Belgian table beers are old world beers with low-alcohol contents that have strong expressions of Belgian yeast character. High esters and phenols help make up for a thinner body from a small mash and add a great deal of flavor without adding large amounts of hops. The Leuven strain however has much more restrained esters and phenols than some of the other Belgian Abbey strains. Table beers were the general thirst quenchers of their day as the low-alcohol content made them particularly easy to drink while ensuring that the consumer didn’t get a strong buzz or become inebriated. “Classically, these were light-bodied, low-alcohol beers that are partnered with meals and savored by both adults and kids alike.” Belgian table beers generally range from 1%-4% ABV and have become more and more popular in the craft beer industry.
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Grains:
4 lb. Pilsner (BE)
65 % 1 °L
1 lb. Vienna (DE)
15 % 4 °L
12 oz. Flaked Wheat
11 % 2 °L
4 oz. Sucrose (Table Sugar)
3 % 0 °L
2 oz. Acidulated Malt (DE)
Any
1 % 3 °L
2 oz. Aromatic (BE)
1 % 33 °L
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Hops:
0.5 oz. Ahtanum @ 60 min. 5.2% AA
0.25 oz. Comet @ 15 min. 11.3% AA
0.75 oz. Comet @ 5 min. 11.3% AA
0.5 oz. Ahtanum @ 5 min. 5.2% AA
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Yeast:
Wyeast 3538-PC Leuven Ale
This vigorous top fermenting Belgian style strain produces a distinct spicy character along with mild esters. Phenolics developed during fermentation may dissipate with conditioning. This strain is an excellent choice for a variety of Belgian beer styles.
Origin: Leuven, Belgium
Flocculation: High Attenuation: 75-78%
Temperature Range: 65-80ºF
Alcohol Tolerance: 12% ABV
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Mash:
Saccharification Rest, Infusion @ 152°F for 60 min.
Sparge @ 168 °F for 15 min.
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Calculated Stats:
Batch Size 5.0 gallons
Boil Time 90 min.
Efficiency 76.0%
1.037 O.G.
1.010 F.G.
24 IBU
3.6% ABV
3 SRM
Femented at Ambient 68-75 °F for 4-5 weeks
Kegged @ 25psi for 2 days, then 15 psi for 4 days
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Tasting Notes:
This recipe uses unconventional American west coast hops instead of traditional German noble hops. The use of Comet and Ahtanum hops give the beer a slightly citrusy and floral aroma that play nicely with the delicately spicy yeast character. The beer is very well balanced, with surprisingly good body and mouthfeel.
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Table Beer Commercial Examples:
1.) Brasserie Dupont Avril : Widely recognized for its world famous Saison Dupont, the 3.5 percent Avril is equally excellent. It’s funky and earthy, with delicate flavors of grass and straw.
2.) Flying Dog and The Brewer’s Art: Table for Two At 5 percent ABV, the just-released collaboration between the Maryland brewery and the Baltimore restaurant clocks in a touch stronger than the typical table beer. But it drinks clean and dry, with a fruity, yeasty and slightly sweet aroma—that’s due to a dose of wildflower honey.
3.)Burnside Brewing Co.: Le Bas Et Lumiere Come spring, this Portland, Oregon, brewery releases its “Low and Light,” a Belgian-inspired table ale with hints of bubblegum and bananas. Load of flaked oats create a full body.
To preface, I want to point out that title. This is how I make yeast starters. Plenty of people make starters their own way. I have never had any issues making my starters this way, but I am not trying to imply that this is the way everyone makes a starter.
The first step in making a starter is to figure out how much of a starter you really need. (FALSE! Step 1 is to get your liquid yeast out of the fridge. Then you start calculating) There are a few calculators available online, but I usually use Brewer’s Friend Yeast Pitch Rate and Starter Calculator (http://www.brewersfriend.com/yeast-pitch-rate-and-starter-calculator/). I can also highly recommend reddit’s /u/sufferingcubsfan’s Homebrew Dad’s Online Yeast Starter Calculator (http://www.homebrewdad.com/yeast_calculator.php) and Jamil Zainasheff’s MrMalty Calculator (http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html). In order to use any yeast calculator, you need to know your volume and gravity for the wort you will be pitching into, and the viability of the yeast you are using. I will use the Brewer’s Friend calculator for these screenshots, but all of the info will readily translate to most calculators.
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-Select your desired Units of measurement for volume (Freedom or Imperial), and sugar (Gravity or Plato).
