I find underpitching to be an inconsistent method that is difficult to do accurately with liquid yeasts. I prefer to always pitch a healthy, overkill quantity of yeast, then get the ester level I want from fermentation temperature or sugar in the grist. That way when you want to adjust, you’re tweaking easy recipe quantities, not pitch rates.
Finally got around to watching this all the way through. I kept getting busy everytime I went to watch it. Watched it on the stationary bike at the gym. Gotta shred those calories so I can drink more beer!
Patersbier is indeed better with phenolic yeasts, actually I have a great experiance with BE-256 with patersbier. Less estery, a little phenolic with refreshing, clear mouthfeel.
Yeah, I recently asked myself why I'm adding NaHCO3 if I'm not trying to raise the pH. So I started leaving it out unless it's necessary, such as with a big stout.
That red shirt in the beginning is really funny. I'm also loving the Belgian/Trappist kick as of late. And you're informative and clear as usual; impressed that you even know the reason why the monks make beer. Sort of sad to see our own local monks in central MA have to close up operations due to losses. I'll still be happy with their jams, but glad I snagged some of the beer during the short run they had.
I love Imperial’s “Triple Double” for Belgian Singles, great beer for sharing when you want something refreshing and approachable yet complex and different. I follow basically the same fermentation temps as you. I should try actually using fancy sugar… I just chuck in table sugar to bump up those esters. Blowoff tube mandatory!
It's a great yeast, I just used it several times prior in the Belgian series and wanted to switch it up a bit. I'm a big fan of the candi syrups, lots of flavor complexity!
Happy you did this beer style. Now that I'm in a different stage of life, my alcohol tolerance has taken a hit. I love tripels and this is going to be my next brew and hopeful substitute.
@@TheApartmentBrewer Thank you, it went well though I discovered I need to refill my O2 for wort aeration. There's always a detail or two to overcome. Hope it's half as good as yours looked. Cheers 🍻
I don't get a lot of phenols from Abbaye, but I haven't really tried it pitched cool, would be worth doing I think. I'd love to get an update on your tripel, how its flavours are developing over time (if there's any left!)
Well if the wife likes it then maybe don't change it. But I'd probably drop the aromatic malt which I think prevents the crackery/pilsnery malt quality. I believe a classic patersbier as reported by Stan Hieronymus was 100% pilsner malt. But i love the appearance of your version.
I just tapped a batch based on your triple recipe. Oh boy! It is great but mine clocked in a 9.2% abv and it is dangerous! I really like the triple but find the lower ABV of the single as more desirable, especially if I can get most of the same flavors. I'll need to file this one away for future brewing as a more sessionable option.
That looks like an amazing, crushable Belgian! I think I'll try this one out. Was the mouth-feel too light or just right? Thinking maybe some of that NaHCO₃ or just NaCl would help with a slightly fuller feel? Thanks for the video and the recipe!
Cheers bud. You inspired me. I keep hitting the low to mid 7% range on ABV. I want to do a session beer with solid flavor. Going to do one of these on my next brew.
@@TheApartmentBrewer I'll be sure to watch a few more Of them. I'm thinking about giving beer brewing a try. I just want to screw up as little as possible or ,if possible, not at all.
Being a Local, I was so disappointed to hear that Spencer has closed. I could always rely on them to produce a quality Singel and a Killer Quadrupel. Thanks for passing on the knowledge of the amazing beers that are all about the yeast!
I love bubble gum will try this recipe. Would weyermann munich malt 1 work in place of aromatic malt. Ill have to order some Franco belges, never heard of it, recently played with eraclea pils for italian lager and floor malted bopils for czech lager, and vienna for festbier, and north star pils for american lager. Would any of those pils fill the shoes of franco belges? Just have hundreds of pounds of basemalt. But if its worth the wait ill def wait and ger franco belges.
The closest thing to the franco-belges probably would be the bohemian pilsner malt. Its still different though. Adding in munich instead of aromatic is a good idea, I actually would recommend not including the aromatic malt at all.
