Anyone have a New Belgium Abbey clone recipe?

Beernip · 06-05-2009, 10:21 PM

I haven't been able to find a clone recipe for this brew and am interested in making a clone. Only info I can find on their website is.

Quote:

Abbey is a Belgian dubbel (or double) brewed with six different malts and an authentic Belgian yeast strain. Abbey is bottle-conditioned, weighs in at 7.0% alcohol by volume, and pairs well with chocolate (or boldly served by itself) for dessert.

All help appreciated.

Beernip · 06-10-2009, 06:46 PM

Well, still interested in making this clone. I sent an email to New Belgium in hopes of getting some information back to help. My request was sent over to one of the assistant brewmasters. The reply was that much of that info in confidential but here is what he could give me.

Quote:

The malt bill is Pale, Munich, Caramel (80), and Chocolate malt. Hops are Target, Willamette and Liberty. The 2 step mash takes about an hour. The starting Plato is 17. Sugar is added to the boil. The most important part, of course is the yeast. Our founder acquired ours in Belgium many years ago but you can get pretty close to a flavor match with White Labs WL 500 from a homebrew shop.

A couple of concerns. One is that he only lists 4 grains when the website says 6. Can any of you give some educated guess about the other two? Aromatic & Biscuit?

I have never done a two step mash before but also read an interview with the head brew master in that the majority of their beers are done as a single mash @ 68C. Would a single temp mash still work? What would the concerns doing it this way?

Here is the recipe I came up with. Your comments and criticism would be appreciated.

Type: All Grain
Date: 6/5/2009
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 6.41 gal
Boil Time: 60 min Equipment: Brew Pot (7.5 gal) and Igloo Cooler (10 Gal)
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.0

Ingredients

Amount Item Type % or IBU
9.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) Bel (3.0 SRM) Grain 72.3 %
1.50 lb Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 12.0 %
0.50 lb Caramunich Malt (56.0 SRM) Grain 4.0 %
0.25 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) Grain 2.0 %
0.10 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 0.8 %
0.10 lb Special B Malt (180.0 SRM) Grain 0.8 %
0.45 oz Target [11.00%] (60 min) Hops 16.4 IBU
0.50 oz Liberty [4.30%] (20 min) Hops 4.3 IBU
0.50 oz Williamette [5.50%] (5 min) (Aroma Hop-Steep) Hops -
1.00 lb Candi Sugar, Clear (0.5 SRM) Sugar 8.0 %
1 Pkgs Trappist Ale (White Labs #WLP500) Yeast-Ale

Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.070 SG
Measured Original Gravity: 1.071 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.016 SG Measured Final Gravity: 1.016 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 7.0 % Actual Alcohol by Vol: 7.2 %
Bitterness: 20.7 IBU Calories: 322 cal/pint
Est Color: 14.8 SRM Color: Color

pinarphan · 09-02-2009, 04:31 AM

Did you brew this? How was it?

Beernip · 09-02-2009, 10:22 PM

Close.. I did end up brewing a version of this but more closely matches their Abbey Grand Cru if you have tried it. Ended up at a little over 9% and has been in the secondary for two months now. I stole a sip about two weeks ago and tastes really good and not that far off the original. The fruit flavors are more mild with mind but I think that it was because I got busy and didn't raise the temps during the fermentation from 68. Meant to bump it up to 75 after 2 days.

Was thinking about bottling it up this weekend and letting it finish aging there.

Beernip · 09-08-2009, 08:26 PM

I did end up brewing this recipe on Sunday and dumping it on top of the Abbey Grand Cru yeast cake. My total volume ended up only being 4 gallons and had to top off with so my OG ended up at 1.065 and not 1.069. Fermentation kicked off within 10 hours and had it up to 74 this morning and was going like crazy. I may add a little more sugar to bump up the abv to the expected 7% from current 6.5%

surferdrew · 01-04-2010, 02:20 AM

Stumbled across this post a few months late but I've been trying to find a Abbey Grand Cru clone and this is the closest I could find.

I've never done an all-grain before...did you end up doing a two step mash with this?

Anything you would do differently next time around?

Cheers!

Beernip · 01-04-2010, 11:20 PM

Yes, I have a few things that I would change the next time around. Overall I think it is a very good first try. I let the temp creep too high during initial fermentation (hit 70) and has too much banana esters in it compared to the original. It is very slight but I don't remember any in the original.

If I remember right I only did a single step mash. I think I would up the Crystal and Special B in the recipe slightly. I'll try to post my original recipe once I get home late tonight.

Edit: This is directed towards my Abbey Grand Cru clone attempt 1.

surferdrew · 01-05-2010, 04:33 AM

thanks for the quick reply!

If you get a chance, Id love to see your recipe that produced the Abbey Grand Cru clone. I'm newer on the home brew scene and have only done extract but am ready to step it up a notch.

Thanks!

SpanishCastleAle · 01-05-2010, 02:16 PM

Regarding the use of 6 malts instead of 4:

I just did the 90-minute tour of the New Belgium brewery in Ft. Collins last week. When we went upstairs to look at the top of the Mash Tun/Lauter Tun/Holding Tank/Kettle I looked over the rail and saw a pallet with several labeled barrels of grain (and took a pic). There were 7 barrels and one partially full blue/plastic bag. The barrels were labeled: Rahr Pale 2-row, Coors Pale 2-row, Carapils, Caramel 80, Briess Victory, Briess Munich, and the last one appears to be labeled: MENA. I have no idea what the MENA is. But in any case, it appears that they use 2 different types of Pale 2-row (at least sometimes). Maybe that's one of the 'extra' malts.

surferdrew · 01-05-2010, 03:15 PM

SpanishCastleAle,

That's some good reconnaissance work! Thanks for sharing.