A dreamy, light-bodied Belgian ale with a gentle malt sweetness, Bruxelles Blonde offers a refreshing, slightly earthy, slightly spicy hop aroma and a smooth, fresh taste.
6.0% Alcohol by Volume
BEER MAKING INSTRUCTIONS:
BEER MAKING INSTRUCTIONS:
BEER MAKING INSTRUCTIONS:
AMERICAN
PALE ALE
BRUXELLES BLONDE
BRUXELLES BLONDE
KIT INCLUDES
What’s Inside.
Before getting started, take a moment to review everything that’s included in your kit.
Equipment & Ingredients
A. 1 Gallon Fermentation Jug
B. Airlock
C. Racking Cane & Tip
D. Sanitizer Packet
E. Screw Cap Stopper
F. All-Grain Ingredient Mix
G. Tubing Clamp
H. 12” Lab Thermometer
I. Tubing
J. Hops Packet
K. Beer Making Yeast
Equipment Not
Included But Needed
A Couple Stock Pots
(8 Quart is a good size pot)
Fine Mesh Strainer (10” Diameter is ideal)
Ingredients Not Included But Needed
Ice
3 Tablespoons Honey for bottling (2 weeks after brew day)
0. PRE-BREW: PREPARE & SANITIZE
Keeping clean is important when making beer.
Really important, actually. Proper sanitization helps ensure a successful brew-day and a really tasty batch of beer.
To start off, prepare the area where you’ll be brewing by decluttering your stovetop and clearing off a surface like a kitchen table or countertop.
Prepare Your Sanitizer
Your kit includes 1 Sanitizer Packet (D). Diluted with water, it makes 2 full gallons of no-rinse sanitizer.
Using the 1 Gallon Fermentation Jug (fermenter) in your kit (A), dissolve half of your sanitizer packet with 1 gallon of water. Shake the jug to dilute the sanitizer powder.
Save the remainder of your sanitizer packet for bottling in a couple weeks (Step 5).
Once prepared, pour some of your sanitizer solution into a bowl. You’ll want to place anything that will be touching your beer into the sanitizer for at least 1 minute to make sure it’s clean and ready to use.
Review Your Instructions
Before moving on, make sure to read through the rest of the instructions so that you know what’s in store.
Ask Questions
At any point in the brewing process, remember you can email us for support at info@brooklynbrewshop.com.
1.
THE MASH
In a pot, heat 2.5 quarts of water to 160°F.
Add the grain from your All-Grain Ingredient Mix (F) to the water. This is called “mashing-in.”
Using a large spoon, gently stir until mash has the consistency of oatmeal. After adding grain, the temperature will drop to about 150°F.
Cook for 60 minutes at 144-152° F. Stir every 10 minutes, using your thermometer (H) to measure the temperature from multiple locations.
You don’t need to apply heat constantly. Get it to temperature then turn off heat. Monitor, stir, and adjust to keep in range.
After mashing for 60 minutes, heat to 170°F while stirring. This is called “mashing out.”
2.
THE SPARGE
Heat an additional 4 quarts of water to 170°F. (You can start this during The Mash to save time.)
Place a fine mesh strainer over an empty stock pot.
Carefully add the hot grain mash to the strainer, collecting the liquid that passes through.
The collected liquid is called “wort” (pronounced “wert”). Wort will eventually become your beer.
Slowly and evenly pour the 170°F water over the mash to extract sugars from the grain.
You should collect 5 quarts of wort. Some of this will evaporate during the next step.
Re-circulate wort through grain once.
1. THE MASH
In a pot, heat 2.5 quarts of water to 160°F.
Add the grain from your Ingredient Mix (G) to the water. This is called “mashing-in.”
Using a large spoon, gently stir until mash has the consistency of oatmeal. After adding grain, the temperature will drop to about 150°F.
Cook for 60 minutes at 144-152° F. Stir every 10 minutes, using your thermometer (I) to measure the temperature from multiple locations.
You don’t need to apply heat constantly. Get it to temperature then turn off heat. Monitor, stir, and adjust to keep in range.
After mashing for 60 minutes, heat to 170°F while stirring. This is called “mashing out.”
2. THE SPARGE
Heat an additional 4 quarts of water to 170°F. (You can start this during The Mash to save time.)
Place a fine mesh strainer over an empty stock pot.
Carefully add the hot grain mash to the strainer, collecting the liquid that passes through.
The collected liquid is called “wort” (pronounced “wert”). Wort will eventually become your beer.
Slowly and evenly pour the 170°F water over the mash to extract sugars from the grain.
You should collect 5 quarts of wort. Some of this will evaporate during the next step.
