Brew #9: Bier de Noel (Belgian Golden Strong Ale)

I wanted to make a big beer for the first time, so I decided to make a Belgian for Christmas.  My dad sat in as assistant brewer on this one too.  Based on a recipe from HBT called Pink Elephant:

Pilsener (Belgian) 6.50 lb

10 min @ 125F mash-in, 45 min @ 144F, 30 min @ 158F, 172F mashout.

Styrian Golding 0.75 oz,60 min

Saaz 0.50 oz,15 min

Beet Sugar 1.00 lb, 10 min

Coriander Seed 7.20 grams, 10 min

Ginger 2.40 grams, Spice, 10 min

Paradise 2.40 grams, Spice, 10 min

WLP570 (1L starter)

S-04 (dry)

I did a couple things different than the original recipe: fresh ground pepper instead of grains of paradise, and half as much by weight; used corn (priming) sugar instead of beet sugar; mashed at 151dF for 90 min. with a 10 min mashout at 170dF.  Original recipe didn't give AAUs for the hops, but I calculated 21 IBUs with what I used.

7/17: Made a starter.  Gravity was around 1.043.  Size is about a liter.  Pitched WLP570 into that.

7/19: Brew day.  Started with just over 5 gals. of strike water.  Used wort to sparge instead of water.  Got just over 3 gals. out, and hit the target gravity perfectly.  Final gravity is supposed to be 1.006.  

Fermenting progress:

7/19:1.072 (17.5 Brix) Left the fermenter with my dad and told him to put it in the warmest, out of the way spot in their house for a week.

7/26: 1.003 (7.4 Brix measured).  Assuming this is FG as it is 3 pts. lower than expected.  Told Dad to move carboy to a mini fridge to cold crash.  ABV should come out to 9%.

7/29: Cold crashed in fridge.

8/19: Took out of fridge and put in garage.

8/26: Bottled what turned out to be just shy of 2.5 gal. in bottling bucket with about 2.5 oz of priming sugar for about 2.7 vol. of carb.  Got 26 12 oz bottles out.

10/4: Drank one and it was good.  Maybe a bit drier than expected though.

12/1: Brought beer from parents' garage to my basement in Holland.  Drank one and it was amazing.

12/30 - 12/31: Finished the last two sixers with my fam for our Christmas party, and our New Years party.  The booziness is gone.  The yeastiness might be a bit much.  Everyone thought it was amazeballs.