Great Job! that beer looks delicious, I love paters/enkels/taffelbiers and all in betweens, love how you put °C for the rest of the world like us haha, cheers! 🍻🍻
How did you run the clawhammer without a hop spider? Did you remove the bazooka screen? When I tried to run it without the hop spider it almost plugged the screen. I've been looking for alternative hop blockers
I pulled out the bazooka screen and dumped them in. I've been using a spin cycle whirlpool arm to help out with trub cone formation. There's definitely a risk of the chiller clogging but I've found that it can handle less than 4 oz pretty well. The difference in hop flavor is astounding though
Thanks for the great suggestion! I've never brewed a Belgian before - now I feel inspired to try this one for my next batch. My LBS doesn't carry Franco-Belges, but if I do a 1:1 swap using German Pilsner instead, based on your potential improvement suggestions, it should be fine, you think?
This is good starter belgian! I would highly encourage you to try and find some belgian pilsner malt if you can. Castle, dingemans, chateau, those should all work. Good luck!
This is a must brew for me. Question: do you use distilled water or spring water. Majority of you recipes show distilled, but in this video you mention spring. I tend to use spring but can access distilled. I’ve heard “bad” things about distilled for brewing. Also thanks for posting grams for water chemistry. Appreciate it.
It wouldn't matter too much, but I'd recommend spring water, can't remember what I used for this beer. What's important is building upon that base for this beer, regardless of the choice. Distilled is easier to get a more precise water profile with, but spring water has more residual minerals which can sometimes benefit the beer.
@@TheApartmentBrewer thanks for the reply. I brewed an IPA yesterday and got lazy. Just used tap (tastes fine) with a campden. I’ve never had a water profile done with my tap. I did add some chems probably risky, but …. The pH looked good and the sample I used for hydrometer and refractometer tasted fine. I occasionally double check for OG with both to insure refractometer is accurate. I’m using Lallemand Voss in it. Need to transfer from cube to fermenter today. Never used Kviek in an IPA. So we’ll see😅. As you can see I’m an advocate of short and shoddy to some degree! Lol. I stopped stressing about brewing a few years ago. I will try this patersbier soon.
Is there a reason you're not using the hop spider with the clawhammer? I wonder if you get more hop character when dumping them straight in vs using the spider?
There is a marked difference in hop character. I got rid of the bazooka screen as well and while it's risky to clog the chiller, the beers that come out are far more expressive with hops
@@TheApartmentBrewer Interesting, I am going to have to try this, I was not removing my bazooka screen for fear of clogging my pump or chiller but may have to try it anyway just to see how the finished beer comes out :)
@@codebowl one more thing, I started using the spincycle whirlpool arm and getting a trub cone to form before full on chilling, and that helps limit the debris pickup
Interesting observations. I brew in a Foundry and have a hop screen, but don’t use it. I was thinking about using it to reduce turn in the fermenter and simplify racking… but after reading this, I think I’ll stick to free floating hops.
Alright so I’m 99 percent convinced to attempt this exact recipe for an upcoming home brew fest. Would you do a 50:50 split of Pilsner malt then? Half Belgian and half German? And what is your final verdict on yeast recommendation? I’m definitely looking for more phenol character out of my beers too.
@@TheApartmentBrewer Gotcha. Have you ever tried pitching more than one strain BTW? My two Belgians that did well in comps (quad and Tripel) both used two strains, and I've got a Tripel fermenting right now with Chimay/Westmalle. Also like you and I can't resist putting a handful of aromatic malt in almost everything. It's great. Thanks for the suggestion for the Franco-Belges, for sure I will use that next time! I used Dingemans this time and honestly wasn't impressed and my yield sucked.
It's not a bad idea either! I'd be worried about killer strains when copitching but it would be cool to see how they both play with each other. Love me some Aromatic! Franco belges just seems to have a richer flavor to me than dingemans, with dingemans feeling significantly doughier, but they both a quality bases
Obviously, a lot of time went into making this video. I mean the video starts with you shaven and ends with you in a full beard... Thank you for your dedication to this style/brew. 🤣
@@TheApartmentBrewer After I posted this, I realized I haven't tried Westvleteren 6. I bet that is pretty good too. But, I was really impressed with Orval Vert.
I’ve been wanting to brew one of these for the priests at my church 😄
Nice color!👍🍻
Thank you!
I think that I like the background the best. As it is currently 9 deg F, the visual feels like it a great late summer/fall evening.
Great vid. Like the new format.