-Input the wort’s original gravity and volume. Also select the target pitch rate. This decides how many cells you will have per milliliter per degree plato. Don’t get confused, just use the descriptions. If unsure between two options, opt for over-pitching.
-Input your yeast type, quantity and manufacturing date. Stick to liquid yeast for starters. I do not recommend starters for dry yeast. When using Wyeast, the date is the one printed on the package. For White Labs it is 4 months prior to the date on the package.
-Hit the Update button.
In this example, you can see that using a Wyeast package that was made on December 21st, 2014 we have 90% viability which yields 90 billion Cells Available. The 5.5 Gallons of wort with a starting gravity of 1.052 has a Target Pitch Rate of 201 billion cells, so we are 111 billion cells below our target IF we use the Target Pitch Rate of “Pro Brewer 0.75 (Ale).” However, if I change the Target Pitch Rate to “MFG Recommended+ 0.5 (Ale, fresh yeast only)” we get a Target Pitch of 134 billion cells. The yeast we are using is just two weeks old, was shipped straight to Brooklyn Homebrew from Wyeast with 2 day FedEx, and I unpacked it and put it in the fridge straight away myself, I feel confident that I could safely use the lower target.
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If your yeast has been in less than ideal conditions, I would stay away from a Pitch Rate under 0.75 million cells/ml/*plato. So, for this example, I am shooting to get between 134 and 201 billion cells.
Now, to calculate the starter! Hit the Grab From Above button or manually enter the Starting Yeast Count. Your first step here should be to select your Aeration method: No Agitation, Shaking, or Stir Plate. Each option will yield more oxygen than the one before it. If you have a stir plate, use it. Otherwise, you can decide to shake it periodically, or just leave it alone. If you select ‘Shaking’ you want to make sure you are giving it a good swirl as often as possible. You can then start messing with your Starter Size and Gravity until you reach the Ending Cell Count you are looking for.
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You can see that I have landed on a Starter Size of 1.1 Liters with a Gravity of 1.032. With No Agitation I will get 149 billion cells, and with Shaking get 194 billion cells. This falls into my range of 134-201 billion cells. Which end of that range I end up on will depend on how often I remember to give it a good swirl. You can also see that this calculator also tells you exactly how much DME you need to make the starter you are looking for.
Time to get off the computer and do something! Select an appropriate vessel for your starter. Make sure you pick something that can hold the full volume of the starter, with plenty of room. If/when you shake the starter or if you use a stir plate, it will make quite a bit of bubbles. I usually use a 2 liter flask for any starters that are 1.5 liters or less, and a 5 liter flask for starters up to 4.5 liters. You can also use a growler, mason jar, or something similar.
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I highly recommend a foam stopper to keep out the undesirables while letting in plenty of air. Other options are saran-wrap, aluminum foil, or a paper towel. The foam stopper is great because you can submerge it in StarSan and soak it full of sanitizer. Then squeeze it like a sponge to get most of the liquid out and put it in the top of your flask or growler. Now is time to sanitize your vessel and start heating some water. Take your sanitized vessel, tare it on a scale, and weigh out the DME. You should also add some yeast nutrient (if you do this now, you don’t need to add it during the brew day).
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Here is one place I do things differently. Many people who use a Pyrex flask will boil the water and DME directly in the flask for ensuring sanitization. I don’t bother with that. Too high a chance of a boil over, and in my opinion there is no need. My method also works if you happen to use growler or anything besides Pyrex. I take my flask with DME and mix in enough hot water to dissolve the DME, about half the starter volume. Stir/Shake/Swirl until the DME is dissolved. Then place the foam stopper inside and chill it down a little. You can place it in the fridge, freezer, or just a sink with some cool water.
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Cool it now as much as you like, and then top off with tap water to the desired volume.
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Make sure the starter and your yeast package are within 10*F of each other before pitching the yeast. After you pitch the yeast, swirl swirl swirl. Shaking is a misnomer for starters, especially if you are using a porous stopper. You don’t want yeast all over your face and chest (Or do you? That’s kinda weird). Swirl as often as you remember to.
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Make a starter, watch a movie on TV and every commercial break, swirl swirl swirl. Watch a football game and every first down, swirl swirl swirl. Play a drinking game you like (http://i.imgur.com/A01KbQV.jpg) and every time you drink, swirl swirl swirl. This is all overkill, but better too much than too little. Really, once every hour or two is plenty.
