Brewing a Patersbier

What's golden, thirst-quenching, dry but spicy, singing with noble German and Czech hops, usually less than 5% abv, and can be fermented in a 75 degree basement at the end of summer?  Well, yes, a table-strength saison, but also a Patersbier, that's what, and that's what I brewed a couple of weeks ago.

Patersbier, or Belgian single or enkle, is low-alcohol, very light in color, and not crazily hopped.  One of my favorite aspects of this beer is that—despite enough Trappist spice and ester to satisfy all but the most jaded beer geeks—it's a crowd pleaser.  My father-in-law—he of the ice in his Budweiser—likes this beer.  I like it, too.  There are some historic precedents, and my recipe is based on the Northern Brewer recipe, which is in turn based Westemalle Extra.  Still, the BJCP hasn't got its hands on this yet, and I've felt free to adapt the recipe to these last, waning days of summer.  This beer is my answer to the German pilsners I can't brew due to lack of a cool place to brew in the summer, when I want a lighter beer.  It's been popular at family beach gatherings in years past, and I plan to bring  a keg to a labor day party in a few weeks. 

My previous tries at this beer have been 100% pilsner, using either hallertau or saaz for all additions, like some German pilsners, with Wyeast's 3787, which should be the Westemalle strain.  I've been brewing some seriously hoppy (for me, anyway) beers this summer, and have gotten a little tired of losing good beer to hop sludge, and decided to cut down on hop bulk by using about 3/4 of an ounce of Magnum, at about 15% AA, for the bittering charge.  I've never used it, but understand it's a hallertau derivative with clean bittering properties. I've also added a pound of carapils to help with head retention and body.  This is mashed very low to drive the dryness, and I think some light crystal like carapils can add to it.

One sad note, in making my yeast starter, my 2L flask cracked.  I guess you can only take a glass container from flame to ice bath so many times before you start to have issues.  Oh well, time to support my local home brew shop.

This crack held for 36 hours, with only a tiny bit of liquid seeping through.

On to the recipe:

BeerSmith 2 Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Patersbier
Brewer: Vince Dongarra
Asst Brewer: 
Style: Belgian Specialty Ale
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0) 

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 13.66 gal
Post Boil Volume: 11.96 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 11.00 gal   
Bottling Volume: 10.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.046 SG
Estimated Color: 3.4 SRM
Estimated IBU: 30.8 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 73.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 76.3 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
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Amt                   Name                                     Type          #        %/IBU         
10.20 g               Calcium Chloride (Mash 60.0 mins)        Water Agent   1        -             
18 lbs                Pilsner (2 Row) Bel (2.0 SRM)            Grain         2        94.7 %        
1 lbs                 Carapils (Briess) (1.5 SRM)              Grain         3        5.3 %         
28 g                  Saaz [4.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min            Hop           4        7.3 IBUs      
21 g                  Magnum [15.20 %] - Boil 60.0 min         Hop           5        20.8 IBUs     
28 g                  Saaz [4.00 %] - Boil 10.0 min            Hop           6        2.6 IBUs      
1.0 pkg               Trappist High Gravity (Wyeast Labs #3787 Yeast         7        -             


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Light Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 19 lbs
----------------------------
Name              Description                             Step Temperat Step Time     
Mash In           Add 6.32 gal of water at 158.4 F        148.0 F       75 min        
Mash Step         Add 9.00 gal of water at 187.6 F        170.0 F       10 min        

Sparge: Batch sparge with 2 steps (Drain mash tun, , 1.42gal) of 168.0 F water
Notes:
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Mash settled in at 145, and I've no more water. I'm cool with letting this thing dry out more.

Prepared a 2 L starter for the yeast, which is only a month old. Unfortunately, my flask developed a crack in transfering it from the stove to the ice bath--It held, but I don't think I'll be able to use it again. Shame, really, unless you sell glassware.

Fermentation took off, with primary ferment at 81F (!). Even with the sweet, silent ton of foam control, a bit of the 3787, that beast, came up through the airlocks. I guess this is going to be a Westvleteren-style patersbier...Westemalle yeast with no temp control. I think they used to make a 4 that probably would have looked a lot like this..

Finished right at 1.010, so measured ABV of 4.7%, very nice. Kegged everything up. Looks gorgeous, smells a bit hot (not surprised. can't wait for winter brewing), also like honey, ginger and pears.

 Created with BeerSmith 2 - http://www.beersmith.com
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The Dominion Cup

Tasting Black Abandon CDA

This was a very interesting beer that was fun to brew, turned out surprising well, and showed just how quickly hop aroma and flavor disappears. I kegged half of this straight from the primary fermenter on an ounce of Citra hops, put it on tap, carbed it in three days and started drinking.  The other half was bottle conditioned and stored in my room-temp, under-the-basement-stairs "cellar."  I entered two botttles of the latter into the Dominion cup.  I haven't seen the score sheets yet, but I won't be shocked to find they didn't so well.

Good thing I've got Imperial Pints.

The kegged beer was shockingly smooth, with an ever-increasing fruity hop aroma as the Citra released its goodness.  There's a reason this hop is crazy popular right now...it's darn good.  I really enjoyed the touch of chocolate roast in combination with an all-American, cascade-dominated hop profile. (Just a touch!  The ever-carmudgeonly Velky Al has a great post on the need for Black IPAs to bend to his will here, and I tend to agree) A great beer, but at a calculated ABV of 7.8%, a bit strong in full pints.  I ended up giving away five or so liter growlers to my BJCP class when it met at my house, a week or two after kegging.  I finished the keg a week after that, and was fairly happy for it.  This beer was consumed as fresh as possible, at what I believe to have been its prime.

The bottled version was nowhere near as smooth, and the hop aroma not nearly as fruity or as pronounced.  The last hops this version saw were in the primary fermenter, and the bottles are stored warm, so it's no wonder I didn't get the hop aroma of the kegged variety.  What really amazed me was how quickly that aroma faded.  Additionally, as shockingly smooth as the kegged version was for a nearly-8% beer, the bottled version showed its alcohol content in spades.  With this version, the touch of roast combined with harsh, fusel alcohol notes to become the beer I fear when I go to homebrew club meetings.  I've also been amazed at how the hop character has dropped precipitously—three weeks ago, cascade was very apparent.  Today, it's mostly gone.  The flavor is still there, but the aroma has faded nearly completely. Unfortunately, this is the beer I entered into the Dominion Cup!

What have I learned?  Mostly, that some cold storage would be nice to have, and that hoppy beers need to be drunk as fresh as possible.  Nothing world-shattering there, but the conventional wisdom is certainly cemented as truth in my mind.