Urthel Hop-It yeast
A few days ago I tasted Urthel Hop-It. Some people might call it a Belgian IPA, but I prefer what the brewmaster herself calls it: a hoppy blonde. In a previous post I mentioned that I prefer balaced...
View ArticleWho pulled down my FG?
Last saturday I bottled "Zotte Stella", a belgian blonde fermented with two yeast strains in parallel buckets. Starting at 1.063, the one with Duvel yeast ended pretty much where I intended it to end,...
View ArticleMuch ado about nothing...
I told you it was impossible I had an infection in my Zotte Stella beer! Well, here are the results of the test fermentations.It is clear that the ardennes yeast attenuates better then the Duvel yeast,...
View ArticleStir plate starter
On saturday I'll be brewing a 50 liter batch of Belgian witbier(13.2 gallons for those of you living in Burma, Liberia or USA). As I have Wyeast 3944 Belgian Wit in my yeastbank, I took some yeast from...
View ArticleYeast (nerd warning)
Today I counted how many cells I have in my starters. As expected, the stir plate starter has about twice as many cells as the simple starter. As we also have a very nice microscope at work, I even...
View ArticleNow on facebook!
Saccharolicious is now on facebook with an RSS feed. At least that is the idea. I don't know yet if the feeding works, but the page is there! Just click on the badge in the right column.
View ArticleBeer shopping in Belgium
In 2 weeks I'll be in Belgium visiting the family. In addition to the compulsory chocolate, mayonaise based sauses, dry sausages and children DVDs (not for me) I should have some free space in the...
View ArticleNew zealand motueka hops
Recently I brewed a belgian blonde with motueka hops. Everybody seemed so positive about NZ hops... Anyway, it's not my cup of tea. Left me with a strange tropical aftertaste. Luckily I had a bottle of...
View ArticleWestvleteren blond, 8 and 12!
I just have to show off... When I arrived to Belgium a nice surprise was waiting for me in my parent's cellar. 6 bottles each of all the Westvleteren beers. My appologies for the picture quality. It...
View ArticleYesterday's catch
Yesterday was beer shopping day in Bruges. 2be had a lot of beers, but is very much focussed on tourists. Anyway, these are the beers I bought: Oerbier, cuvee des trolls, saison regal, saxo, pannepeut,...
View ArticleBeer tasting with my brother in law
Yesterday my brother in law invited me to taste some beers he bought. Assisted by the owners of the local beer shop, who also happen to brew (De Ranke) he came home with an impressive selection of...
View ArticleToday's brewing day!
Today I will brew my (probably) last beer before the summer. A Belgian dark strong ale called "St-Trudo Abdis 12" after a monastery in Male, close to Bruges (Belgium) where I grew up. I even have a...
View ArticleProject Orval, the first pictures!
I have finally managed to take some pictures of some of my orval clones. On the left you can see one clone, probably Saccharomyces cerevisiae because of its rounded shape and budding daughter cell. On...
View ArticlePlanning the next brewing season. Suggestions?
During the summer I will take it a bit easy. I will mainly be drinking instead of brewing. However, the recipe designer in me can't help thinking about hte next brewing season, again dominated by...
View ArticleIntroducing project Hanssens
Now that I successfully hav isolated a Saccharomyces and a Brettanomyces strain from Orval, it is time to go wild. A few weeks ago, I drank a Hanssens oude geuze. I saved the dregs and poured some DME...
View ArticleThe Brett of Cochonette
This spring I isolated yeast from Cochonette, an amber beer brewed by Brasserie à vapeur. I noticed, when drinking the beer, that there was something funky going on. Not surprisingly, because brasserie...
View ArticleHow my quadrupel turned into an oud bruin
This week I tasted a bottle of a quadrupel I brewed 2 months ago, and was surprised to discover a slight sourness. Not bad at all, it tasted a bit like Rodenbach, or Oerbier. However, it was not...
View ArticleHop analysis: alpha and beta acids
First of all I want to thank all of you who visit this blog. More than 1000 visits! And of course a special thanks to my follower (you know who you are!), the repeated visitors and my 4 fans on...
View ArticleStirplate
I finally own a magnetic stirplate. It was about time. As I usually use yeast from my yeast bank, starters can get quite big without a stirplate.Take my last beer for example. Without a stirplate, I...
View ArticleFermenteezer, sorachi saison and tripel
It's been a while since my last post. The family keeps me busy these days, so finding time to blog is not always easy. However, I am writing now, and will start off by telling about my fermenteezer, or...
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