From postmaster at longs.lance.colostate.edu Fri Apr 22 03:04:57 1994 Received: from longs.lance.colostate.edu by goodman.itn.med.umich.edu with SMTP id AA29298 (5.65b/IDA-1.4.3 for spencer at hendrix.itn.med.umich.edu); Fri, 22 Apr 94 03:04:54 -0400 Received: from localhost (daemon at localhost) by longs.lance.colostate.edu (8.6.5/8.6.5a (LANCE 1.01)) id AAA20428 for reallambic at longs.lance.colostate.edu; Fri, 22 Apr 1994 00:30:10 -0600 Message-Id: <199404220630.AAA20428 at longs.lance.colostate.edu> Reply-To: lambic at longs.lance.colostate.edu (postings only - do not send subscription requests here) Errors-To: lambic-request at longs.lance.colostate.edu From: lambic-request at longs.lance.colostate.edu (subscription requests only - do not post here) To: lambic at longs.lance.colostate.edu Subject: Lambic Digest #326 (April 22, 1994) Date: Fri, 22 Apr 1994 00:30:10 -0600 Lambic Digest #326 Fri 22 April 1994 Forum on Lambic Beers (and other Belgian beer styles) Mike Sharp, Digest Coordinator Contents: Beer tasting at the Brickskeller ("Phillip Seitz") Send article submissions only to: lambic at longs.lance.colostate.edu Send all other administrative requests (subscribe/unsubscribe/change) to: lambic-request at longs.lance.colostate.edu Back issues are available by mail; send empty message with subject 'HELP' to: netlib at longs.lance.colostate.edu A FAQ is also available by netlib; say 'send faq from lambic' as the subject or body of your message (to netlib at longs.lance.colostate.edu). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 21 Apr 94 09:34:55 -0400 From: "Phillip Seitz" Subject: Beer tasting at the Brickskeller Last night I attended the second of three evenings of the Brickskeller's annual Belgian beer tasting (same program each night). The guest of honor was Kris Herteleer, the brewmaster of the DeDolle Brouwers, and the featured beers were his and three from the Strubbe brewery in Ichtegem. I won't go into all the beers in detail, but wanted to mention some interesting aspects and a conversation I had with K.H. The beers: Strubbe brewery Vlas Kop (Cotton Head). The Strubbe brewery's answer to white beers, using 50% barley malt and 50% UNMALTED BARLEY. It looks just like a white beer (cloudy, big head, yellow) but has a more malty flavor. 5 degrees Belgian. Nice. Doedel. 50% pale malt (presumably pils) and 50% aromatic. Lots of coriander, quite sweet. OG 6.5 Belgian degrees (+/- 1.065). Ichtegem oud bruin. A very marked ACETIC flavor. We debated whether it tasted more like distilled vinegar, cider vinegar, or malt vinegar, but there was no mistaking it. Also rather sweet, so once you got used to it you could consume a lot. 6.5 degrees Belgian. DeDolle brewery Oerbier. OG 8.9 degrees Belgian (+/- 1.089), FG *1.025*. 7.5% abv. Bos Keun (Bush Rabbit). OG 8 degrees Belgian. Tasted quite like the Chouffe yeast to me, plus some honey (which I believe is used in the recipe). Dulle Teve (Mad Bitch). OG 8.8 degrees Belgian, 9% abv. A barley wine. Stille Nacht (Silent Night). OG 10.6 degrees Belgian, FG (*gasp*) 5 degrees Belgian (1.050). All pale (pils) malt, boiled for 5 hours in a direct fire kettle. I asked Kris how they make their beers so sweet, assuming they used filtration and sweetening. He said they use unattenuative yeasts that finish high, then prime with a small amount of yeast and sugar. Woof! Well, how do you know you won't kick off a bigger-than-expected second fermentation (with bottle bombs)? He replied that it's a bit tricky sometime but that they get some lab help. (Sound of me kicking myself for not following up on what kind of help they get!). He noted that certain malts just aren't all that fermentable, and said that with the Doedel the aromatic only partially ferments, leaving a lot of residual sugars. Basically, though, he seemed to be suggesting that once the high gravity ferment hits bottom it remains pretty neutral, and that you can prime without having major side effects from the residual sugars in solution. Scary! This was particularly interesting as I'd recently done a chouffe ferment that started at 1.092 and slowed down substantially at 1.050. This worried me a lot, but at the same time I mentioned to several people that the beer reminded me a lot of Stille Nacht (I have witnesses!). I ended up pitching again with cropped yeast, but even then the drop in gravity was not as dramatic as I'd have expected from the size of the second kreusen. Perhaps I should have let nature take its course via bottle conditioning, as I do like sweet beers. I've also recently dug up a brew from the cellar that finished at 1.027. Initially it seemed a bit phenolic and thick, but after 5 months it's doing great. None of this is the easy, fail-safe info homebrewers want, but I think this points toward some new and interesting directions. If I'm killed by an exploding bottle, will people say I've given my life for the cause? Another issue entirely was where they got the fruity sourness that's so apparent in Oerbier and Stille Nacht. Unfortunately I have no progress to report on that front. (One thing at a time!) Phil ------------------------------ End of Lambic Digest ************************ -------