Belgian Dark Strong Ale Easy Chimay Blue clone

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summersolstice

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 28, 2008
Messages
1,414
Reaction score
60
Location
Central Texas, USA
Recipe Type
Extract
Yeast
White Labs WLP 500 Belgian Trappist
Yeast Starter
Yes
Additional Yeast or Yeast Starter
N/A
Batch Size (Gallons)
5
Original Gravity
1.068
Final Gravity
1.0110
Boiling Time (Minutes)
60 mins
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
5 days @ 68F
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
10 days @ 68F
Additional Fermentation
N/A
Tasting Notes
Remarkably similar to Chimay Blue
Steep the grain in 3 gallons of water at 156F for 40 Minutes:

32 oz Munich Malt
8 oz Special B
8 oz CaraMunich
4 oz Belgian Aromatic
8 oz Torrified Wheat

Remove the grains and add another gallon of water and add:

3lbs Munich Malt Extract
4 lbs Amber Malt Extract

1 oz Hallertauer (60 mins)
1 oz Styrian Goldings (30 mins)

16 oz Lyle's Golden Syrup at 45 mins
2 packets dried wine yeast as nutrient at 45 mins.
1 Whirlflock tab at 45 mins

Cool wort to 75F and pitch yeast starter. Cool to ambient temperature and remain throughout fermentation. Bottle.
 
I'd be interested to know...has anyone else brewed this recipe? I'm sure it's great, summersolstice, I'd just like to know others' experience..."publish and be damned," as they say.


J
 
Two questions ( I'm really new but I love Chimay Blue ). Do you want DME or LME? Also, you didn't mention racking to secondary so is it not done? If it is after how long? Thanks for putting up with my newbishness.
 
Two questions ( I'm really new but I love Chimay Blue ). Do you want DME or LME? Also, you didn't mention racking to secondary so is it not done? If it is after how long? Thanks for putting up with my newbishness.

Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 10 days @ 68F
 
I'd be interested to know...has anyone else brewed this recipe? I'm sure it's great, summersolstice, I'd just like to know others' experience..."publish and be damned," as they say.


J

I second that. I'm really interested in finding a good Chimay Blue clone, but have not heard anything from people that have tried it. I guess it might take about six months to age though.
 
So, I'm trying this beer out, but had to make a couple substitutions due to lack of some ingredients at my homebrew supply store:

instead of the two types of malt extract, I used 7 lbs pale malt extract at the behest of the supply store owner (he said the colour/type of extract you use only matters if you're making extract only beer and doesn't matter at all if you're using partial grain?)

also he didn't have any Belgian Aromatic, so he substituted an equal amount of something else... can't remember what at the moment.

Finally, he didn't have any 'torrified' wheat, so just used wheat flakes.

Anyway, reason why I'm posting is I'm wondering what's up with the OG... the recipe states OG should be around 1.068, but mine was 1.054. I was a little disappointed by this, as I was looking forward to a good, strong brew. I know some subs have been made, but I wouldn't initially think they'd have this much of an effect on the OG. Any ideas why my OG may have been so low?
 
I brewed this recipe and it turned out great (flavor wise). It was only my second batch when I chose to brew this so my technique was not there. I think that I may have mashed at too high a temp and I did not use a yeast starter. My hydrometer was broken and I think my attenuation was off because I dont think I hit the proper FG.

But, the flavor is right where it should be. I had a friend bring a bottle of Chimay Blue over the other night and we sampled them back to back and they were very close. All in all, I think that if you have good technique and use a really healthy starter, oxygenate well, and watch your gravity you should be great.

Beer Captured has a different clone recipe for this brew.
 
This looks really good... I'm really interested in making a Chimay Blue Clone... My only question (may be because i'm new) is someone mentioned this beer taking 6 months, is that true? If so, why does this take so long?
Thanks for putting up with the noob questions...
 
