{"id":561,"date":"2015-02-16T21:37:00","date_gmt":"2015-02-16T21:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/suigenerisbrewing.com\/index.php\/2015\/02\/16\/ambrosio-the-fallen-monk\/"},"modified":"2017-09-15T18:07:17","modified_gmt":"2017-09-15T18:07:17","slug":"ambrosio-the-fallen-monk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/suigenerisbrewing.com\/index.php\/2015\/02\/16\/ambrosio-the-fallen-monk\/","title":{"rendered":"Ambrosio, The Fallen Monk"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post is the ultimate post (minus the inevitable tasting notes & updates which will follow over the upcoming months and years) in my Brewing Vintage Beers Series<\/a>. Today’s beer is \u00a0a Belgian Septuppel, which is the closest number I could come up with that matches the normal Belgian beer-naming scheme*. What is this oddity? It is a strong Belgian Dark Strong (aka a Quad) fermented to at least 20% ABV, and potentially 2-3% beyond that.<\/p>\n

* An analysis of over 80 Belgian Enkels, Dubbels, Tripels and Quads reveals that commercial brew “names” follow the formula\u00a0%vol\u00a0<\/sub>= [4.0296 * 1.3559%vol<\/sup>]. I.E. a 20% beer would be:
\n20%\u00a0= [4.0296 * 1.3559Bel<\/sup>], where Bel = 1\/2\/3\/etc (Enkel, Dubbl, Tripel, etc)<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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My new eHLT in action
\n(in my under-construction video
\nstudio – AKA laundry room)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Why would anyone do such a thing? For me, there is two reasons. The minor reason being that while I’ve brewed mead’s that pushed up close to 20%, I’ve never hit or exceeded this strength. Its a completely arbitrary, and yet almost mystical threshold. What lies beyond that I do not know – perhaps beer nirvana, more likely a really bad hangover, but either way I want to see what is one the other side.<\/p>\n

The main reason is a bit different – December 9th, 2016 will mark the 20th anniversary of my first brewday. I though it would be nice to have a beer whose ABV was at least as large as the years leading up to the anniversary. To make sure this happens I have over-designed the beer; assuming it attenuates as I expect I should get a beer at 22-23%, but I suspect I may not get quite that much attenuation, and as such, I’ve hedged my bet. I’m brewing it now since I’m certain its going to emerge from the primary as a fusel, ester and phenolic mess, but with roughly 20 months of aging ahead of it, it should have turned into something really nice on time for 12\/9\/2016.<\/p>\n

To get to that mystical 20% I’m using every trick in the fermenting high gravity beer playbook<\/a>. Multiple yeast additions, holding back the ~20% of fermentables that are sugar until a day or two into primary ferment, multiple yeast additions, multiple oxygenations, and I’m pitching a shit-tonne of yeast (roughly 5 million\/ml\/o<\/sup>P) thanks to my use of my last brews yeast cake. And the ace in my sleeve – a backup 2L starter of White Labs super high gravity yeast<\/a>. I’m hoping to not need that bad-boy, but if I do he’s ready to go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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41 L of wort boiling on the range.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Brew-day itself was a bit of a mix-up; I recently bought an electric HLT from one of the co-owners of Forked River Brewing<\/a> (I guess you don’t need to homebrew when you have a real brewery), so I was able to do my mash indoors, with the plan of venturing outside into the -25C weather for the boil. Turns out propane valves freeze at -25C – even if the propane itself is at room temperature, but my wonderful wife was kind enough to clear out the kitchen for the day so it was a full-volume boil on the electric range too get this beer down to gravity – adding an hour to what was already supposed to be a 3 hour boil. But in the end I exceeded my numbers slightly by 4 points), and everything looks like it went well, so now onto the ferment.<\/p>\n

