Abbot's Bottom Drawer (Patersbier)

The second brew day on the Labor Day weekend is one of my favorites so far. I did the extract version of Patersbier earlier in the year and couldn't wait to do an all-grain version. This is an awesome beer, enough to say it twice because it's double awesome.

The grist for this brew is all Belgian pilsner malt with a fair amount of noble hopping and it uses the catch all Westmalle yeast, Wyeast 3787. It's rather idiot proof to brew actually and makes a freaking awesome beer. 

Kristen England, the guy who came up with the original recipe, has just opened a brewery and this one will be one of his flagships. NB has a new interview with him here, just in time for this blog post. 

It's also my favorite beer to take photos of for some reason. 

It makes an excellent treat after mowing.

Here's a shot of the extract version. It was a bit cloudy I thought. It's also all gone...

This is all grain version.

It also rocks pretty hard when you are soloing a few bombers during a brew day. 

...and again when brewing

Note the huge billowy head. The carbonation was set at 2.5 volumes of CO2. After a month in the bottle the head was almost meringue-like.

It's a light and fruity Belgian single with moderate noble hop spice character. It's also awesome. Did I already say that? 

The recipe is below. I ordered from Brewmasters Warehouse. Because I don't yet have a grain mill I get the grains crushed by them. So far the crush has been excellent so no complaints there. 

OG 1.048

FG 1.007

84% measured attenuation

Grains

9 lbs Belgian Pilsner

Hops 

1.00 German Tradition 6 % AA 60 min

.50 oz Czech Saaz 4% AA 60 min 

.50 oz Czech Saaz 4% AA 10 min

I mashed nice and low at 147F for an hour to ensure an extra-fermentable wort. The extract kit has some corn sugar used in the boil to dry out the beer. I didn't use any extra sugar but this one finished nice and low at 1.007.

After chilling I pitched straight from the smack pack and fermented at ambient late summer cellar temps of 70-72F. This beer is so straightforward I didn't need to secondary at all, I just bottled straight up after 12 days. 

I have 6 more bombers left. I guess it's time to do another one soon!