As a tip, you dont need to use the full packet of yeast. Want to under pitch? Use half of it.
Thanks
I find underpitching to be an inconsistent method that is difficult to do accurately with liquid yeasts. I prefer to always pitch a healthy, overkill quantity of yeast, then get the ester level I want from fermentation temperature or sugar in the grist. That way when you want to adjust, you’re tweaking easy recipe quantities, not pitch rates.
I never heard of it, pretty cool AB!!!!! Always have the great content 👍🏻 gotta do more of those theatrical beginnings those are hilarious.
😎👍🏻👍🏻🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺
Glad you enjoyed. Unfortunately I had to stop doing those. So many people were clicking off the videos
@@TheApartmentBrewer REALLY???
that sucks
Yeah kinda bummed me out, but it killed the early views on most the videos I did them on
I find I get more clove if I start the mash at 115 for ten mins and ramp up to 129, then 158 each for thirty minutes
Sounds like it would make sense. Ferulic acid rest can be used. I've only ever included it for weissbier
Finally got around to watching this all the way through. I kept getting busy everytime I went to watch it. Watched it on the stationary bike at the gym. Gotta shred those calories so I can drink more beer!
That's true dedication!!
That's a neat little sightglass attachment you added to the clawhammer. Where did you find that?
It's handy! Brewhardware.com
Patersbier is indeed better with phenolic yeasts, actually I have a great experiance with BE-256 with patersbier. Less estery, a little phenolic with refreshing, clear mouthfeel.
I'm not a huge fan of BE-256, too many experiences where it was so phenolic it tasted like cleaner. But I agree, this should have been more phenolic
Yeah, I recently asked myself why I'm adding NaHCO3 if I'm not trying to raise the pH. So I started leaving it out unless it's necessary, such as with a big stout.
Agreed! I think it may help a little bit
Another excellent grain to glass 👌 would love to see you do a partigyle and try to make a low ABV small beer a la Clawhammer 🥳
It's planned!
That red shirt in the beginning is really funny. I'm also loving the Belgian/Trappist kick as of late. And you're informative and clear as usual; impressed that you even know the reason why the monks make beer. Sort of sad to see our own local monks in central MA have to close up operations due to losses. I'll still be happy with their jams, but glad I snagged some of the beer during the short run they had.
Its a shame about Spencer. Visited their booth at the Big E one year and the beer was amazing
When is the Belgian Sours videos coming 😉. Great video Steve.
Hahaha whenever I get a barrel but probably not likely to happen as they're all year+ fermentations
I love Imperial’s “Triple Double” for Belgian Singles, great beer for sharing when you want something refreshing and approachable yet complex and different. I follow basically the same fermentation temps as you. I should try actually using fancy sugar… I just chuck in table sugar to bump up those esters. Blowoff tube mandatory!
It's a great yeast, I just used it several times prior in the Belgian series and wanted to switch it up a bit. I'm a big fan of the candi syrups, lots of flavor complexity!
Happy you did this beer style. Now that I'm in a different stage of life, my alcohol tolerance has taken a hit. I love tripels and this is going to be my next brew and hopeful substitute.
It really is nice to have this kind of flavor in a low abv package!
Belgian Single is such an amazing beer. I always brew a double batch when I brew it!
It's definitely worthy of that!
Awesome, I developed my own Trappist single recipe to brew tomorrow. Now, I'm revisiting my recipe, thank you Battle 🍻
Anytime! Glad you enjoyed it and hope the brew went well!
@@TheApartmentBrewer Thank you, it went well though I discovered I need to refill my O2 for wort aeration. There's always a detail or two to overcome. Hope it's half as good as yours looked. Cheers 🍻
I don't get a lot of phenols from Abbaye, but I haven't really tried it pitched cool, would be worth doing I think.
I'd love to get an update on your tripel, how its flavours are developing over time (if there's any left!)
I think I will save it for my end of the year video!
Well if the wife likes it then maybe don't change it. But I'd probably drop the aromatic malt which I think prevents the crackery/pilsnery malt quality. I believe a classic patersbier as reported by Stan Hieronymus was 100% pilsner malt. But i love the appearance of your version.
