Le Gout d'Orval
Was suddenly thinking of Orval and realized I had one stashed in the basement, which I am now sipping. So, this is a bit proleptic since I don't intend to take on such a project for a while at least, but brewing an Orval-ish beer really appeals to me and I think that it might not be that unduly difficult. I guess what I love about Orval is that it combines the wonderful yeast complexity that is the hallmark of Belgian beers with an English-style dry hopping rare on the continent. What's not to like? Plus it has that little lambic-y twang. In fact it's more like lambic than the only lambic I can get in this area . . . Damned Lindemann's. Excepting Cuvee Renee of course.
The O.G. is 1040 at the all-malt stage and then ramped up to 1052 with candi sugar. The malts are all pale with a small amount of some kind of caramel to get that orange glow. The hops are apparently Hallertau and Styrian Goldings--though I've heard Kents elsewhere. Yeast-wise, the main Orval yeast is available--White Labs 510. Then, once it got down to perhaps 1008 or 1010, one could pitch a small quantity of Brettanomyces to get that little hit of tartness, dry hopping at the same time. I used to think of hops as the key to Orval, but now that I've been brewing for a while I'm thinking it's all about the yeast. Yes, a thorough bittering with low-alpha-acid hops would be a must, plus the requisite flavor additions and the very distinctive and, I suspect, rather liberal dry hopping, but clearly the trademark dryness, the slight puckeriness, and the lambic-y bouquet have a ton to do with the yeast. So, within one year of today, February 9, I will cook up a batch. Why not? In the meantime, I will just think of monks and smile despite plunking down five bucks for a bottle every couple months. I'm thinking one could brew 5 or 6 gallons for, oh, 30 bucks, counting pricey yeasts.
Note that when returning to this post and brewing Orval, the monastery's website has valuable brewing information: For instance, Hallertau's may be a bigger part of the flavor than I might've guessed.
The O.G. is 1040 at the all-malt stage and then ramped up to 1052 with candi sugar. The malts are all pale with a small amount of some kind of caramel to get that orange glow. The hops are apparently Hallertau and Styrian Goldings--though I've heard Kents elsewhere. Yeast-wise, the main Orval yeast is available--White Labs 510. Then, once it got down to perhaps 1008 or 1010, one could pitch a small quantity of Brettanomyces to get that little hit of tartness, dry hopping at the same time. I used to think of hops as the key to Orval, but now that I've been brewing for a while I'm thinking it's all about the yeast. Yes, a thorough bittering with low-alpha-acid hops would be a must, plus the requisite flavor additions and the very distinctive and, I suspect, rather liberal dry hopping, but clearly the trademark dryness, the slight puckeriness, and the lambic-y bouquet have a ton to do with the yeast. So, within one year of today, February 9, I will cook up a batch. Why not? In the meantime, I will just think of monks and smile despite plunking down five bucks for a bottle every couple months. I'm thinking one could brew 5 or 6 gallons for, oh, 30 bucks, counting pricey yeasts.
Note that when returning to this post and brewing Orval, the monastery's website has valuable brewing information: For instance, Hallertau's may be a bigger part of the flavor than I might've guessed.
posted by Jason | 9:15 PM
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