Style: 24B - Belgian Pale Ale
See also: 2021-11 batch with brett
My initial plan was to go through the BJCP style guide one at a time, but that's inefficient since I'm making a lot of these beers anyway. So here we go skipping around.
Recipe is on Brewer's Friend, here's the TL;DR
- Brewday: 2017-10-22
- Kegged: 2017-11-7
- 24L batch, BIAB, 30 minute boil
- 4487g 2-row (96%)
- 187g Belgian Special B (4%)
- 15g Magnum (14.5 AA) FWH
- 48g Saphir, boil 5 minutes
- yeast: leftover yeast cake from Belgian Strong, Wyeast 1388
Final numbers:
Mashed at 67.7° C (154° F)
Boil/Mash kettle and my sparge bucket with grain bag
Boil Complete - chilling with HYDRA and pot filler
Wort is a nice red color
Into the fermenter
OG brix 11 - corrected to 11.58 °P, 1.047
Double brew day: Pils and BPA in their Speidels
2017-11-5: added to the beer fridge for cold crashing. I'll add gelatin later today and keg tomorrow. Never mind the silver bullets...
2017-11-6: After 24hrs in the fridge it's noticeably more clear. Adding gelatin and will keg 11-7.
Into the keg...
About 24hrs after kegging - hazy but has a nice clean taste
Having used Wyeast 1388 in the past, I know it will take longer than usual to clear (2-4 weeks), even with gelatin so I'll update this post later. But for now, here's a pic from a previous batch:
I've made this before and really enjoyed it. If I were to change anything I might go with something other than Duvel (Wyeast 1388) yeast just to compare.
2017-12-13: Final clarity example. 1388 does eventually clear!
2021-2-5: Commercial compare: Different batch, tried T-58 yeast which also took a while to clear up but not as long as 1388. Not even sure I'd put Orval in the Belgian Pale Ale category but I've always thought of it as one. It's really a Brett beer, and the funky brett character is on display. Of course the homebrew doesn't have any of that but it was fun to compare them. At the core they seem to be quite similar: dry, malt forward, with a touch of Belgian yeast character. The Orvall was much more carbonated (they add the Brett to the bottles).
