Sean's Dubbel Angst

We're doing Belgian-style ales for the next brew off. I went with a dubbel because I like the style and the timing will be good. The recipe is a hybrid from a few different sources. I wanted to try something besides Belgian candi sugar. The plan was to use piloncillo, an unrefined cane sugar popular in central america, but I couldn't get my hands on any, so I used turbinado (sugar in the raw) instead.
Batch Size: 5.5 gal

Brewhouse Efficiency: 70%

10lbs Pilsner malt German
2lbs Munich malt

1lbs Special B malt

0.5lbs Aromatic malt

1lbs Turbinado sugar

1oz Styring Goldings hops [4.5%] (60min)
0.5oz Hallertau hops [3.0%] (20min)

0.5oz Hallertau hops [3.0%] (5min)
1 vial Belgian Abbey ale yeast (White Labs WLP530)

Today was perfect for sitting out, sipping a beer, and stirring my brew. I did a single infusion mash at 147F for 90 min. The specific gravity was a bit low after a batch sparge, but I went with it and did a 90 min boil. I added the turbinado with 10 min left in the boil to make sure it all dissolved. After the wort cooled, the original gravity was 1.066. I'm looking forward to seeing what the yeast do with this wort. They're very happy little beasts and should ferment well.

Home Brew Challenge Cup Spring Edition

Today, I entered a beer in my first home brew challenge. It was a small affair with friends, co-workers and nine entries. The cool thing about being a grad student is that we're all pretty nerdy and like good beer, but we're poor, so there ends up being a high concentration of home brewers (at least at our institution).  We had a great time and sampled a bunch of good beers.

The category for the brew-off was rather broad: wheat beers. I had already brewed and bottled the Blood Orange Hefeweizen when I heard about the brew-off, so I waited and hoped for the best as far as the sulphur smell dissipating. Sure enough, after about a month in the bottle, the smell had mellowed and now it's almost gone. While my brew didn't place in the competition, it was well received, and I did get to trade a couple for what I thought was the best beer there. All in all, it was a fun day, and I'm looking forward to the next one!