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Subject: Lambic Digest #293 (March 07, 1994)
Date: Mon, 7 Mar 1994 00:30:07 -0700
Lambic Digest #293 Mon 07 March 1994
Forum on Lambic Beers (and other Belgian beer styles)
Mike Sharp, Digest Coordinator
Contents:
Phil's how-to-bru, Belgian style ("Phillip R. Seitz")
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Date: Sun, 06 Mar 94 16:26:44 -0400
From: "Phillip R. Seitz" <p00644 at psilink.com>
Subject: Phil's how-to-bru, Belgian style
Yesterday I made my judging debut at the American Home Wine and Beer
Trade Association nationals, where I joined three judges to evaluate 22
Belgian-style entries. As a judging newbie I have a newfound respect for the
people who try to provide constructive comments on all those beers,
particularly as there are an astonishing number of bad ones. The scoresheets
will be going out shortly, and there'll be plenty of time for people to curse
and harass me for my stupidity, lack of knowledge, etc. (I'll probably
deserve it.)
In the meantime, the opportunity to try 22 beers distributed throughout the
Belgian style spectrum has prompted me to reflect on the State of the Union,
at least Belgian-style homebrew-wise. What follows are my ruminations, which
I hope will generate some discussion and maybe a few good beers.
The good news is that there were at least three beers that seemed quite close
to Belgian commercial standards--a double, a white, and (gasp!) a lambic.
Unfortunately, the bad news is that there were ONLY three beers that seemed
up this standard. Given the all the information we lack as brewers this may
not be as bad as it seems, and I think I can say that in almost every
candidate SOMEONE was brewing beers that had many of the difficult-to-
achieve tastes or other factors that will lead us to Belgian homebrew nirvana.
With luck and work I think the quality of Belgian-style homebrew (including
my own) will continue to improve.
First, some general observations:
1) I think that anybody reading this who has a package of the original Wyeast
Belgian should throw it out. Do this NOW, please! While I have had one
or two beers made with this that have had authentic Belgian character,
the VAST majority of beers I've tasted are full of banana and solvent
notes that are totally inappropriate. There are now many other yeasts
on the market that merit exploration, and I think this one has lived out
its useful life.
2) Do NOT ferment your beers over 70F. Pierre Rajotte mentions in his book
BELGIAN ALE that some Belgian brewers ferment as high as 80F; while
I'm sure it was not his intention, this one statement has led to the
spoilage of more batches of beer (including many of mine) than I care to
think about.
Over the course of eight trips to Belgium including many brewery
visits I have never seen a high-temperature fermentation, and most
brewers there recoil at the very thought. Your beer will be MUCH
better if you keep it cool while it ferments.
3) I think that anyone seriously interested in brewing Belgian style beers
needs to learn simple yeast culturing methods. Perhaps this will change
in the future, but for the moment every usable Belgian yeast I've seen
for sale (except the new Wyeast White) requires buildup from a yeast
slant to a full starter. This process is not difficult, and will open up a
much larger world of yeast possibilities for you. Just as British pale
ales are hoppy and German lagers are malty, Belgian beers are
inextricably linked to yeast flavors. You owe it to yourself and your
beer to use the best yeasts you can find, whatever form they may come
in.
Now some comments on the various styles we encountered at the AWHBTA:
1) White beers. Things look very promising here; many net contributors have
conducted experiments in this area, and the beers we're getting now are
looking quite good. Overall this is not that hard a beer to make, and if
we aren't getting professional-quality beers by next year I'll be very
disappointed. A few notes:
A) Many white beers have an orangey flavor, but it's now apparent that
this comes from fresh coriander seed rather than from orange
peel. Boiling dried standard-type orange imparts a ham-like
aroma that will lose you points and contribute little to the
finished beer. Better to find some fresh coriander for your brew,
and to use bitter orange peels, which contribute an herbal
bitterness. These are now available from a number of homebrew
dealers.
B) Lactic acid can contribute tartness to your finished beer, but don't
overdo it; many Belgian whites aren't tart at all. Taste varies,
but you should be sure you know what you're doing before
adding more than, say, 10 ml per 5 gallon batch. Keep it subtle.
Also, large additions need a lot of time to blend in with the other
flavors--as long as 2-3 months.
C) Carbonation should be more than your average pale ale, but not so
much that it interferes with your ability to taste the beer. My
guess is that 7/8 cup corn sugar (about 125 grams) per 5 gallons
is about right.
2) Doubles. This is a tough beer to brew, as there still isn't a lot of
conventional wisdom regarding how to do it. Keep your maltiness
subtle, and go for a fair amount of carbonation. Most Belgian beers are
more mousse-like than liquid on the tongue, and you may want to
carbonate with up to 1 cup corn sugar per 5 gallons.
