Brew #13: Belgian Dubbel, December 21, 2014

This was a another straight-up extract kit from Northern Brewer.  I will say up front, we really liked this one.  I once again bought the kit without yeast since I could get it at the local homebrew store. To me, this is just a reasonable reduction in risk.  The local shop gets a shipment of yeast every Thursday, bulk packaged and kept cool.  I can't say that UPS delivery of a single or 2 vials would be so predictable.

Recipe
Batch Size: 5 gal
Boil Size: 3 gal
Target OG: 1.062
Target FG: ???
Style: Belgian Dubbel
Recipe Type: Extract with specialty grains
Boil Time: 60 minutes

Water:
Acadia bottled spring water

Specialty Grains:
0.25 lb Belgian Cara 45
0.25 lb Belgian Special B

Fermentables:
6.3 lbs  Gold LME @ 60 min.
1 lb Light DME @ 60 min.
1 lb Dark Belgian Candi Sugar @ 15 min.

Hops:
1 oz Tradition (pellets) @ 60 min.
1 oz Hersbrucker (pellets) @ 10 min.

Other:
1 Whrilfloc Tab @ 14 min.

Yeast:
White Labs WLP 500 Trappist Ale Yeast (they call this Monastery Ale Yeast now)

Brewing Notes
12/18/14 - Yeast Starter:
I made a yeast starter for this kit because of the 1.062 anticipated starting gravity.  The staff at Bailee's also advised me that the WLP500 is a workhorse but a slow starter.  So the yeast starter was a good way to cut down on the lag time.  True to form, it took 36+ hours before I started seeing any activity in the starter. 4c Water, 4 oz extra light DME, 1/4 tsp yeast nutrient, boiled together for 10 minutes, chilled to 82F and shaken up in the 1 liter Erlenmeyer flask.  Volume with the yeast in there was around 800ml.

12/21/14 - Brew Day:

• Sanitized (star san) my cold side equipment in the big mouth bubbler primary.
• Heated 3 gal water to 150-155 F in 5 gallon economy stainless kettle on the stovetop.
• Steeped specialty grains in muslin bag for 20 minutes.
• Removed the grain bag and held it above the kettle to drain.
• Brought to boil
• Removed kettle from the burner.
• Added 6.3lbs Gold LME and 1 lb light DME and stirred well
• Returned to boil, set timer for 60 minutes and added:
  1oz German Tradition @ 60 min.
  1 lb dark Belgian Candi Sugar @ 15 min.
  1 whirlfloc tab @ 14 min.
  1 oz Hersbrucker @ 10 min.
  All hops were in a nylon mesh bag.
• Moved kettle to the ice bath in the sink to chill to 100 F
• Added 2 gal of pre-chilled water to the kettle to bring temperature to 68/70F
• Siphoned to BMB, then added more room temperature water and the entire yeast starter until I had 5 Gallons.
• Took an OG reading of 1.062, corrected to 1.064.
• Put the BMB in the beer corner of the dining room.

12/21 - 12/28/2014 - Primary Fermentation:
Active fermentation began quickly due to the yeast starter, and appeared to be complete in 7 days.  Here's a video from day 2:

I siphoned to the 5 gallon glass carboy on 12/28 and did not sample or test gravity.

12/28/2014-1/28/2015 - Secondary Fermentation:
I let this one sit for exactly 1 month, giving it a little time to bulk condition and clarify.  Based on the timing, I had added my second secondary to my collection.

1/28/2015 - Bottling:
Bottled per our standard practice with 5oz of corn sugar boiled in 2 c water to prime.  Gravity was 1.006 @ 72F, corrected to 1.008 (7.4 abv). Yield was 51 12 oz bottles.

2/6/15 - Cheater Taste:
I don't know why I snuck this taste after 1 week, but it wasn't carbonated.

2/15/2015 - First Taste:
Fully carbonated at this time.  I noted tastes of banana, toast, and a little mellow alcohol heat.  This beer was very good.  One of my friends says it was the best I've brewed.  I also had the opportunity to do a blind taste test with this compared to the all-grain version (Brew #22).  My family and I agreed we couldn't pick out which one was extract and which one was all grain (we actually all picked wrong).  And we all thought the extract version was better.  Now I think there were some extenuating cirumstances: I messed up the AG version by oxidizing it pretty bad, and the extract version had been aging for at least 4 months longer at the time, while the AG was still pretty green.