Bash-Shell.Net

Mashed in at 145 F which took temperature down to around 140-142 F. I then turned the thermostat up to 148F and let it heat to 148F, allowing time throughout the 140s for extra Beta Amylase for a more fermentable wort with an FG closer to what is expected of a Belgian beer. Conversion did not seem to complete after 1 hour, although I was probably wrong and just going by look and taste, so I let it go for another 15 minutes while increasing the temperature to 152 F. I ended up about 0.5 gallons low but at the correct OG. My guess is some combination of not having quite as much candi syrup left as I should have - I had used 0.75 lbs out of two 1 lb packages, but maybe did not measure exactly before or I did not get all of the sugars out due to experimenting with not using my grain bag to allow hard squeezing and instead batch sparging. I also may have lost some volume due to that.

Fermentation
Pitched yeast at 64F. Kept 64F for first 48 hours then slowly increased temperature to 68F over 3 days and held for 1 day, then increased to 72 F over 2-3 days and maintained 72F for 7 more days.

First Impressions - 2022-04-11

This has a ton of clove and a sweetness and spiciness combo which reminds me of many Belgian Golden Ales I have tasted. I'm not sure how this would fair in any BJCP competition, but I like it. My carbonation is a bit off right now due to being freshly on tap as of yesterday, naturally fermented in a 5 gallon keg then transferred to 2.5 gallon while not quite getting cold enough, and my co2 tank on the kegerator being basically empty (due to be replaced tomorrow when my lhbs is open).

2022-04-18

Over the weekend I picked up a bottle of Trappist Rochefort 6, a well liked Dubbel, to compare to my beer to get an idea of where I landed on the dubbel vs dunkelweizen balance. I intend to grab a couple more as I find them at my local beer store. Compared to the Rochefort 6, the clove was a huge difference in that there really wasn't any in the Rochefort 6. The Rochefort was definitely breadier tasting with more malt flavor, but I could taste some of that same flavor in my beer. The candi syrups also made some difference as I believe the D-180 would not normally have been used.