The recipe, brew-day notes and other details are included below the fold, but I thought I’d spare a word on what is now the second really odd name I gave to a beer in the past 2 weeks. These two beers are deeply connected – with “Matilda, The Seductress” functioning as a starter for “Ambrosio, The Fallen Monk”. These names are not arbitrary – they are drawn from my favourite novel, “The Monk” by\u00a0Matthew Gregory Lewis (legally available free from the Gutenberg Project<\/a>). In this novel the young monk Ambrosio is seduced by Matilda – a familiar of the devil – leading Ambrosio down a road of murder, rape, insect, and eventually death at the hands of Satan himself. As with the novel, the beer “Matilda , The Temptress” gives Ambrosio his drive to darkness (namely, a lot of yeast) – and “Ambrosio, The Fallen Monk” somewhat follows the tradition of naming these beers after devils & other dark creatures…
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Recipe & Brew-Day Notes<\/h3>\n\n\n\n\n
Ambrosio, The Fallen Monk<\/i><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Belgian “Septuple” (Dark Strong Ale)<\/i><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Type:<\/i><\/b> All Grain<\/td>\nDate:<\/i><\/b> February 16, 2015<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Batch Size (fermenter):<\/i><\/b> 24.00 l<\/td>\nBoil Size:<\/i><\/b>\u00a039.56 l<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Boil Time:<\/i><\/b>\u00a0210 min<\/td>\nEnd of Boil Volume<\/i><\/b>\u00a027.56 l<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Est Mash Efficiency<\/i><\/b>\u00a086.7 %<\/td>\nBrewhouse Efficiency:<\/i><\/b>\u00a075.00 %<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
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Ingredients<\/span><\/b><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
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\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Ingredients<\/caption>\n
Amt<\/b><\/th>\nName<\/b><\/th>\nType<\/b><\/th>\n#<\/b><\/th>\n%\/IBU<\/b><\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
7.00 kg<\/td>\nPilsner (2 Row) Ger (2.0 SRM)<\/td>\nGrain<\/td>\n1<\/td>\n44.4 %<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2.00 kg<\/td>\nVienna Malt (3.5 SRM)<\/td>\nGrain<\/td>\n2<\/td>\n12.7 %<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1.25 kg<\/td>\nAbbey Malt (17.5 SRM)<\/td>\nGrain<\/td>\n3<\/td>\n7.9 %<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
0.50 kg<\/td>\nWheat, Flaked (1.6 SRM)<\/td>\nGrain<\/td>\n4<\/td>\n3.2 %<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2.50 kg<\/td>\nDME Golden Light (Briess) (4.0 SRM)<\/td>\nDry Extract<\/td>\n5<\/td>\n15.9 %<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
0.50 kg<\/td>\nCandi Sugar, Dark (275.0 SRM)<\/td>\nSugar<\/td>\n6<\/td>\n3.2 %<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
10.00 g<\/td>\nFuggles [4.90 %] – Boil 90.0 min<\/td>\nHop<\/td>\n7<\/td>\n34.8 IBUs<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
100.00 g<\/td>\nMt. Hood [4.40 %] – Boil 90.0 min<\/td>\nHop<\/td>\n8<\/td>\n31.0 IBUs<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
0.26 tsp<\/td>\nIrish Moss (Boil 10.0 mins)<\/td>\nFining<\/td>\n9<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\nTrappist High Gravity (Wyeast Labs #3787)<\/td>\nYeast<\/td>\n10<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1.06 tsp<\/td>\nYeast Nutrient (Primary 3.0 days)<\/td>\nOther<\/td>\n11<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2.00 kg<\/td>\nSugar, Table (Sucrose) (1.0 SRM)<\/td>\nSugar<\/td>\n12<\/td>\n12.7 %<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
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Beer Profile<\/b><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Est Original Gravity:<\/i><\/b> 1.168 SG<\/td>\nMeasured Original Gravity:<\/i><\/b> 1.172 SG (est)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Est Final Gravity:<\/b><\/i> 1.013 SG<\/td>\nEstimated Alcohol by Vol:<\/i><\/b>\u00a021.2 %<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bitterness:<\/b><\/i>\u00a035 IBUs<\/td>\nEst Color:<\/b><\/i>\u00a025.0 SRM<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
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Mash Profile<\/b><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Mash Name:<\/i><\/b> Single Infusion, Light Body, Batch Sparge<\/td>\nTotal Grain Weight:<\/i><\/b> 15.75 kg<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sparge Water:<\/i><\/b> 23.45 l<\/td>\nGrain Temperature:<\/i><\/b> 16.0 C<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sparge Temperature:<\/i><\/b> 75.6 C<\/td>\nTun Temperature:<\/i><\/b> 15.5 C<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Adjust Temp for Equipment:<\/i><\/b> TRUE<\/td>\nMash PH:<\/i><\/b> 5.20<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
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Mash Steps<\/caption>\n
Name<\/b><\/th>\nDescription<\/b><\/th>\nStep Temperature<\/b><\/th>\nStep Time<\/b><\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
Mash In<\/td>\nAdd 27.12 l of water at 73.3 C<\/td>\n64.4 C<\/td>\n75 min<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sparge Step:<\/i><\/b> Batch sparge with 2 steps (3.55l, 19.91l) of 75.6 C water<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Mash Notes:<\/i><\/b> Simple single infusion mash for use with most modern well modified grains (about 95% of the time).<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
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Carbonation and Storage<\/b><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Carbonation Type:<\/i><\/b> Keg<\/td>\nVolumes of CO2:<\/i><\/b> 2.3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Pressure\/Weight:<\/i><\/b> 12.54 PSI<\/td>\nCarbonation Used:<\/i><\/b> Keg with 12.54 PSI<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Keg\/Bottling Temperature:<\/i><\/b> 7.2 C<\/td>\nAge for:<\/i><\/b> 30.00 days<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Fermentation:<\/i><\/b> Ale, Two Stage<\/td>\nStorage Temperature:<\/i><\/b> 18.3 C<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
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Notes<\/b><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1) Aimed for a BU:GU of 0.3, (35IBU) higher than in-style to allow for longer aging
\n2) 2kg of invert sugar to be added at ~48 hours into the ferment
\n3) Pitch ~0.5L of yeast slurry and oxygenate at 24 hours
\n3) Super high-gravity yeast to be added after ~3 daysExpected gravity after mash (minimum, before DME\/Candi sugar): 1.061; hit it exactly!!!!!!!<\/p>\n

Mash:
\n-Mashed in ~1.5C below, but is OK as want a fermentable wort; new electric HLT is awesome!
\n-Conversion not quite complete @ 60 min
\n-Temp dropped by ~ 1C during mash<\/p>\n

Boil:
\n-Turns out -25C is too cold for propane; had to boil on stove \ud83d\ude41
\nStart: \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 41.5 L
\nFinal: \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 27.0 L
\nBoil-Off Vol: 14.5 L<\/p>\n

Boil-Off Rate: 3.0 L\/hr (calculated based on 30 & 60 min post-boil volumes)
\nBoil Time: \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 5 hr
\n90 min start: \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a03.5 hr after start of boil (31.5 L volume)<\/p>\n

-Added Dark Candi Sugar at 90 min to end of boil
\n-Expected post-boil gravity: 1.136; hit 1.140! Sugar should bring beer to 1.172<\/p>\n

-Cool-down: No tap water outside (25 degrees Celsius below freezing, it would break the taps).
\n-Cooled by placing the pot outside in front of a fan.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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Created with <\/span> BeerSmith<\/a><\/span><\/i><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
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Previous posts in this series<\/h3>\n
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