yeast Safbrew S33

2 tspn Irish Moss

I started out with the specialty grains in three cloth grain bags: 2.25 lb special B malt, 1.5 lb crystal malt 120EBC (60L), 6oz chocolate malt, and 6oz biscuit malt. 18 litres of water were added and the heat turned up. The 65C to 75C temperature was held for 15 minutes, then the grain bags drained and removed. The heat was turned up to boiling.

Brian (Hall) called round to help, well he called round for a coffee but I took his photo while he tipped the malt in: 3kg light dried malt, 3kg amber dried malt. The wort was returned to the boil.

  

I stuck with the Safbrew S-33 yeast which has been really good in the past for Belgium beers, nice and estery and  will ferment to around 11%.

 

After the Dried Malt had been added, I pulled half a gallon out, cooled it and then added the yeast to get a good yeast starter going.

 

The first 1.5oz of hops were added - Willamete - which are apparently bred from Fuggle but with distinctive blackcurrent and herbal aromas. After 30 minutes, 1.5oz more Willamete were added. After 10 more minutes, a couple of teaspoons of Irish Moss were added. After 10 more minutes, 1.5oz of Hallertau hops were added. The boil was kept going for 10 more minutes and then stopped. When cool enough I transferred it with a 2 litre jug through a straining bag into the fermentation bucket. At this point, I topped the level up to 23 litres (5 gallons). The total brew took around 4 hours to this point.

This load of ingredients might seem over the top even for a Belgium Grand Cru, but it will eventually be diluted to 60ish bottles (30 litres) 

By the evening the yeast starter was really foaming and we added it to the main wort

 

There is 1.5 lb dark molasses sugar are yet to be added but I'll wait until the current sugars are fermented down a little as I'm worried that the yeast will become stuck. I'm aiming at 9%