Lazy Monk Belgian Ale
 

Lazy Monk Belgian Ale is a variation on the Northern Brewer "Phat Tyre" beer kit. Since this is more Belgian than Fat Tire, I've named it Lazy Monk since it's a Fat, Tired Abbey Style.

Fermentables:

6 lbs Munich Malt LME
1 lb Extra Light DME

.5 lbs Victory malt (grain)
.5 lbs Caramel 60l (grain)
.25 lbs Belgian Aromatic (grain)
.5 lbs 6 row (grain)

Hops:
1 oz Liberty, pellet @ 60
1 oz Hallertauer, whole @ 15
1 oz Hallertauer, whole @ 5

Yeast:
Wyeast 1762, Belgian Abbey II

Extras:
Irish Moss @ 15

I had my first taste last night, after 8 days in the bottle.

Color:
Nice, amber-brown. Beige head on it.

Clarity:
Probably my clearest beer to date. No chill haze. Some yeast chunks prevalent due to lack of filtration. I might consider tying some cheesecloth around the bottom of my racking cane if I use the Abbey II again.

Head:
Semi-dense and beige. Retained the head for a good amount of time.

Taste:
A bit too much like LME. Intense caramel flavor that seemed to overpower. Almost a cloying sweetness, despite the 3oz of hops. The flavor didn't leave my mouth as quickly as I typically prefer. Hops are barely noticeable.

Mouthfeel:
Too much. As it stands, it's not a session beer because it's too chewy.


Overall:
Has the makings of a fine beer, but it definitely needs more rest. I don't know that I would use the LME again, and I'm just about to the point where the *ME taste has me ready to go AG. I'm already scouting out coolers. I'm going to try this again next weekend and I hope the flavors die down by then, as I want to pass this out as a Fourth of July brau. I'm sure a lot of people would like it as-is, but it's not perfect enough for me.

Sounds like a nice recipe. I am a newbie so would you mind giving me some more info. At what temperature do you steep the grain? Then boil with LME and DME for an hour? How long to do primary fermentation at what temp? And how long to do secondary fermentation? And do you bottle? How much priming sugar?

Thanks,