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Lambic Digest #0312
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Subject: Lambic Digest #312 (April 01, 1994)
Date: Fri, 1 Apr 1994 00:30:08 -0700
Lambic Digest #312 Fri 01 April 1994
Forum on Lambic Beers (and other Belgian beer styles)
Mike Sharp, Digest Coordinator
Contents:
Trappist Brewpub News (John DeCarlo x7116 )
Oak Cask Preparation (Martin Wilde)
Re: Lambic Digest #311 (March 31, 1994) (Michael Sharp)
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Date: Fri, 1 Apr 94 09:06:36 EST
From: John DeCarlo x7116 <jdecarlo at homebrew.mitre.org>
Subject: Trappist Brewpub News
Copied from BURP News, April 1994, without permission. But I
figured timeliness was extremely important.
Brother Can You Spare a Beer?
Indiana Brewpub Off to Spirited Start
by Jim Dorsch
It appears that Brother Patrick is taking a prayer break as I
enter the Blessed Sacrament Brewpub at the edge of Kokomo, Ind.
When I take a seat on a simple wood stool, I see he's merely
washing beer goblets behind the massive mahogany bar of the New
World's first Trappist brewpub. Borther Patrick seems a lucky
young man indeed; as bartender, he's permitted to speak in the
course of his work, a lofty privilege in this bastion of silence
and contemplation. "My privilege is not to speak," says the
fresh-scrubbed 24-year-old as he neatly stacks clean goblets on
the back bar, "but to serve and support our works."
Brother Patrick's discourse is interrupted by the entrance of a
sprightly, robed figure, Brother Bernard, the brewpub's
68-year-young founder and brewmaster. Brother Bernard sweeps up
his arms in welcome, rushes over and vigorously shakes my hand in
both of his. Before showing me around the premises, Brother
Bernard orders samples of his three regular beers, and a light
lunch of dense, crusty bread slathered with a fragrant, soft goat
cheese. Many of the kitchen's ingredients, including the bread
and cheese, come from the adjacent Blessed Sacrament Monastery.
"The idea for this enterprise came about on a 1974 trip to
Belgium, where I attended church meetings and became acquainted
with Trappist ales," Brother Bernard explains. The idea remained
just that until August, 1992, when the monastery--where Brothers
Bernard and Patrick and 25 other monks live and work--sought to
capitalize a traditional Trappist craft venture with cash thrown
off by its other activities.
Brother Bernard was ready when the call came. He enrolled in the
Diploma Course at Chicago's Siebel Institute of Technology and
apprenticed at Abdij der Trappisten, brewer of Westmalle Trappist
ales. "I selected Westmalle because they brew a full range of
Trappist ales, from singel to tripel," says Brother Bernard. He
engaged a Belgian contractor to construct a traditional Trappist
brewhouse from parts scrounged from the many small Belgian
breweries that have closed in recent years. The first brews
emerged in December 1993.
After lunch, Brother Bernard leads me through the kitchen to the
brewery, where robed brewery workers tend to a batch of the
brewery's exquisite Tripel. High on a sea green, tiled wall a
crucifix is prominently displayed in the fashion of Belgium's
Trappist breweries. "It's very important that we adhere to
tradition as much a practicable," says Brother Bernard, gesturing
toward the 50-hectoliter, solid copper, gas-fired kettle that was
built in 1926 for Brouwerij Holjschmook, a 1986 victim of
Belgium's pernicious trend of brewery consolidation. The large
brewhouse was bought with an eye to wholesale trade, a prophecy
already coming into play.
A stairway goes down to the fermentation room, where the heady
perfume of young Trappist brews wafts from two rows of 100-hl
open wooden fermenters. Another door opens onto a room whose
walls are lined with kegs. One of the brewery's sole concessions
to modernity, the stainless kegs sit silently conditioning before
being served upstairs at the bar.
Blessed Sacrament Brewpub serves Dubbel and Tripel as was as
Singel, a style that's usually not sold, but is traditionally
consumed by Trappist monks with their meals. All are
cask-conditioned, carbonated by priming with a hopped sugar
solution and dispensed via beer engines. The beers are fermented
with a mix of two strains of yeast, whose source Brother Bernard
declines to identify. All are hopped with Cascades and Kent
Goldings, giving a nod to both Old and New Worlds. To obtain the
proper flavor, Brother Bernard purchases white and dark candy
sugar from a Belgian supplier.
Singel is a delicately dry, herbal golden ale with original
gravity 12 degrees Plato (1048), 5.1% alcohol by volume and 22
bitterness units (BUs). It is made from pale malt and a small
amount of white candy sugar. The beer undergoes two weeks of
secondary fermentation and a week of warm conditioning in cask.
Dubbel is a chewy, yeasty brew made from pale and caramel malts
and a proportion of dark candy sugar. This beer is maltier than
the Singel, and has notes of currant and banana. Dubbel's
two-hour boil over gas flame enhances it caramel notes.
Secondary fermentation lasts two weeks, before reyeasting and two
weeks' warm-conditioning. It has original gravity 16.5 degrees
Plato (1066), 6.4% alcohol by volume and 20 BUs.
