urban trappist brewery

image from this fra angelico painting

Biography

In many ways, this was the sequel to Ichabod's Headless Autumn Ale, which was delightful but clearly flawed. So, I tried to level out the spices, learn how to give head to my beer, and use the proper yeast for the style. Where I had gotten lucky by using a Saison yeast, here I got smart with a Belgian yeast and appropriate spices.

Creation

This first effort at a higher gravity beer required two mash tuns, which turned into quite a production, trying to split everything evenly. I wish I would have tested the yield in each, because one was clearly thinner than the other. Straining and sparging was quite a production, too, and included a stuck runoff. But, once that got fixed, the boil went beautifully and produced probably the best brewing aroma, even better than Dark Night of the Soul's pseudo-Starbucks scent.

Stats

Style: Winter Warmer
Base Grains: Maris Otter, Vienna, White Wheat
Adjunct Grains: Victory, Aromatic, Munich, Biscuit
Hops: Magnum (dear God, it's beautiful!)
Curious Additives: Coconut, Cinnamon, Mace, Aniseed, Ginger, Bourbon Extract, Frangelico
Yeast: WLP 500 - Belgian Ale
OG: 1.062 / FG: 1.012
ABV: Neighborhood of 7%
Color: Burnt Orange
Head: Meager
Flavors: At first release, it was a safari of spices, which is not a compliment. Certain beasts popped up here or there, but no harmony tied together the beer's landscape. After a few months in storage, everything merged in a happy orgy of festive flavors. Still, a little on the sweet side.