Batch 57: Pandora

Brew Date: May 7, 2019

Bottling Date: June 1, 2019

This is my first iteration of a Dubbel, dubbed Pandora after my local park and alluding to, hopefully, the depth of flavour in the resulting beer. I had Imperial’s B53 Precious strain in the fridge from my BPA, and while it’s a bit more restrained on the Belgian esters and phenolics that the Dubbel typically calls for, I was happy with the character in the BPA and am hoping it’ll do well enough here. I will ferment towards the top end of the temperature range to try to push those yeast characters, hopefully without creating fusels.

I also chose to go pretty straightforward on the recipe, but I’m not ready to rely on the candi sugar to provide all the complexity so I’ve added some Special B, as well as some Munich II for additional malt character. I chose to go with D-90 instead of D-45, which will cause the beer to be a bit darker than the typical range, but I would like to push the dark fruit character rather than caramel flavours. This could end up being a lower-ABV Belgian Dark Strong in flavour rather than a Dubbel.

Brew Date: May 7, 2019
Bottled: June 1, 2019
Batch size: 19L post-boil (Actual: 20.5L)
Equipment: Grainfather

OG: 1.064 (Actual: 1.061)
FG: 1.009 (Actual: 1.010)
IBU: 20
ABV: 6.8%

Water / Misc:
4g Gypsum, 4g CaCl – 80% in mash, 20% in sparge
1/2 tablet whirfloc @ 15 min

Mash / Boil:
131F for 15 mins
148F for 75 mins
161F for 20 mins
170F for 10 mins
Boil for 90 minutes

Grist:
78% Bohemian Pilsner malt [3.90 kg]
10% Munich II malt [0.50 kg]
3% Special B malt [0.15 kg]
9% D-90 candi syrup [0.45 kg]

Hopping:
19g German Tradition @ 60 mins
4g Nugget @ 60 mins (ran out of G.T.)

Fermentation:
Imperial B53 Precious – gen 2 pitch
Approx 250B cells (1.5L starter)
Initial ferm temp set to 69.5F
Due to lack of ice, it unfortunately rose to 74F from 12-18h
Brought back down to 71.5F for remainder of primary fermentation

Tasting Notes:

[June 27 2019] – The malt complexity is starting to emerge, with notes of cherry, plum, toast, and caramel coming through. Neither particularly dry nor sweet. Restrained Belgian esters and phenols. So far, so good!