Re-circulate wort through grain once.
3. THE BOIL
The boil is when you get to add hops to your beer.
Heat wort collected during the sparge on high until it reaches a boil.
Prior to boiling, the surface of your wort will begin to get foamy. (Reduce the heat to prevent boiling over if necessary.)
When large bubbles break through the foam, this is called the “hot break”. When this occurs, set a 60 minute timer to mark the start of the boil.
The boil will last 60 minutes. Start your timer and add in the rest of the ingredients at these times:
- At start: Add 1/3 Hops
- 30 minutes: Add 1/3 Hops
- 45 minutes: Add Remaining 1/3 Hops
- 60 minutes: Turn off heat
Throughout the boil, stir occasionally. All you want is a light boil. Too hot and you can lose fermentable sugars and volume.
Some of your wort will evaporate during this step. If your boil was a bit high, you may be left with less than the full gallon you need for your beer.
If this happens, don’t worry. You can add more water in the next step.
At the end of the boil, place pot into ice bath until it reaches 70°F.
4. FERMENTATION
Fermentation is when your wort becomes beer.
Once wort is cooled to 70°F, place strainer over a funnel, and pour your wort through the strainer and into the glass fermenter.
The strainer helps aerate your wort and catch hop sediment from going into the fermenter.
If your wort doesn’t reach the ONE GALLON text on your glass fermenter, add tap water to make a full gallon.
Add full packet of yeast (K) to fermenter. Shake fermenter for a few seconds to wake the yeast.
Gently twist the sanitized screw-top stopper (E) onto the fermenter.
Sanitize your tubing (I). Slide one end of the tubing no more than 1” into the hole of the stopper, and place the other end into a small bowl of sanitizer.
You’ve just made a “blow-off tube”. It allows CO2 to escape while your beer ferments.
Place fermenter in a dark place at room temperature for 2-3 days or until vigorous bubbling subsides. You may notice bubbles and foam at the top of the beer. This is when fermentation is highest.
After bubbling subsides, clean your tubing and prepare your airlock (B).
Sanitize, then re-assemble airlock, filling up to line with sanitizer.
Insert airlock into hole in stopper.
Keep in a dark place for 2 weeks without disturbing other than to show off to friends.
If your beer is still bubbling after 2 weeks (either bubbles in your airlock or forming on the surface of your beer), leave your fermenter sitting for a few more days until all bubbles are gone. It can take an extra week or two if your beer continues to ferment. Try to be patient. Don’t rush it.
5A. BOTTLING
2 Weeks After Brew Day.
If you see bubbles on the surface of your fermenter, delay bottling a few days.
To start, thoroughly rinse beer bottles with water.
Mix remainder of sanitizer packet with water. Fill each bottle with a little sanitizer and shake. After 1 minute, empty bottles of sanitizer and drain upside down.
Dissolve 3 tablespoons honey with 1/2 cup water. (Try not to exceed 3 tablespoons.) Pour mixture into a sanitized pot. You will be siphoning your beer into the same pot in the next steps. Carbonation comes from adding sugar when bottling, so if you filled your jug with less than the
full gallon in the last step, use less honey when bottling. Using too much honey can result in your beer being over-carbon- ated.
Siphoning
(It all happens quickly, so you may want to practice with a pot of water.)
A. Attach open tubing clamp (G) to tubing.
B. Fill the flexible vinyl tubing with sanitizer. You can do this by submerging the coiled tubing in a bowl of sanitizer.
C. Attach the black racking cane tip to the long end of your racking cane. The tip will prevents sediment from getting sucked up when siphoning. Attach sanitized tubing to the short curved end of your sanitized racking cane. It will be a snug fit.
Run it under hot water if you’re having difficulty fitting the tubing onto the racking cane.
D. Pinch tubing clamp closed.
E. Remove screw-cap stopper from jug, and place racking cane into jug, just above the sediment at the bottom.
F. Lower end of tubing not connected to racking cane into sink. Suction will force beer up and through the racking cane and tubing. Open tubing clamp, let sanitizer flow into sink until beer just starts to flow out of the tubing, then clamp shut. Open clamp on tubing, allowing beer to flow into pot with sugar solution. Tilt jug when beer level is getting low, but be careful in not sucking up the sediment.
5B. CLOSE YOUR BOTTLES
After filling your pot, siphon the beer from the pot into bottles, pinching the tubing clamp to the stop flow after each bottle.
Close bottles either using self-closing swing top bottles or a bottle capper and caps.
Once you're all done bottling, store your beer in a dark place for 2 weeks.
6. ENJOY!
After a couple weeks, chill your beer completely in the fridge, and enjoy!
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