De Struise Brewing With Allagash

What started out as a crazy idea of brewing with Allagash during the week of the Belgian Beer Festival at the Ebenezer's became a first: the collaboration for Allagash and De Struise breweries to brew together. Urbain, Carlo, Phil, Peter and I got up way too early to make it down to Portland to brew with Jason Perkins, Allagash's Brewmaster. Upon arriving at 8:00 am, we got a brief tour of the brewing system, were Jason and Urbain started to strategize the brewing of Fedeltá. This brew is a recipe that has been brewed at the Struise’s farm. With help from Jason, they were able to scale the brew for Allagash’s 30 barrel system. Since it was a quiet Friday morning on Labor Day weekend, we had most of the brewhouse to ourselves.

To read more and to see the rest of the amazing pictures from this brew day go to Sean Paxton's website: Homebrewchef.com

Struise-Mikkeller Elliot Brew

The Struise-Mikkeller Elliot Brew is a RateBeer special release--part of their Worldwide Masters Series. This is a Double IPA at 9.0 ABV and 130 IBUs. It is brewed with all the usual suspects and Belgian candi sugar and spices.

Poured into a chalice it appears a copper/orange color with a nice creamy white head that falls just short of a meringue. It has a slight haze to it. Leaves excellent lacing on my glass.

The aroma is really similar to Orval. First thought: "This is going to be super dry". Nice hop aroma with very mild Apricot. It really does hint at dryness. (Good topic for discussion: Can aroma give away how dry a beer will be. I think really dry beers have that smell that resembles a surface that has just been wiped down with an alcohol wipe.)


The flavor is great. It is very dry but somehow still leaves a touch of lingering candi sweetness. Big hop bite up front and as it washes over my palate it gives way to a very subtle spiciness that I can't really put my finger on. A very refreshing finish. Aftertaste makes me think of grains of paradise with floral hop notes.

The mouthfeel is pretty light bodied with moderate carbonation. Leaves a resiny coating of hoppiness to enjoy for later.

This is a very drinkable beer for 9.0 ABV. I wish I would have picked up more than one of these while I was in Chicago. Definitely pick this one up if you see it. Pretty much anything that De Struise Brouwers or Mikkeller had their hands in is bound to be pretty good.

Saison & Archaic Beer

Wow, I forgot what it's like to brew a beer and actually be able to bottle it within a few weeks. I've been doing so many beers with bugs that I haven't bottled or kegged anything in forever it seems. My Belgian Dark Stong Ale is all bottled up and the Saison and Archaic beer are tasting like they are going in the right direction. Both of them should be down to final gravity within a day or two here. I am going to let the Archaic beer sit on the yeast for a few days after it is fully attenuated to let that yeast absorb some of the off flavors that are created during the fermentation process. I'm not sure if I will do that with the Saison because that yeast is probably going to break down (Autolysis) because I have been fermenting it at 85F for the last week or so. Yeah that's right, I said 85F. On purpose none the less. I thought at those temps that the yeast would eat through this beer in a few days but it is still going at about 10 bubbles per minute over a week later. I should coin Bubbles per minute "BPM". I'm claiming that. I am getting ready to bottle a Berliner Weiss and an All Brett Beer within the next two weeks or so too so I will most definately be buying returnables from my local beer store.

Bottled 5/Brewed 10

I Finally got to brewing the recipe that I posted about last week. I got up at 5:30 AM Sunday morning and bottled a Belgian Dark Strong Ale (I had to because I ran out of carboys, it was ready anyway). Then I brewed the DeStruise/Paxton Archaic Collaboration Ale. I also doughed in with a Saison at the same time. I staggered my Mashes just a little bit so I could deal with one at a time. It all went pretty smooth for pulling double duty. I've down plenty of 10 gallon days in the past, just not seperate mashes and at the same time. I might do that more often actually. If running partigyles off of those you could end up with 20 gallons of beer in about 7-9 hours of work...not bad. The krausen on the DeStruise/Paxton beer looks amazing. There was a deep brown layer on top and it is now giving way to this white creamy marshmallow like krausen that is working it's way through from underneath. It looks like a huge Mt. Kilimanjaro Chocolate Fudge cookie from Sweet Basil in Marquette, MI. Stop in and get one if you are ever in town.