3) Oud Bruin. If doubles are hard, these are excrutiatingly hard to brew so
far, and I'm not convinced that anyone over here really knows how to
do it. However, there are a few things to keep in mind:
A) The flavor and aroma should be a mix of fruity esters and some
acetic sourness. Some commercial examples (Oud Zottegem,
Rodenbach) can be quite sour, while others (Liefmans, Vichtenaar,
Felix) are much sweeter. However, these sweeter brews are quite
sour in the fermenter, and are later filtered and sweetened. This
is very hard for a homebrewer to do.
B) Experimentation is what's needed here. Try working with a partial
sourmash a la Greg Noonan, or even with some lambic bacteria,
and perhaps combine this with some lactose for residual sweetness
to match the sourness. Liefman's is made with pilsner malt and
caramel malt, and the latter could also be used to compensate for
sourness. Additions of sour cherries might also work. And if you
have access to a 2-micron filter, go for it!
4) Triples. These should be high in strength (1.090s, for instance) but have
nice, light body. They should not have fruity esters, but can be a bit
malty or spicy and even show some noble hop character. Carbonation
should be high--use 1 cup for priming. A typical five gallon recipe will
have 2 pounds or more of sugar, which provides the warming strength
without adding to the body (this is one of the factors that separates
these beers from barleywines--that and they've got 100 fewer IBUs).
As with all strong beers, pay particular attention to your
fermentation temperature, and if possible keep it between 60 and 65F.
Higher temps will only give you a headache in a bottle. Remember,
these beers might be strong, but they shouldn't taste of alchohol,
solvent, medicine, or any other similar fermentation by-products.
This may be the one area where Wyeast Belgian might be of use.
Under the right conditions it can produce a lot of Chimay-type flavors.
However, ferment very cool (60F) if you try this.
5) Belgian ales. This, too, is a tough category. One reason it is because it
embraces so many different-tasting commercial examples. By comparison,
most contests have at least three different stout categories! Even
worse, none of the the appropriate commercial examples are available
here for evaluation.
In general, shoot for something with a standard gravity (1.046-
1.052) that's got some subtle Belgian-tasting yeast esters and also has a
restrained noble-hop character. This is the only Belgian category where
noticeable hop bitterness isn't out of place, nor is noble-type hop
aroma. Don't overdo it--subtlety and balance are the most important
factors here. Judicious use of caramel malts (.5-1 lb/5 gallons) and
maybe even some Munich in small quantities should yield the desired
results.
6) Belgian strong ales. This is where the next person to use Wyeast Belgian
gets shot. I MEAN it; if I have another strong banana/solvent beer
again I'm gonna go ballistic. Yes, brew strong beers. Yes, use
interesting yeasts. NO, do NOT ferment above 70F. This should NOT be
that tough a beer to brew if you use a good yeast, keep your hopping
quite low (max 18 IBU), and do a good ferment. The idea is to let the
yeast flavors stand out; everything else should provide subtle
counterpoint. Don't be afraid to try small quantities of spices or sugar,
and make sure you carbonate well (1 cup/5 gallons). This is a yeast
showcase, so be be judicious about large additions of caramel or Munich
malts; exclusive of sugar your malt bill should be almost entirely (90%)
pilsner. If you can brew a strong beer with good, clean yeast flavor
(perhaps offset by some orange, vanilla, or coriander), fermented cool,
you should be in the running. And if you brew with Wyeast Belgian,
you WILL be running, because I'll be coming after you! (Once my
headache subsides, that is.)
7) Lambics. This was my first exposure to pure-culture lambics, and I will
admit that I was nervous. Instead, these nearly stole the show. We did
have one beer that I suspect was made with a Papazian sour mash and
exhibited a rather rancid, rotten character. However, there's no
question that those brett and pedio cultures work! We had one beer
that had ALL the right flavors and no obvious defects other than being
a bit too UNattenuated and mild; presumably this will be best of show
material next year.
Since I don't brew these beers I'll let others provide most of the
how-to commentary. My only notes are that would-be lambic brewers
should focus on brewing a good, clean base to work from; your
"uninfected" beer should be reasonably neutral in character, with the
possible exception of some wheatiness. This will allow your added bugs
to do their work and stand out.
There you go, folks--Phil's Belgian how-to book. I'm sure there are some
mistakes and misconceptions here, so let's get at it. We're not going to brew
better beer until we get them cleaned up and fill in the blanks!
Finally, I might as well spill the beans. My brew club, BURP, is seriously
considering holding an AHA-sponsored Belgian-styles-only contest in November.
Since it was my idea I'll probably be running it. In any case, details will be
forthcoming, but in the meantime you may want to do some planning and
brewing--ESPECIALLY you lambic-tarians. Assuming we go forward with this I
will make every effort to see that our judges are up to snuff and know their
Belgian beers. With luck this will stimulate many of you to new levels of
experimentation and to the discovery of new methods for the fabrication of
quality Belgian-style beer.
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End of Lambic Digest
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