Fair enough, that's not a bad idea at all
I just tapped a batch based on your triple recipe. Oh boy! It is great but mine clocked in a 9.2% abv and it is dangerous! I really like the triple but find the lower ABV of the single as more desirable, especially if I can get most of the same flavors. I'll need to file this one away for future brewing as a more sessionable option.
It is a dangerous beer!! Sometimes it's nice to have the lower abv version though
It really is perfect for that - reminiscent of a Triple without the dirty looks from the wife in the morning!
Happy wife happy life. Ha! Looks like a nice beer. 🍺
Haha true! Cheers!
Great video. When did you add the candi sugar?
Oops, didn't put that in the video I guess. I added at 10 min
That looks like an amazing, crushable Belgian! I think I'll try this one out. Was the mouth-feel too light or just right? Thinking maybe some of that NaHCO₃ or just NaCl would help with a slightly fuller feel? Thanks for the video and the recipe!
It was light but with some edge. I think light and smooth would have been better, maybe more sodium
Cheers bud. You inspired me. I keep hitting the low to mid 7% range on ABV. I want to do a session beer with solid flavor. Going to do one of these on my next brew.
Glad I can be an inspiration! There's definitely a lot of good in the more sessionable range
Ah, the season of Belgian beers and dark lagers has arrived! Cheers for yet another successful brew.
Cheers!
Hello. You talked about how the temperature effects the flavor the yeast brings out. Do you have a video that talks specifically about that topic?
Not specifically, but it's mentioned pretty heavily in most of my brewing videos
@@TheApartmentBrewer I'll be sure to watch a few more Of them. I'm thinking about giving beer brewing a try. I just want to screw up as little as possible or ,if possible, not at all.
I have a video called 5 ways to control fermentation temperature that you may find interesting then!
Sounds great Steve! I really need to brew some more Belgian beers. That is one area of brewing that I haven’t done much experimentation iin. Cheers!
Do it! They really are a ton of fun!
Being a Local, I was so disappointed to hear that Spencer has closed. I could always rely on them to produce a quality Singel and a Killer Quadrupel. Thanks for passing on the knowledge of the amazing beers that are all about the yeast!
Spencer was incredible. Only ever had their quad one time but holy crap it was amazing
I love bubble gum will try this recipe. Would weyermann munich malt 1 work in place of aromatic malt. Ill have to order some Franco belges, never heard of it, recently played with eraclea pils for italian lager and floor malted bopils for czech lager, and vienna for festbier, and north star pils for american lager. Would any of those pils fill the shoes of franco belges? Just have hundreds of pounds of basemalt. But if its worth the wait ill def wait and ger franco belges.
The closest thing to the franco-belges probably would be the bohemian pilsner malt. Its still different though. Adding in munich instead of aromatic is a good idea, I actually would recommend not including the aromatic malt at all.
@@TheApartmentBrewerAwesome thank you Sir. You are a Gentleman and a Scholar
Great Job! that beer looks delicious, I love paters/enkels/taffelbiers and all in betweens, love how you put °C for the rest of the world like us haha, cheers! 🍻🍻
Haha glad you enjoyed it!
I am looking to try this recipe. Can you confirm the volumes though? - one part of the recipe says 10 gallons and another says 8 gallons.
Its a 5 gallon recipe, just fixed it! Good catch, thanks!
How did you run the clawhammer without a hop spider? Did you remove the bazooka screen? When I tried to run it without the hop spider it almost plugged the screen. I've been looking for alternative hop blockers
I pulled out the bazooka screen and dumped them in. I've been using a spin cycle whirlpool arm to help out with trub cone formation. There's definitely a risk of the chiller clogging but I've found that it can handle less than 4 oz pretty well. The difference in hop flavor is astounding though
Thanks for the great suggestion! I've never brewed a Belgian before - now I feel inspired to try this one for my next batch.
My LBS doesn't carry Franco-Belges, but if I do a 1:1 swap using German Pilsner instead, based on your potential improvement suggestions, it should be fine, you think?
This is good starter belgian! I would highly encourage you to try and find some belgian pilsner malt if you can. Castle, dingemans, chateau, those should all work. Good luck!
This is a must brew for me. Question: do you use distilled water or spring water. Majority of you recipes show distilled, but in this video you mention spring. I tend to use spring but can access distilled. I’ve heard “bad” things about distilled for brewing. Also thanks for posting grams for water chemistry. Appreciate it.
