NHC 2010 medal winning recipes

[Tilt]

A wee while down the track but are there any willing placegetters or medallists from NHC 2010 who are happy to share their recipes in the spirit of inspiring up-and-comers or plain wannabes?

The judging comments seemed to point towards a lower standard of entries as a whole last year - but there must have been some gems with new and interesting innovations amongst the rabble ....lets hear about them for the sake of lifting the bar in 2011! 

 

[MrC]

You may also be interested in this then:

 

Bronze Medal Tripel Blog

 

Fermentation temps were a little high on this beer though and the bananas brought the score down apparently.  Solid recipe though.  Similar to Moa St Joseph I reckon.

[Tilt]

Mmm...St Joseph.  Worth taking a shot at that.  Excellent blog pics too MrC - those'll give me a good reference for getting the wort colour right. 

So do you add your inverted sugar as the krausen subsides (day 3-4ish?). 

Also, have you tried a range of Belgian yeasts.  I've yet to step into that field and am a little awed by range and flavours that aren't overly familiar.  Where's a good place to start?

[MrC]

I added the inverted sugar at day 3 when krausen was high.  After that it went completely nuts. Foaming out the airlock for two days.  

 

The trick with these Belgians is the temp control.  I started at 18C and let it raise to 21-22C over one week, which seems fairly standard.  I think the problem with this beer though was that by the time I added the inverted sugar at day three, the temp was already around 20C which was too warm, hence the bananas.

 

Wyeast 3522 Ardennes is a good place to start for Belgian Pale Ale or Belgian Blonde I reckon. Think Tuatara Ardennes or Achouffe.

[Tilt]

I had my first bottle of La Chouffe a few weeks ago and it just made me want to have a go at this style even more...  Your tips will be invaluable on this one I think MrC - thanks.