Blessed Sacrament's Tripel is the best reason ever for a trip to
Kokomo, Ind. This immense beer has original gravity 22 degrees
Plato (1088), 9.8% alcohol by volume and 25 BUs. Tripel is
brewed from pale malt and white candy sugar. It has an
astonishing lack of alcohol flavor for such a strong brew. The
beer receives a full three weeks of secondary fermentation and
three weeks' warm-conditioning. It has a dry, flowery character,
and more of the herbal notes that mark the Singel.
How did Kokomo accept its first brewpub? "At first the community
was unsure of what we were doing. They began coming when we
instituted Saturday night Bingo, and business slowly increased on
other days of the week," Brother Bernard says, adding that his
establishment is closed Sundays. Just months after opening, the
75-seat bar and 120-seat dining room are often filled from dinner
until closing at 11:00. And the brewpub is becoming a regular
stop on Kokomo's power circuit.
Demand for Brother Bernard's beers is rising fast, to the point
that he plans to purchase a bottling line and begin selling 75-cl
corked bottles in area grocery stores. Until then, lucky patrons
will hope to take home one of the few hand-bottled specimens.
The brewery supplies kegs for parties and home use, and hopes to
establish draft accounts in Kokomo bars.
Brother Bernard strives to make a name for his products, and
Trappist ales in general, by establishing a small number of
high-profile accounts. "We are speaking to the concessionaire at
Hoosier Dome and believe our Singel will be sold at Indianapolis
Colts games next season. Colts fans need something to feel good
about," he says, laughing.
Back at the bar, Brother Bernard asks Brother Patrick to draw me
a Tripel while the kitchen produces an asparagus and cheese
omelet. The fresh flavors of food and beer meld exquisitely. I
close my eyes and turn my head skyward, at peace with the notion
that there is a heaven, and it may be right where I am sitting.
John DeCarlo, MITRE Corporation, McLean, VA--My views are my own
Fidonet: 1:109/131 Internet: jdecarlo at mitre.org
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 31 Mar 94 15:48:15 PST
From: Martin Wilde <Martin_Wilde at ccm.hf.intel.com>
Subject: Oak Cask Preparation
Text item: Text_1
I just received a beautiful 27L French Oak cask for by BDay. The
gentleman I purchased it from - Rich Kushman (503-623-8683) give me the
following instructions for preparing it:
- Fill it 1/3 full of cold water and stand it on its end for 1 day.
- Drain water.
- Fill it 1/3 full of cold water and stand it on its other end for 1
day.
- Drain water.
- Fill it 1/3 full of cold water and rest it on its side for 1 day.
- Drain water.
- Check for leaks...
- Fill 1/3 full of boiling water and stand it on its end for 1 day.
- Drain water.
- Fill it 1/3 full of boiling water and stand it on its other end for 1
day.
- Drain water.
- Fill it 1/3 full of boiling water and rest it on its side for 1 day.
- Drain water.
The boiling water treatment is for removing the tannins. This is the
same treatment the French use. None of that chemical junk.
When I told Rich I was using it for Lambic's he said great!!! this is
the right cask for it. He went on and told me he has visited Belgium
(and France) alot learning about grapes and the usage of casks and is a
big fan of Lambic's.
By the way, Federal Wine & Spirits in Boston has Cantillion
Gueze/Kriek/Framboise. There number is 617-367-8605.
martin
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 31 Mar 94 16:07:40 PST
From: msharp at Synopsys.COM (Michael Sharp)
Subject: Re: Lambic Digest #311 (March 31, 1994)
r.call at genie.geis.com writes:
>
> I have not been successful at login on to the request line. I'm using the
> address Lambic-Request at Longs.Lance.Colostate.edu at inet#. Can anyone help me?
I just added you to the list.
********
Bradley Baker <bbaker at dmso.dtic.dla.mil> writes:
> Subject: Yeast questions...
>
> I'm preparion to brew my first plambic and I have a couple of questions
> about yeast. I planned on using Papazian's Kriek recipe, however I've had
> a hard time locating the necessary yeasts. Which yeasts are 'essential'
> in reproducing a plambic? Can I get away with just using Brett. brux? Or
> do I need Brett lambicus and/or Pedio?
The pediococcus provides the acidity you need in a plambic. Without it
you could try a sour mashing as a substitute. If you take this route
pay close atention to the article on this by Greg Noonan. This article
recently appeared in Zymurgy.
> Also, what is the rule of thumb for using these yeasts? Should I do a
> primary fermentation with ale yeast and then secondary and tertiary
> fermentations with the special Lambic yeasts?
Your choice. There isn't a definitive rule. No study has been done on
this.
> Last question: How necessary is yeast nutrient for these yeasts?
Certainly the Brettanomyces likes all sorts of vitamins (found in
'yeast nutrient' at various levels). Addition of the nutrient wouldn't
hurt you. I've never used it in my batches (hey, the Belgian's don't)
but don't let that stop you.
> Thanks alot! I'd like to get some opinions before I brew, age for a
> long time, and then find out I've screwed up...
yup. thats almost the process. if you think you've screwed up let it
sit longer & it may supprise you. the again, it may get worse... 8-)
--mike
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End of Lambic Digest
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