This looks really good... I'm really interested in making a Chimay Blue Clone... My only question (may be because i'm new) is someone mentioned this beer taking 6 months, is that true? If so, why does this take so long?
Thanks for putting up with the noob questions...
Welcome to the forums Chuck! :mug:

Generally, the higher the alcohol content of a beer, the longer it takes for its flavors to mellow. With a beer like this (which from memory is around 10% ABV - so pretty alcoholic as beers go) you could certainly drink it sooner than 6 months, and it'd probably be pretty good. Certainly it wouldn't kill you, and it wouldn't taste poisonous. But it might have a slightly harsh alcohol bitterness that would be better left for a few months to soften. I have a 10% beer in secondary at the moment that I'm going to age for 6 months - but if I hadn't already built up a stockpile of other beers, I'd never have the patience to wait that long.
 
makes perfect sense to me...
when you make a beer with a high abv and you want to age it... do you have to age it in the secondary or can they be aged in the bottles 6 months?
Just cranking out the beer and don't know if i want to tie up a secondary quite yet...
At least not until i have a stockpile of beer myself...
 
Two questions.

If I can't find "16 oz Lyle's Golden Syrup" what can I substitute?


"2 packets dried wine yeast as nutrient" What yeast did you use?
 
when you make a beer with a high abv and you want to age it... do you have to age it in the secondary or can they be aged in the bottles 6 months?
Yeah, you can age it in bottles. You might get a slightly more consistent aging if you do it in bulk in a secondary - sometimes bottles can vary a bit in terms of their temperature, amount of yeast in each one, etc - but bottle-aging would be fine (and certainly wouldn't change a good beer into a bad beer). If you'd rather not tie up a secondary then bottle aging would be a good decision.
 
I brewed this the on 1/1. It's kegged now and very drinkable. Next time I brew it I will add two or three pounds more ME. The starting gravity is a little low for this style of beer and needs a little more IMO. But overall I am very happy with the outcome and will be aging it a little before I dive into it.

There are other Belgian candi syrups you could probably use. You should be able to find it on one of the online sites like AHS. Austin Homebrew Supply

I used 2 packets of Lalvin K1V-1116 wine yeast.
 
Did you use LME or DME? I just finished brewing this recipe and ended up with an OG of 1.086. I didn't substitute any of the grain, but I did sub in 7lbs sparkling amber DME for the extract. With the listed attenuation of 75-80% for the trappist ale yeast, this puts it right on track for about 9% alcohol which is what Chimay blue is. I can't see how even a starting OG of 1.068 would produce 9% abv. Maybe this is a typo in the recipe?
 
Is the Lyle's Golden Syrup, the syrup from this website: Lyle's Golden Syrup > Lyle's Products

Yeah that's it. You can make your own very easily though.

Just do a google for "making invert syrup".

It's basically a pound of white sugar, a bit of water to make it a thick slush, and then a dash of lemon juice.

Cook it slowly and bring it to a slow boil...stirring. Eventually it will begin to darken.

Once it's at the right shade ( I usually get a light straw color), it's ready. I make mine an hour or so before brewing so I can just dump it in at the end of the boil.
 
Being totally new to the HB thing, I am really excited to find this thread. The _exact_ reason I wanted to start brewing was Chimay. We can't get it here in Alabama, so I stock up whenever I'm in a place that has it.

That said, my next brew (which will be only my second brew) is a extract kit (called Noble Trappist Ale) which should arrive any day now. The kit description says that yeast cultured from a bottle of Chimay will help the flavor. I happen to have a bottle (my last bottle from September stocking-up) and would love to do the culturing from there.

Can someone here give me some pointers as to how to accomplish that before I uncork it?
 
Being totally new to the HB thing, I am really excited to find this thread. The _exact_ reason I wanted to start brewing was Chimay. We can't get it here in Alabama, so I stock up whenever I'm in a place that has it.

That said, my next brew (which will be only my second brew) is a extract kit (called Noble Trappist Ale) which should arrive any day now. The kit description says that yeast cultured from a bottle of Chimay will help the flavor. I happen to have a bottle (my last bottle from September stocking-up) and would love to do the culturing from there.

Can someone here give me some pointers as to how to accomplish that before I uncork it?
Welcome to the Forums! :mug: You can actually buy the yeast used at Chimay. It's available commercially as liquid yeast, from White Labs as WLP500 or from Wyeast as Wyeast 1214. That might be better than culturing it from a bottle, as if the bottle is getting old, the yeast might be past their best.

If you do want to culture yeast from a bottle, you should check this out:

Brew Your Own: The How-To Homebrew Beer Magazine - Yeast Culturing from Bottles: Techniques -
 
Welcome to the Forums! :mug: You can actually buy the yeast used at Chimay. It's available commercially as liquid yeast, from White Labs as WLP500 or from Wyeast as Wyeast 1214. That might be better than culturing it from a bottle, as if the bottle is getting old, the yeast might be past their best.