It wouldn't matter too much, but I'd recommend spring water, can't remember what I used for this beer. What's important is building upon that base for this beer, regardless of the choice. Distilled is easier to get a more precise water profile with, but spring water has more residual minerals which can sometimes benefit the beer.
@@TheApartmentBrewer thanks for the reply. I brewed an IPA yesterday and got lazy. Just used tap (tastes fine) with a campden. I’ve never had a water profile done with my tap. I did add some chems probably risky, but …. The pH looked good and the sample I used for hydrometer and refractometer tasted fine. I occasionally double check for OG with both to insure refractometer is accurate. I’m using Lallemand Voss in it. Need to transfer from cube to fermenter today. Never used Kviek in an IPA. So we’ll see😅. As you can see I’m an advocate of short and shoddy to some degree! Lol. I stopped stressing about brewing a few years ago. I will try this patersbier soon.
Def a fan of Ardennes in my singles
Very nice!
Is there a reason you're not using the hop spider with the clawhammer? I wonder if you get more hop character when dumping them straight in vs using the spider?
There is a marked difference in hop character. I got rid of the bazooka screen as well and while it's risky to clog the chiller, the beers that come out are far more expressive with hops
@@TheApartmentBrewer Interesting, I am going to have to try this, I was not removing my bazooka screen for fear of clogging my pump or chiller but may have to try it anyway just to see how the finished beer comes out :)
@@codebowl one more thing, I started using the spincycle whirlpool arm and getting a trub cone to form before full on chilling, and that helps limit the debris pickup
Most of the time it seems the chiller out flow slows down but a full clogs is rare
Interesting observations. I brew in a Foundry and have a hop screen, but don’t use it. I was thinking about using it to reduce turn in the fermenter and simplify racking… but after reading this, I think I’ll stick to free floating hops.
Why the addition of the syrup?
Helps keep the beer dry and has a very subtle flavor impact
@@TheApartmentBrewer Thanks, might have to try that. This is only beer Ive been brewing for the last two years and that might twist it up a bit
Alright so I’m 99 percent convinced to attempt this exact recipe for an upcoming home brew fest.
Would you do a 50:50 split of Pilsner malt then? Half Belgian and half German?
And what is your final verdict on yeast recommendation? I’m definitely looking for more phenol character out of my beers too.
I think the key might actually be to remove the Aromatic malt. The yeast probably would be fine just keep it at a lower temp
Use 3787/WLP530 next time!
I bet it would do pretty well. I used that strain in my Blonde though and I wanted to have some yeast variety amongst the low abv pale Belgians
@@TheApartmentBrewer Gotcha. Have you ever tried pitching more than one strain BTW? My two Belgians that did well in comps (quad and Tripel) both used two strains, and I've got a Tripel fermenting right now with Chimay/Westmalle.
Also like you and I can't resist putting a handful of aromatic malt in almost everything. It's great. Thanks for the suggestion for the Franco-Belges, for sure I will use that next time! I used Dingemans this time and honestly wasn't impressed and my yield sucked.
It's not a bad idea either! I'd be worried about killer strains when copitching but it would be cool to see how they both play with each other. Love me some Aromatic! Franco belges just seems to have a richer flavor to me than dingemans, with dingemans feeling significantly doughier, but they both a quality bases
Obviously, a lot of time went into making this video. I mean the video starts with you shaven and ends with you in a full beard... Thank you for your dedication to this style/brew. 🤣
Orval Vert is the best 'Patersbier'
Nice, never had it!
@@TheApartmentBrewer After I posted this, I realized I haven't tried Westvleteren 6. I bet that is pretty good too. But, I was really impressed with Orval Vert.
Love when you, nit pick lolol. Thanks for the Video!
Haha I'm glad! No such thing as a perfect beer
I got to tell you I gave up on norther brewer. Unless you are promoting them they will not even get your order ready in under 3 weeks
They're undergoing staffing and supply room issues right now. My orders sit in purgatory as long as yours do
I'm sorry to say this, but the BJCP guidelines explicitly state "Bubblegum inappropriate." :/
Speaking of beer, You'z must eatz zee bugs 🐜🐜🐜🐜
Lmao
It tastes like beer, like most beers.