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RIT_Warrior · 04-21-2011, 07:03 PM

Going to try my first Belgian beer this weekend, and as I love Dubbels I figure I'd make one of those.

OG 1.071
Mash at 150
84% efficiency

5# English Pale
4.5# US 2-row
.5# Carapils
.5# Special B
1# D2 Syrup
1# Turbadino
1oz Willamette (60 min)
1oz Willamette (15 min)
Wyeast 1214 (Chimay)

I'm shooting for starting the fermentation at 64 and then letting it go where it wants to go (probably mid-70s).

What do you guys think? Any recommendations?

benbradford · 04-21-2011, 07:16 PM

I have had good success with saaz and spalter hops with my belgian strong ales.

You could also consider a little frech oak to add to secondary for a week or so and see how you like it.

Be careful with how you treat the yeast, an make sure that it is ready, as there is a benefit if it can get the beer down to a low gravity and hopefully it will have a nice dry mouth.

bknifefight · 04-21-2011, 07:21 PM

It looks good but I would put all of your hops into bittering. The Chimay yeast can throw a lot of banana and bubble gum so it is a good idea keeping it on the low end to start out with. The oak sounds good but that's just because I like oak. If this is your first dubbel, don;t oak it. You'll want to taste it on its own and the oak will add one more flavor in there that will make it difficult to tweak the recipe to your specs.

SickTransitMundus · 04-21-2011, 07:53 PM

I'd suggest raising the special B content. I usually push it to 10% of the grain bill for dubbels, more for quads. Gives it a rich raisin-malt background. I also use Caramunich a lot, as it behaves a lot like carapils but adds color.

If you're going to use Willamette hops, put them all into bittering. The aroma/flavor of Willamette isn't quite appropriate for the style. Flavoring hops are optional for Belgians, but I use Styrian Goldings - hard to find - or Saaz, Mt. Hood, or even Liberty for 15-minute additions.

Oak would be fascinating. I gotta try that on my next dubbel.

RIT_Warrior · 04-21-2011, 11:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by benbradford

I have had good success with saaz and spalter hops with my belgian strong ales.

You could also consider a little frech oak to add to secondary for a week or so and see how you like it.

Be careful with how you treat the yeast, an make sure that it is ready, as there is a benefit if it can get the beer down to a low gravity and hopefully it will have a nice dry mouth.

Saaz would actually be my second choice for a flavor hop, I actually think I have some on hand, I'll use it if I do. Actually one of the reasons I went for Willamette is that I had seen Styrian Goldings listed as a flavoring hop for many dubbels, and I have a decent amount of Willamette around which is waiting to be used up.

The oak is a good idea, and I actually oaked my very first batch with success, but I think I'll leave that for the next batch. I was hoping to make this one simple.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bknifefight

It looks good but I would put all of your hops into bittering. The Chimay yeast can throw a lot of banana and bubble gum so it is a good idea keeping it on the low end to start out with. The oak sounds good but that's just because I like oak. If this is your first dubbel, don;t oak it. You'll want to taste it on its own and the oak will add one more flavor in there that will make it difficult to tweak the recipe to your specs.

I actually thought the same on the hops, but I checked the Trappist beers in "Brew Like A Monk", and it looks like almost all of the Dubbels there use flavoring hops. I am thinking about getting rid of them anyway though.

Yep, I would like to keep the temperatures down for the first few days. It is rather cool in my apartment now, so

Quote:

Originally Posted by SickTransitMundus

I'd suggest raising the special B content. I usually push it to 10% of the grain bill for dubbels, more for quads. Gives it a rich raisin-malt background. I also use Caramunich a lot, as it behaves a lot like carapils but adds color.

If you're going to use Willamette hops, put them all into bittering. The aroma/flavor of Willamette isn't quite appropriate for the style. Flavoring hops are optional for Belgians, but I use Styrian Goldings - hard to find - or Saaz, Mt. Hood, or even Liberty for 15-minute additions.

Oak would be fascinating. I gotta try that on my next dubbel.

I thought that Styrian Goldings is a form of Fuggles, and that Willamette was also a form of Fuggles:
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Styrian_Goldings
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Willamette

I went with Willamette specifically because it was similar to Styrian Goldings, actually, which I see some Trappist breweries use as a flavoring hop. I figured that if the Trappists were brewing in the US they would just use Willamette instead of Fuggles or Styrian Goldings.

Caramunich is a good idea, but I'm actually already quite a bit darker then BJCP guidelines already if the 160 SRM on the D2 is to be believed (I have my doubts), so the color in it would probably push me into stout-darkness territory, even if I replaced the turbadino with white cane sugar. I was actually thinking of using torrefied wheat, but I have the carapils on hand so I just went with that.

kanzimonson · 04-22-2011, 01:23 PM

I think the recipe's good except for the carapils. Either use some wheat for body, or caramunich for caramel flavors, or both.

And it's spelled "turbinado," although I'd love to witness you asking for turbadino sugar at the grocery store (make sure to use the thickest, dumbest, southern accent you can muster)!

RIT_Warrior · 04-22-2011, 02:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kanzimonson

I think the recipe's good except for the carapils. Either use some wheat for body, or caramunich for caramel flavors, or both.

And it's spelled "turbinado," although I'd love to witness you asking for turbadino sugar at the grocery store (make sure to use the thickest, dumbest, southern accent you can muster)!

Wow I made a mess of that spelling didn't I. I can't even claim dyslexia, as I switched around like 6 letters.

DrawTap88 · 04-22-2011, 05:16 PM

A lot of the dubbel recipes that I've seen have some aromatic malt in there.

GuldTuborg · 04-22-2011, 07:09 PM

I second the recipe as fine, but for the carapils. It seems out of place to me, and works against making the beer "digestible," as the Belgians seem to say. Contrary to what others have said, I think Willamette will work fine. Most Belgian brewers tend to use a bittering and 30 minute addition, but do what you like. A 15 minute wouldn't be all bad, but I'd keep it to maybe 1/2 oz.

RIT_Warrior · 04-22-2011, 10:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DrawTap88

A lot of the dubbel recipes that I've seen have some aromatic malt in there.

I was actually hoping to keep the malt bill as simple as possible for this particular recipe (I didn't add in the Special B until recently, actually). In a couple of weeks I'm planning another Dubbel with a "kitchen sink" malt bill...then hopefully I'll see what is best. I'll post that recipe in this thread when I figure it out.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GuldTuborg

I second the recipe as fine, but for the carapils. It seems out of place to me, and works against making the beer "digestible," as the Belgians seem to say. Contrary to what others have said, I think Willamette will work fine. Most Belgian brewers tend to use a bittering and 30 minute addition, but do what you like. A 15 minute wouldn't be all bad, but I'd keep it to maybe 1/2 oz.

Good idea on the hops. I'll move the 15 minute addition it to 30 minutes and adjust the IBUs down accordingly.

No love for the Carapils from anyone, though. All I'm actually trying to do with it is head retention...but I see everyone's point that it will add unfermentables that are rather unwanted in this recipe. Anyone have any ideas for how to increase head retention without carapils? I've heard people suggest wheat before, but I've never used wheat and I'm not sure what it would do to this particular recipe.