If you do want to culture yeast from a bottle, you should check this out:

Brew Your Own: The How-To Homebrew Beer Magazine - Yeast Culturing from Bottles: Techniques -

Thanks for the link and the info! This forum is a fantastic resource.
 
That sounds great and could be just where I start when I (inevitably) do an all-grain brew.

That one is an extract, so if you're not ready it's a nice, and fairly complex tasting beer, done simply. Really, it's all about the yeast.
 
That one is an extract, so if you're not ready it's a nice, and fairly complex tasting beer, done simply. Really, it's all about the yeast.

Oh I see now, I just read 'All Grain' for recipe type, and not knowing anything at all yet ... well, newbie mistake.
 
Oh I see now, I just read 'All Grain' for recipe type, and not knowing anything at all yet ... well, newbie mistake.

Yeah, it shouldn't say that. Not sure why. Anyway, it's an easy extract recipe that I guarantee you'll enjoy. I just took some to my neighbors last night and they could not believe I brewed it myself. He said he's had lost of people offer him homebrew over the years, but nothing even close to as good as that.

it sure feels good to hear stuff like that. It's almost worth the cost of giving so much of it away! Why do people think that because you brew it yourself, it doesn't cost you anything????
 
Just curious what you figure it cost to make this. I just opened a bottle of a Belgian Honey extract that I made, but I think I got ripped off on the cost.
 
Well, a recipe kit costs about $30-$35 for 50+ bottles, so $3.50 - $4.50 for a 6-pack.
I'll take that all day for a good beer.
 
I think that recipe cost me about $50 at my local Home Brew Store. Try finding any decent Belgian for $25/case!
 
I'm getting ready to do this recipe from Beer Captured but I have a question. The recipe calls for first choice WYEAST 1388 and second choice WYEAST 1214. The question/delimma is according to WYEAST's website lists Chimay Grande Reserve as the commerical example using 1214.
 
Ok, I just tried this recipe. I pitched the yeast around 80 degrees. It was taking me so long to get the tempoerature down, that I was impatient. Other than that I followed the recipe, oh and belgian candy iinstead of the syrup. It has been 24 hours and nothing but sludge. to be expected?

I shook it around for a few minutes to airate it when I first put it in the fermenter.

How long do I wait before I suspect something?
thanks
 
Since I found this I figure I have to try it. I have washed WLP 500 yeast in the fridge to boot, so that should save me a few bucks.

Since my LHBS only has Light malt extract I think I`ll just use 3kg of LME plus 4oz of caramel 40 and an extra pound of munich in the mini mash to make up for what I`m missing in your amber and munich extracts.

UPDATE-

So I made it last weekend. LHBS had no Caramunich so I substituted Honey malt which is supposedly very munich tasting and I had to sub fuggles for the styrian goldings, which I am unsure was a super great decision but time will tell. I also couldn't get any Lyle's so I made 2 pounds of my own belgian candy sugar, which turned out a nice deep red color and tasted great. Hit 1.070 and has been bubbling away for quite a while now. I pitched about 2 liters of starter that I built up twice with my washed wlp500.

UPDATE2-
2 months later I finally bottled it. I think the yeast got a bit stuck at 1.026, but after rousing and finishing off fermentation at 26C and adding some more active yeast, I think things finished off at 1.020. At bottling this tastes fantastic and I actually drank more than a liter of it flat. It's exactly what I was hoping for and am convinced it'll age well...
 
I followed the recipe and ingredients exactly, with the exception of having to make my own lyles out of 16oz water, 1lb white sugar and a dash of lemon. I brewed Saturday night, so 5 nights ago and my beer closet smells of bananas. I pitched the yeast at around75 degrees F, and my apartment has stayed about 72ish this whole time. Is this normal?
 
Can anybody explain why the recipe calls for 2 packets dried wine yeast as nutrient at 45 mins instead of using a yeast nutrient like the one made by Wyeast?
 
Yes, i'm a little confused about the 2 packets of dried wine yeast as well. You add them to the boiling wort at 45mins?

What does that do for the beer? Would the yeast be killed by the boiling wort?
 
I think that the wine yeast was used as a yeast nutrient. The boiling wort will kill the yeast, yielding a nice additional food supply for the pitched yeast after the wort is cooled.
 
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