CHIMAY

I had some grain left over after the crest ale (which was spot on by the way !) and what with it being january , being skint and everything I asked the forum on jims beerkit what I could make with it . the most intersting answer was a Chimay, which is like a belgiun beer really.

the recipe for 14 ltrs was ;

6 1/2 lbs pale malt

1 oz black malt

12 oz dark soft brown sugar

8 oz honey

2 oz hallertauer hops

1 oz goldings hops

and ideally you would use yeast from a bottle of chimay but i used gervins ale yeast.

I also tried a stepped mash for the first time, this is apparently to give the proteins a rest before you suck the life out of them. i dont pretend to understand the science but basically it is supposed to give you a clearer beer. important if its complex or involves such adjuncts as maize or honey which could cause a haze.

so i threw the grain in at 55 deg C for 30 mins then added boiling water to bring it up to 65 deg. for another 45 mins then raised it again up to 76 deg to really dilute and thin the sugars to draw them off.

sparged as normal and boiled for a good hour after having the hops, sugar and honey thrown in .

after 7 hours i had 14 ltrs of lovely dark brown wort pitched with yeast and waiting to turn into beer. i had a little taste and i was a mixture of toffee/coffee and malt and very bitter . this will change over time of course .

I took the gravity before the yeast went in and it was about 1060 so should be about 4.5 to 5 % in the end depending on how low it goes in fermentation.

as for the last two brews, well the cresta was loverly but had a haze (probably due to it being served quite cool) this didnt affect the flavour at all but i lost that extra pride in having a crystal clear brew. the stout ? well lets just say i only had a pint of it and the garden smells lovely now. the o ring on the corny keg i used left a revolting taint to it and it was really weak and thin so i obvioulsy didnt extract much in the mash.

ah well live and learn.