What's Next?

I came across this recipe one Sunday night while listening to an episode of the The Brewing Networks "Sunday Session". They were intervieweing Urbain and Carlo from De Struise Brewery in Woesten Vleteren which is a "Brew Firm" I believe is the correct term. Basically it means that they don't actually have their own brewery. They brew out of an existing commercial brewery. Whey I say "they" I am referring to the four gentlemen who all have day jobs and collaborate on these amazing beers on the side. Sean Paxton is a chef and fellow member of the Brewing Network and he also frequents the Burgundian Babble Belt website where I like to dwell. http://www.homebrewchef.com/DeStruisePaxtonArchaicbeerCollaboration.html
Be sure to check out this website. You will be drewling all over your computer. Just from looking at this recipe I can tell it is going to be great. I am expecting an awesome mouthfeel from all of the flaked grains. I'll post once I brew this up. Just got my yeast in the mail today.

Struise/Paxton ArchaicBeer
Belgian Specialty Ale


Type: All Grain
Date: 4/1/2007

Batch Size: 6.00 gal
Brewer: Sean Zane Paxton
Boil Size: 7.23 gal Asst Brewer: Urbain Coutteau
Boil Time: 90 min Equipment: My Equipment
Taste Rating(out of 50): 0.0 Brewhouse Efficiency: 80.00
Taste Notes:


Ingredients

Amount Item Type % or IBU
12.00 lb Castle Pale Malt (2 Row) (3.2 SRM) Grain 63.16 %
1.50 lb Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM) Grain 7.89 %
1.25 lb Caramel Malt - 120L Organic (Briess) (120.0 SRM) Grain 6.58 %
1.00 lb Caramunich Malt (56.0 SRM) Grain 5.26 %
0.75 lb Barley, Flaked (1.7 SRM) Grain 3.95 %
0.75 lb Wheat, Flaked (1.6 SRM) Grain 3.95 %
0.50 lb Cara 20 (Dingemans) (23.0 SRM) Grain 2.63 %
0.25 lb De-Bittered Black Malt (Dingemans) (550.0 SRM) Grain 1.32 %
2.50 oz Goldings, East Kent [4.80 %] (60 min) Hops 25.0 IBU
1.00 items Servomyces Yeast Nutrient (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
1.00 lb Candi Sugar, Dark (275.0 SRM) Sugar 5.26 %
1 Pkgs Pannepot (De Struise) Yeast-Ale
1 Pkgs Trappist High Gravity (Wyeast Labs #3787) Yeast-Wheat


Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.092 SG
Measured Original Gravity: 1.080 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.026 SG Measured Final Gravity: 1.020 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 8.66 % Actual Alcohol by Vol: 7.85 %
Bitterness: 25.0 IBU Calories: 368 cal/pint
Est Color: 38.0 SRM Color:
Color


Mash Profile
Mash Name: Abbey Mash Profile Total Grain Weight: 18.00 lb
Sparge Water: 3.09 gal Grain Temperature: 60.0 F
Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F TunTemperature: 60.0 F
Adjust Temp for Equipment: FALSE Mash PH: 5.4 PH


Abbey Mash Profile Step Time Name Description Step Temp
15 min Acid Rest Add 25.20 qt of water at 99.6 F 95.0 F
15 min Protein Rest Decoct 7.11 qt of mash and boil it 122.0 F
15 min Gluten Rest Decoct 4.45 qt of mash and boil it 135.0 F
60 min Beta Sacrification Decoct 5.20 qt of mash and boil it 148.0 F
15 min Mashout Decoct 8.19 qt of mash and boil it 165.0 F

Mash Notes:

Carbonation and Storage
Carbonation Type: Kegged (Forced CO2) Volumes of CO2: 3.0
Pressure/Weight: 30.2 PSI Carbonation Used: -
Keg/Bottling Temperature: 60.0 F Age for: 28.0 days
Storage Temperature: 52.0 F


Notes
This is a collaboration recipe with De Struise Brouwers and the Homebrewchef. Working with Urbain on this base recipe, changing some of the ingredients and malt % resulted in this recipe. When yeast was pitched, the dregs of a bottle of Pannepot was added with the 3787.