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This is a Belgian style beer. Unlike the Enkel, Dubbel, or Tripel beers which are commonly sold by Trappist monasteries, the Patersbier (meaning literally “father’s beer”) is the style that these monks make for their own consumption and is generally only available within the walls of the monastery. It has a lower alcohol content, but is still supposed to have some complex flavors largely due to the type of yeast and hops used. This recipe is based off of a kit I saw at Northern Brewer.
Process:
Activated my pack of yeast so that it would be ready to pitch by the time the wort was prepared. I put my grains in a grain bag and then placed them in the water. I then turned the heat on and let the water heat up with the grains steeping, until the water temperature reached 170 F (about 20 minutes). I removed the grain and rinsed them with another gallon of water, bringing the boil volume up to 3 gallons. I continued heating the water to a boil as I added my liquid malt extract to the wort.
I boiled the wort for 60 minutes. When the boil began I added the ounce of Hallertau hops for bittering. At 10 minutes I added the half ounce of Saaz hops for flavor and aroma. After the hour was complete, I strained my wort into a 5-gallon bucket. I added ice and cold water to bring the temperature down to about 80 F and the volume up to 5.5 gallons. Then I pitched the yeast, which had been activated at least 3 hours prior but had not swollen very much. Hopefully it is good. I sealed the bucket with an airlock and let it start primary fermentation.
6-10-11: Put into primary bucket. OG measured at 1.040 giving it a potential of 5.2 %ABV. Will primary for one week then rack to secondary.
6-17-11: Racked to secondary carboy and measured the SG at 1.010. Will let it sit for a couple weeks and clear out before I bottle it. Tasted a sample and it was pretty good, have some high hopes for this beer.
7-1-11: FG measured at 1.007, giving 4.3%ABV. Boiled one pint of water and dissolved the 4.5 ounces of priming sugar, then racked the beer to a bottling bucket and added the sugar, then bottled the beer.
Results:
This beer turned out very well. It is a light bodied beer, almost like a lager, but it has a nice complexity to the flavor. This complexity comes from the hops used and the Trappist yeast that fermented the malt. The beer is pours with a nice head which goes down to a quarter inch within a minute or so. There is some decent lacing on the glass while drinking. The flavor is sweet malts up front, and then some spicy hops and other flavors towards the end, finishing with a pleasant note on the tongue.
Tags: beer, belgian, patersbier, trappist