I think the kind of esters that a lot of people typically associate with belgian beers don't show up in Westvleteren/beers fermented with the Westmalle yeast. The yeast gives it some smooth dried fig, raisin, plum fruity esters, and then some like really pleasant cocoa candied banana phenolics. Spiciness and earthiness are fairly low and its not going to compete with the spicy ester characters of say Allagash Tripel Reserve, Affligem, Duvel, Leffe, De Konick etc
Do you think escalating the temp from pitch temp to the 82-84*F, as Brother Joris kindly has let us know, at a slower rate would make it closer to the authentic beer?
I was thinking increasing it to 82-84*F over maybe 3 days, was a competitive idea.
If you use the right amount of Westmalle yeast (white labs WLP530, wyeast 3787) the beer will be nearly done fermenting in 3 days. Just chill your wort to 65f after the boil is over, pitch your yeast, and let it rise naturally and try to keep it from going over 84f.
Having a bottle of my clone for the first time in several months right now. It's aging beautifully. Any hotness from the alcohol has died down leaving only a wonderful malty, caramel-y body with fig and raisin overtones and a smooth, long, dry finish. The aroma is much stronger than I remember, a dark, malty perfume coming off and suggesting a thick caramel richness.
How are everyone else's doing?
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I'm too lazy and have too many beers going to keep updating this!
I'm drinking the clone I made based on all your collaborative efforts. It's a great beer with a rich raisin taste and chocolatey hint at the end. Definitely has a dry taste like yours at the end the makes you want to come back for more. The head retention on this thing is a beast. I wish I would have bottled some but I had just got my kegging setup finished and wanted to keg it as I was sooooo tired of dealing with bottles. I realized it was a no no for a beer like this but decided I didn't care that day.
Thanks again for all the info guys. I used Snickasauraus rex recipes for malliard sugars to make a candi syrup knock off (search for 20# of sugar and yeast nutrient). It tasted great before I added it to the fermentor. Although I've never tasted the real product I was happy with how it turned out. However, if I had to do it over again I would add 3 pounds of the dark recipe rather than 1.5# of dark and 1.5# of amber.
Thanks again for all the help guys..... an awesome beer.
No problem, this was an awesome project. One thing we learned from the competition is to experiment! You can get lots of good flavors with this base recipe.
My next brewing will be the 4th that I've not intended for other souring projects and I think its going to be something like this.
The big changes is the D1 and D2 being a 50/50 mix as I think you need both of them to get the flavors right. The Caramunich and SpecialB are there to add a little bit of extra complexity.
Ingredients:
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Amount Item Type % or IBU
7.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 39.44 %
7.00 lb Pilsner (2 Row) Bel (2.0 SRM) Grain 39.44 %
0.50 lb Caramunich Malt (56.0 SRM) Grain 2.82 %
0.25 lb Special B Malt (180.0 SRM) Grain 1.41 %
1.00 oz Northern Brewer [8.50 %] (90 min) Hops 24.8 IBU
1.00 oz Styrian Goldings [4.10 %] (30 min) Hops 8.6 IBU
1.00 oz Hallertauer Hersbrucker [2.40 %] (30 min)Hops 5.0 IBU
1.00 items Servomyces (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
1.00 items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
6.00 oz Malto-Dextrine (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
2.00 lb Dark 1 Belgian Candi Syrup (80.0 SRM) Sugar 11.27 %
1.00 lb Dark 2 Belgian Candi Syrup (160.0 SRM) Sugar 5.63 %
1 Pkgs Abbey Ale (White Labs #WLP530) Yeast-Ale
Mash Schedule: Decoction Mash, Double
Total Grain Weight: 14.75 lb
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Decoction Mash, Double
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
35 min Protein Rest Add 25.81 qt of water at 127.2 F 122.0 F
20 min Saccharification Decoct 8.45 qt of mash and boil it 147.0 F
20 min Saccharification Decoct 5.15 qt of mash and boil it 158.0 F
10 min Mash Out Heat to 168.0 F over 10 min 168.0 F
If I had to do it over again I would try the Belgian candi syrup just to see what it tastes like compared to what I was able to make. I would also ferment at a slightly higher temp as I wasn't able to hit the right temp.
If you use the right amount of Westmalle yeast (white labs WLP530, wyeast 3787) the beer will be nearly done fermenting in 3 days. Just chill your wort to 65f after the boil is over, pitch your yeast, and let it rise naturally and try to keep it from going over 84f.
I pitched at 63 and let it rise naturally; I am currently at about 60 hours. At 52 hours it started to go over 82 deg. so fermentation freezer kicked in to hold temp. My question is it is starting to drop temp because the most active part of fermentation is done, should I hold the 82 deg temp. or let it fall naturally?
BLAM quotes Brother Joris of Westvleteren saying they pitch at 68f and let it rise to 82-84f. When apparant attenuation reaches 78-80% he starts cooling the beer to 68f. He says primary fermentation usually takes 4 to 6 days before they start cooling to "lagering" temperatures where they age the beer at 50f for 8 to 10 weeks.
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