You Are Not In America Now Belgian Ale

My buddies and I went to Munich for Oktoberfest this year followed by a week in the Netherlands. We drank a lot of great German, Dutch and Belgian beers while we were there. We can get a lot of them here in Colorado, but not Palm. This is my attempt at something similar.

Brewer:	Doug Kraus		Email:	doug.kraus@mac.com
Beer:	You Are Not In America Now Belgian Ale		Style:	Belgian Pale Ale
Type:	Extract w/grain		Size:	5 gallons
Color:	21 HCU (~12 SRM)		Bitterness:	26 IBU
OG:	1.054		FG:	1.012
Alcohol:	5.4% v/v (4.2% w/w)
Water:	Used tap water set out for a few hours to de-chlorinate. I put 1 tsp gypsum in the boil pot, but none in the grain or sparge pots.
Grain:	8 oz. Belgian pale 4 oz. Belgian Special B
Steep:	Put grains in a grain bag and into .75 gallons of water. Brought to about 170 degrees and into a 150 degree oven for 45 minutes. Sparged with another .75 gallons of water at about 170 degrees.
Boil:	60 minutes	SG 1.054	5 gallons
	6 lb. Light malt extract 1 lb. Amber malt extract
	Did not use any irish moss as I didn't have any. I did not intentionally omit it and will make sure to use it next time.
Hops:	.33 oz. Chinook (11.8% AA, 60 min.) .5 oz. Perle (6.2% AA, 60 min.) .75 oz. Mt. Hood (aroma)
Yeast:	Whitelabs WLP550 Belgian Ale Yeast. Took out of fridge 2 hours prior to the brew. No yeast starter. Pitched at 82 degrees.
Log:	Brewed 7-Oct, racked to secondary 21-Oct and kegged 27-Oct. Primary is 7 gal glass carboy, secondary is 5 gal glass carboy. Fermentation was very active for two and a half weeks at 66 degrees.
Carbonation:	Bubbled CO2 into keg through beer line side at 50 PSI and rocked for a few minutes. Release pressure the next day and repeated. On day three I released pressure again and then carbonated normally with very low PSI. It was ready to drink on day 4.
Tasting:	The beer was a little cloudy due to no irish moss, but this isn't really an issue. Body is nice and remarkably light for the color. Hops are noticable but not overpowering. This yeast created paint sour tones as should be present in a Belgian. I am very pleased with this recipe and will certainly keep it and work it into my rotation along with Angus IPA.

Recipe posted 11/18/07.