Golden Bear 2: No Bear Left Behind (7/20/11)

The Golden Bear, a Belgian Golden Strong Ale, was the most universally enjoyed of all the beers we brewed at Hampshire. So we decided to brew it again for our first Seattle brewday. This time we dropped the IBUs a bit and subbed in Styrian Goldings for some of the Saaz. We also used dry malt extract this time, rather than liquid.

Batch size: 5 gallons

Boil volume: 3 gallons

Calculated OG: 1.073

Measured FG: 1.012

Estimated ABV: 8.5

Calculated IBUs (Tinseth): 28

Pitching Temperature: 72

Yeast: WLP570

Starter: None

Fermentation vessel: Bucket

Malts		Amount	%	Max Pts.	Color
Extra Pale LME		6.5	76%	56.00	1.25
Cane Sugar		2	24%	61.33	1.00

Hops/Additions		Amount	Time	AA%	IBU's
Saaz		2	60	3.0%	17.37
Styrian Goldings		1.5	60	2.6%	11.29

First mistake: we forgot to make a starter. The OG (not including the sugar added during fermentation) was 1.055, so we decided to just use the White Labs tube that we had. We also had our first Seattle boilover, which was fun. The bucket lids that we got from the local homebrew shop turned out to not seal well, so the airlock hasn't been bubbling, but there are other signs of fermentation—chiefly temperature.

Bottled 7/31/11 with silver 'B' caps.

Final Gravity: 1.012

The final gravity came out four points higher than the last batch, which translated into a sweeter beer with more mouthfeel. We don't know the reason it did not get down to the expected gravity, but so far all the beers brewed in Seattle are taking much longer to finish fermenting.