I’ve brewed 3 beers now; all quick brews and I’ve been doing a great job of drinking them. However, I also decided that I’d like to brew something worth bottling for a long time and let it age.
If you have any ideas, let me know.
So far though, I thought of getting the Belgian Dubbel from NB and adding plum pure to it during fermentation. I know absolutely nothing about fruit additions to beer. Can anyone enlighten me? Is this a silly move? For the record, I like all beers and that includes fruity beers. I just don’t know if this will work as I expect it to.
You’'ll get some dark fruit flavors out of the malt, especially the Special B specialty grain. More raisin and prune. A plum puree might bring something more to the table, won’t know unless you try. I honestly haven’t heard of anyone using plum puree in a beer. Lots of other fruits have been used though. Could make the beer somewhat cloudy. Let us know how this comes out.
If you’re making a “traditional” Dubbel (specifically, if you’re using Special B and dark candi syrup/sugar), I feel like plum would make it a little too intense. If you do this, I’d say pull back on the Special B and the candi to compensate. My Dubbel contained no fruit, and yet it lacked nothing in the raisin/prune department. My guess is plum would’ve pushed the dark-sweet/fruity character over the top.
Alternatively, go all in and adjust if you feel it’s too much. :cheers:
Regardless, a Belgian Dubbel is a great option for aging. Mine was in primary for 4 weeks, secondary for 35 days, and I still had bottles of it up until 7 months after bottling (just finished the last one 2 weeks ago, actually). It didn’t hit its sweet spot until about 4 months in the bottles.
6oz Raisins
6oz Figs
Both blended and cooked down to a paste like syrup using the fermented beer as a deglazer.
I would probably up the Special B a little next time around. And I would also up the raisin and fig paste to at least 1/2lb of each next time. Maybe even more.
The first week or two the beer was kegged it seemed a little watered down. It’s gotten better with time, but I feel it’s lacking a little body and the while the maltiness and flavor is good, I feel it should be a little more complex. I would also take Denny’s advice and use a different Belgian yeast then what I used. Not bad for my first shot at a Dubbel, but tweaks are needed next go around.
EDIT: Also, note that around the time I brewed this I noticed my thermometer was off and I may have mashed a little too cold. Which seems likely considering the ‘thin’ taste of the beer. I’ve since bought a thermapen and am curious how this beer would come out if mashed a little warmer. My intention was to mash at 148F, but it may have been lower. Next time I’d mash closer to 150-152F range or may even consider a step mash at 144F and 158F.[/b][/i]
Here’s my recipe:
10.5 lb Belgian Pale
1.5 lb Extra Light Malt Extract (added due to low efficiency)
1.5 lb Munich
5 oz Special B
1 lb Candi Syrup D-90 (.5 lb in the boil, .5 added during active fermentation)
Tettnang (.75 oz - 60 min)
Saaz (.75 oz - 15 min)
Spalt (.75 oz - 15 min)
Wyeast 3787 (Westmalle yeast…f*cking awesome…can’t wait to use it again!)
Next time around I think I’ll skip adding candi to the fermenter, and will get my efficiency right so I can skip the extract . I think I’ll also add yeast at bottling, as this never carbed up quite enough, which I believe left it a little sweeter than it should have been.
All in all, I was very happy with this as my first Dubbel, and I can’t wait to fine-tune it.
dobe, what was your FG? I find myself wondering if all the candi syrup + the fruit led to high attenuation and thinness?
Then again, mine ended at 1.010, but didn’t strike me as being thin…
I think mine ended so low partly because my thermometer at the time read 8* over actual temps, kinda like yours. I think that may also be why my efficiency was so low (69%).
I think plums, raisins, prunes/figs, or anything else kind of in the same vein would work best for what you’re trying to do. Apricots and raspberries strike me as being too “bright” for a Dubbel if that makes sense. But, y’never know til you try!
[quote=“ickyfoot”]dobe, what was your FG? I find myself wondering if all the candi syrup + the fruit led to high attenuation and thinness?
Then again, mine ended at 1.010, but didn’t strike me as being thin…
I think mine ended so low partly because my thermometer at the time read 8* over actual temps, kinda like yours. I think that may also be why my efficiency was so low (69%).[/quote]
Finished 1.012 doesn’t sound terribly thin, but it could have used a little more body. I still think mashing too cool was the issue. I plan to make some small tweaks next time around, but the big adjustment will be hitting a mash temp closer to 155 range.
As for the method of adding the plums. I’ve been thinking of buying a few jars of dried plums, maybe boiling them in hot water and mashing them into a pure. Do you guys think that’s a good approach?
I say go for it. One of the best brews I’ve made to date (at least to my palate, but that’s all that really matters anyways) was a small dubbel brewed with heavy late- & dry-hop additions of Caliente. Caliente has this great aroma of ripe red plums. After I did a trial brew with those hops, I decided I wanted to put every “plummy” ingredient I could think of into a brew (D-180, Special B, Unibroue yeast, Caliente hops), and it turned out fantastic. A “plum bomb” has the potential to be quite a tasty brew.
Can you share more specifics about adding plums? My thinking was to use few cans of dried plums, do you think I should use fresh ones? How do you prepare them?
I would advise you to do what Denny advised me to do. Chop them up and cook them down in a very hot pan (a wok if you have one). Use the fermented beer to deglaze the pan. If you’re using dried prunes, I’d recommend rehydrating them with the beer itself. Continue to cook them down, using the beer to deglaze, until it becomes a thick, syrupy, paste. Then add it back into your fermentor.
. I think I’ll also add yeast at bottling, as this never carbed up quite enough, which I believe left it a little sweeter than it should have been.