06/04/2009: "Brewblogue: The Inmost Light"

(4 Gallon Batch)
Water: Filtered San Diego tap
Grain: 9.25lb Belgian Pilsner
Yeast: WLP570 - Belgian Golden Ale, 2L starter
Hops: 30 grams Czech Saaz @ 6.8% AA
Other: 1 Human Soul, crystallized, powdered.1

Mashed at 149 for 90 minutes. Boiled 90 minutes.

OG: 1.082

1 Oh, alright. It was actually 2.5lbs of cane sugar.

There seems to be something about the process of brewing - the long, long, exhausting, mind-numbing process of brewing - that makes me forget to post about it when I do it. Which is to say, I intended to post this last saturday when I did it, but thems the breaks.

So then, I've been meaning to do more Belgian-style beers since, um, well since I started brewing and for some reason I never do them. Except that I finally did. Anyway, this was a really easy recipe although the 90 minute mash and 90 minute boil definitely made it take longer than usual. I'm a little concerned that the mash temp got too low (cooler didn't seem to be holding the heat as well as sometimes... of course it was also for 90 minutes) but if my fuzzy memory serves all that means is that it'll finish out drier (since at 1.082, it definitely converted).

Brewing went mostly without mishap (though it would be good to remember that immersion chillers are made of copper, and copper is very conductive, meaning that within a minute of putting it into the pot, it's near 200 degrees...ouch). The finished wort tasted like a cup 'o honey. I pitched a 2L starter of WLP570 and it was foaming like crazy within an hour or two.

As for the name, The Inmost Light is an Arthur Machen story about a guy who removes his wife's soul and puts it into an opal. One of Machen's better, though that's not necessarily saying too much (I like Machen ok, but he's no Algernon Blackwood, or even a William Hope Hodgson in my book). It also sounded evocative of a nice, warmly glowing glass of Belgian Golden Strong, and of the nice warmly glowing feeling one gets from drinking one. So there you have it.

Replies: 1 Comment

Yum! a belgian ale, I can't wait.

[Lynnea] on Sunday, June 7th