ericd

Recipes 

Here's my working Belgian IPA recipe

It had these problems:
1) Too dark, beersmith says it should be 5.6 SRM color but it definately was a dark amber. Could it be my water?
2) Not malty enough, needs more maltiness to stand up to the hops, more vienna and aromatic malt?
3) Too bitter. I like the basic flavor of this one, but it's too bitter and piney. How would I make it more aromatic and floral?

Oldsock

Recipes 

1) Extract often ends up adding more color than expected. When are you adding it? Try adding it closer to the end of the boil.

2) By malty, do you mean malt character or sweetness? If you want more malt character I would split the basemalt between vienna and pils (although this would make the beer slightly darker). If you want sweetness i would up the mash temp (but then Belgians are known for being pretty dry).

3) I would use a less agressive hop than chinook. Use something smoother like magnum, galena, or warrior. You may also want to use some hops with a more mellow character, I had good luck with Sterling and Crystal in a Hoppy Tripel.

Hope that helps, good luck.

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Check out The Mad Fermentationist for my adventures in fermentation (cheese, bread, ginger beer plant, and of course plenty of funky beer).

ericd

Recipes 

1) I added the extract after fermtation had already started.
2) I'll try half vienna, half pils.
3) Thanks for the hop suggestions. Are there any "floral" high alpha hops out there? Like a high AA goldings variety? What do you think about nugget (never tried them)?

Oldsock

Recipes 

I’ve used nugget for bittering, but never for flavor, so I can’t speak to them. If you want EKG aroma, just use them at the end of the boil where you maximize aroma and the AA% doesn’t matter.

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Check out The Mad Fermentationist for my adventures in fermentation (cheese, bread, ginger beer plant, and of course plenty of funky beer).

mkling

Recipes 

The easiest thing to answer here is that it's too bitter because your IBUs are way too high for the amount of malt. You've got Imperial IPA bitterness and regular IPA malt. Your bitterness is over 110 IBU. That's huge especially for your light malt & use of candi sugar which lightens the body of any beer. Finally, all those hops probably overwhelmed any interesting Belgian yeast flavors.

Personally, I'd aim for bitterness in the 60 IBU range which fits with a conventional IPA & would bring forward more malt and Belgian yeast.

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Currently On Draft: Bamberger Rauch Dunkel, Belgian Blond, Pilsener Urquell clone, Smoked Porter
Bottled: Concord Pyment, Mi'Apa Sparkling Mead, Chimay Blue, Old Simcoe American Barleywine, Old Cantankerous
Fermenting and Conditioning: Pseudo-Decoction Munich Dunkel, Left Hook Bitter
Recently Kicked Kegs: Fresh Hop Pale Ale, Citra Rye IPA
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ericd

Recipes 

Okay i figure i'll halve the 60 minute addition an up the vienna and aromatic malts.

What do you all think about horizon for bittering instead of chinook? Anyone used them?

marc06

Recipes 

I've used chinook for bittering and I really like it. Terrapin had a special release beer something along the lines that your trying to make, it was freaking awsome. Check it out Terrapin Beer Athens, Georgia Microbrew Ale Pilsner

ChshreCat

Recipes 

I read this and it seemed so wrong... but then I couldn't really say why. I've never heard of someone adding extract to the fermenter. Did you just pour the syrup right in or how did you do it?

Technically, since the extract was boiled when it was made, it doesn't really need anything else, so why not?

This is a very interesting idea.

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JRPVR6

Recipes 

i have a recipe that calls for 2 oz chinook and 2 0z centennial for bittering hops...centennial for flavoring and horizon for aroma

last time i brewed i did 2 0z magnum and 1 oz chinook for bittering, 1 oz centennial flavoring, 1 oz chinook for aroma...

both times the beer has turned out great. Remarkably similar. I think the magnums i used were a really clean bittering hop comprable to horizons and it allowed the chinook bittering to shine through. Both batches i dry hopped with 2 oz horizons. good luck

ericd

Recipes 

Yeah i just poured the powder right in, I figured I'd give the yeast a chance to get started at a low gravity since it's easier for them then bump it up. I made the mistake of getting a 5 gal mash tun which I can only do 8 lbs (12 if I feel masochistic) of grain in it, which is why I use it.