A stir plate is a good investment if you want to get even more growth out of your staters. In this example, we would get 149 billion cells with no aeration and 194 with shaking but 239 billion with a stir plate. For a smaller beer like this, a stir plate is not necessary but if you are trying to get as much yeast out of a starter as possible for a big ale or lager then stir plates become extremely useful.
Here is a stir plate going with a 2.25 liter starter I made for a lager. These stir plates will soon be available at Brooklyn Homebrew, so check back soon!
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Let your starter ferment for around 12-24 hours at room temperature. If you are making a starter less than 2 liters, I recommend pitching the starter into your wort at high krausen (so make the starter the day before your brew day).
If you are making a larger starter (or want to really limit the amount of extra liquid from the starter that ends up in your beer) then I recommend letting it ferment out and then cold-crashing it in the fridge overnight. On your brew day, take the vessel out of the fridge and pour off as much of the liquid as you can, leaving the yeast cake behind. After brewing and chilling, add enough of your chilled wort into the vessel to get all the yeast mixed in and then pour it into your fermenter.
Wow. Trust me, it is a lot simpler than all that. Just try it.
Last year around this time I canned a batch of beer mustard to give out as holiday gifts. Canning mustard is tricky because it is hard to remove all the air bubbles from the jars since it is so viscous. The air bubbles expand while you are processing the jars in the water bath to seal them, which means sometimes it takes a couple of tries to get the lids to seal properly. Without the canning step, making mustard is very quick and easy. This year I decided to make a small refrigerator batch for myself. To make whole grain mustard you must soak the mustard seeds in liquid for 24-48 hours in order to soften them so that they will blend properly.The whole process, after the initial soaking time, takes only a couple of minutes, and the results are great.
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Recipe
Makes two 8 oz jars.
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¼ cup brown mustard seeds
⅓ cup yellow mustard seeds
½ cup cider vinegar
½ cup beer (homebrew works great! I used a bottle of an ‘American Brown Ale’ that I made)
2-3 Tbls brown sugar
½ tsp salt
1 clove garlic
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Combine the mustard seeds, vinegar and beer in a ceramic, or other non-reactive bowl.
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Cover and soak for 24-48 hours.
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After soaking, combine the mustard seeds, brown sugar, salt and garlic in a food processor or blender and process until the desired consistency is reached.
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After tasting the result, I decided to add a couple more pinches of sugar, a small pinch of thyme, some turmeric and a tablespoon of dry yellow mustard powder.
Once you are happy with the flavor, fill two 8 oz mason jars with the mustard and put them in the fridge for a couple of days to allow the bitterness from the mustard seeds to subside, and the flavors to meld together.
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Making homemade mustard is easy and you can adapt it to your tastes by changing the variety of mustard seeds, the type of beer, the level of sugar, the spices, and the consistency!
As the weather gets colder, many people focus on brewing stouts, porters and other robust beers. For me, it means that my house gets colder and my yeast options become very limited. Since I do not have a temperature controlled fermentation area, I choose my yeasts based on the seasonal ambient temperature in my house. In the winter, this temperature tends to hover between 55-60º, so I end up brewing a lot of Kölschs, making use of the versatility of Wyeast’s 1728, Scottish Ale yeast, and trying out different applications of Wyeast 1007, German Ale yeast. Despite this not being the typical season when this style is enjoyed, this most recent cold snap inspired me to use 1007 to brew a Gose (pronounced “gose - uh”), a german sour, salty wheat beer made with coriander (more information can be found at http://www.germanbeerinstitute.com/Gose.html).
In this beer the addition of salt mimics the mineral rich naturally salty water of Leipziger, Germany where the style originated, but since you are adding salt, you can get creative with the type you use. For this batch, I used Himalayan pink salt and was planning to add a couple ounces of hibiscus flowers at the end of the boil, since I thought the tart floral character would complement the sourness of the beer itself. When adding hibiscus to a beer, you can either steep in in the wort itself, or make a tea and add it either in secondary or at the time of bottling. I pulled a sample from my wort at the end of the boil and steeped a few hibiscus flowers in it to see how I liked the flavor. The hibiscus really enhanced the briny character of the beer, and added an intensely earthy and tart aroma. While I liked the wort with hibiscus, there was also something very nice about the plain wort, so I decided to hold off on the hibiscus addition until I bottle the beer so that I can keep half plain, and turn half pink.
If you would like to brew a Gose check out our Tensou Sentai Goseiger Gose kit.
