Making the perfect quad

I made a Quad last spring (bottled 5/14/13) which turned out great.

I fermented using Wyeast 3787; I pitched at 65°F but the bulk of the fermentation occurred around 70°F. I conducted a 1 month primary; I did not transfer to a secondary.

The sugars I used for this batch was 2 lbs. of Brun Fonce Candi Sugar and 1 lb. of Table Sugar.

Cheers!

 

“this is what i'm curious about. obviously, our cost is different than that of breweries, but how can they afford to use the expensive candi sugars in large batches?” I can’t specifically comment to beer prices in Belgium but the breweries are making tons of money by selling in the US. The cheapest Quad that I have ever purchased was Weyerbacher Quad at over $60 for a case. I don’t think the price of Candi Sugar is a major impact to the breweries making Quad beers since they are highly priced beers.

“i know some homebrewers claim that caramelization of table sugar during a rapid and prolonged boil will give the same results as candi sugar”. I have no personal experience here so I really can’t comment whether caramelizing table sugar equates to Brun Fonce Candi Sugar. My homebrewed Quad has noticeable dark fruit flavors (e.g., dried plum, raisin, figs, etc.) which I personally attribute to the dark candi sugar.

Cheers!

 

Good quads are dry dry dry. My last several were BIAB, doughed in cold, brought up to mash temp (152) sloooowly while stirring. 2-row with crystal for complexity with dark candi syrup.

 

Anyone who claims that sugars are caramelizing during the course of a normal wort boil (no matter how rapid or prolonged) doesn't know what they're talking about.

Sugar Caramelization temp
Fructose 230°F
Glucose 320°F
Sucrose 320°F
Maltose 356°F

 

I think caramelization is frequently confused with malliard reactions, tho they are not the same at all. I also think there's a tendency to over-estimate the importance of malliard reactions. Even when I've intentionally tried to enhance the malliard reactions in a beer, they weren't especially noticeable. One beer I boiled one gallon of wort down for about half an hour, then did a total 3 hour boil, and I can't say I was particularly impressed with the malliard reaction effect on that beer (tho the beer still came out rather nicely, just lighter than I thought it would).

 

Read "Brew Like a Monk" for fermentation temps and conditioning time.

I would put emphasis on proper mash pH. The flavor ions could be adjusted with kettle additions. If you find a water profile from Belgium, those are usually very alkaline. The brewers can adjust the alkalinity down by boiling, slaked lime treatment, acid additions, or acidulated malt. Acid rests are sometimes use to help hit the mash pH.

Sugars can be the darker syrups such as the D2 or D180. There are some good recipes around that use Pils and pale malts plus the candi syrup.

 

the pH of wort isnt conducive for promoting maillard rx, it either needs to be very low (<2) or high (10+) to get strong maillard rx

 

Harold Magee uses a long boil of wort as an example of Maillard reactions that occur at moderate pH with high water content. Several hour boil is his example. Maybe not strong, but it happens.
http://books.google.com/books?id=bK...ary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=Maillard beer&f=false

 

I surmised that the reactions probably were happening, but not at an especially appreciable rate, and not at the levels that would result in a large noticeable change in the final beer.

 

I always think that the most simple recipe will mimic the best Trappist. Just pale malts, a touch of hops, and dark candi sugar. But the application is the devil, treat the yeast well and secondary until the yeast all drops. Temps are vital.

 

Does anyone have a copy of the recipe from the BA Magazine homebrew column (a few years back) that was about a very simple Westy 12 clone? I can't seem to find that issue.