First Belgian

I am brewing my first Belgian tonight. I figure if you can't beat the heat, go with it! My question is whether or not I should add table sugar (maybe invert sugar?) to the following:

- 1lbs Franco-Belges Pilsner malt
- 0.63lb Simpsons Golden Naked Oats
- 0.63lb Weyermann Acidulated malt
- 0.63lb Aromatic malt
- 6 lbs Pilsen malt syrup
WYEAST 3522 BELGIAN ARDENNES

Is this a 5 gallon batch? What style of belgian brew are you going for? Sugar is common to many, but not all, belgian styles.

I was aiming for a Saison.

I'd go with the sugar then. I'd rather error on the dry side vs sweet side for a saison.

Do you think a pound is good?

A lb should be fine. It's usually a good idea to keep it in the 10% or less range. With the sugar, you'll be right at 10 lbs, so 1 lb would be right there at 10%.

I made a last minute decision and decided to brew it by recipe the first time and possibly tweak it next time.

Part of that decision was due to a need go easy on the yeast. First I couldn't make it home to get the starter going so I decided to brew anyway and pitch directly. Then I had a malfunction of my Smack Pack. I wiggled the inner nutrient pack into a corner and smacked it between my palms like the directions said and popped a hole in the bottom! I only lost a few drops but still... I like my dry yeast more and more every day...

Update: 6 hours later there were no bubbles but I wasn't worried and went on to work. By the time I got back from work, 16 hours after pitch, it was bubbling like crazy. By that night I counted 109 bubbles a minute and this morning my airlock was all gunked up. I cleaned up and resanitized, re-installed and went to work. When I got home it was even gunkier! So anyway.... looks like the yeast survived the 5 days of shipping and malfunctioning Smack Pack just fine!

If you still want to add sugar you can add it after fermentation begins to slow. It is a technique that is used often. This way the yeast can work on the wort and when things slow down they then get desert.

I'll be doing my first Belgian (also an original recipe) on Saturday. I'm using that same yeast. When I picked it out, every thread I read about it said that it tends to go a bit crazy. I'm planning on doing a starter, even though I might not need to.

Update:

I made this recipe again but put in the pound of date sugar this time and fermented at 80-85 degrees. I let it sit in primary for 6 weeks before I went to bottle. I siphoned the first gallon into a gallon jar with a dregs of a bottle of Brux, planning to age for another year, then bottled the rest.

As I was cleaning up, I noticed the empty, sanitized, 1-gallon jug and realized that I just siphoned my beer into the wrong one!!! If it was semi clean, I might let it ride and see but I had set that jug aside because it had a tiny spot of mold in a corner that I didn't feel like cleaning, so I went to get a cleaner one. I am so bummed!

BTW, I've never had a Saison before so nothing to compare it to, but the first batch tastes great to me! It sort of has a white wine/champagne flavor I've never had in a beer before, with just a touch of peach/mango. Great stuff! The taster from the second batch is pretty good too - It has more of the clove flavor I was looking for. I could also definitely taste the dates, which kind of surprised me.

I ended up brewing 2 batches with this yeast (pitched directly on the yeast from the first batch). Did a belgian dark strong which I ended up bulk aging for about 2 and a half (almost 3) months before bottling. It's been in bottles for a few weeks now. Just tried a bottle the other night. The primary fermentation started around 70 F and peaked at about 77 F, but then it sat in the 60s the rest of the time. I got a lot of spicyness in the flavor. Probably as much from the hops as the yeast. I don't think it was quite fully carbonated yet. After sitting that long, I think it needs a little more time before it'll be fully ready.

Also did a belgian dubbel and that one came out great. Thoroughly carbed after 2 weeks, with great (but not too strong) banana and clove aromas along with some spicyness from the hops. I fermented this one a bit cooler; it got to maybe 73 or so at the warmest.

I used candi syrup (one was made from beet sugar, can't remember about the other one) in both of those batches. I added it into the boil along with the other fermentables.

Just curious, did you add your date sugar at the beginning of the boil? Late in the boil? Or in the primary after the main active fermentation has slowed?

I added the date sugar when the fermentation was starting to slow down.