Leffe Blonde Clone

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DrDuckbutter

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 11, 2008
Messages
57
Reaction score
1
Location
Madbury, NH
Recipe Type
Extract
Yeast
wyeast 1762 Blegian Abey II or wyeast 3522 belgian ardennes
Yeast Starter
na
Additional Yeast or Yeast Starter
na
Batch Size (Gallons)
5
Original Gravity
1.067
Final Gravity
1.016
Boiling Time (Minutes)
90
IBU
26
Color
blonde
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
7
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
21
Additional Fermentation
util complete
Tasting Notes
na
heat 1 gal. water to 155 degrees F add:
4 oz. Belgian Biscuit malt
4 oz. Belgian Aromatic malt
4 oz. German Munich malt
2 oz. Honey malt

heat and steep at 150 degrees F for 30 minutes. Strain the grain water into the brew pot. Sparge the grains with 1/2 gal. of 150 deg F water. Bring to boil, remove from heat and add:
7.25 lbs. Muntons Extra Light Malt extract
8 oz. Belgian clear Candi sugar
2 oz. Malto Dextrin
3/4 oz Pride of Ringwood @ 9.3% AA (7 HBU (bittering hop)

add water until total volume in brew pot is 2.5 gals. Boil 45 mins. then add:
1/2 oz. Styrian Goldings (flavor hop)
1 tsp. Irish moss

boil 15 mins. remove. chill. strain into fermenter, add water to 5 1/8 gallons(19.5 liters) when wort is lebow 70 degs F pithc yeast

1st choice: Wyeast 1762 Belgian Abbey II - ferment a 68-72 degrees
2nd choice: Wyeast 3522 Belgian Ardennes - ferm 68-72 degs

ferment for 7 days in primary, rack to secondary for 3 weeks, until all fermentation is complete.
1/2 cup corn sugar and 1/3 cup belgianclear candi sugar in 2 cups water, boil for 10 mins. let prime at 70 degrees F for 5 weeks until carbonated

MINI-MASH:
mash 2.5 lbs. Belgian 2-row Pilsner malt and the specialty grains at 150 degrees for 90 mins. then follow extract recipe ommitting 2 lbs. of Muntons Exra Light Dry Malt at begginning of the boil.

ALL-GRAIN METHOD:
mash 11.75 lbs. Belgian 2-row Pilsner malt with the specialty grains at 152 degs F for 90 mins. Add 4.7 HBU (33% less than extract recipe) of bittering hops for 90 minutes of the boil. Add belgian sugar, irish moss and flavor hops as indicated above.
 
I'm buying ingredients for a 2.5 gallon AG batch tomorrow. Brewing on Thursday. Will post results
 
The original post Leffe Blonde clone recipe by Dr Duckbutter is from "Beer Captured." I use a version of it, but can't find Pride of Ringwood hops. I sub'd Centennial, others favor Hallertau. Based on Kristen England's advice, I also sub 2 lbs of corn sugar for 1.75 pounds of the pils malt and the candi sugar in the original.
 
Palmers say Cluster is a good sub for Pride.

I actually never got around to brewing this. I'll line it up in the queue next.
 
dont you have to mash the grains that you are steeping in this recipe or can you steep them?
 
I just started this with a few adjustments:

  • I scaled the recipe down to about 4 gallons since I was only using a total of 6.6 pounds of LME.
  • I substituted 2 oz Saaz whole leaf and 1/4 oz Fuggles pellets since that's what I had on hand.

I'm planning for 2 weeks in primary, then bottle 1 gallon for holiday gifts and rack the remaining 3 gallongs into secondary for 2 weeks before kegging it. I'll let you know how it goes.
 
scaled this one down to a half batch (2.5 gallon). Currently bubbling away, guess we'll see in a month or so
 
Update on my batch: fermentation stopped at 1.020. Overall, this is WAY too sweet which masked everything else going on, but there was some banana/spiciness trying to break through. Color was too dark. During a side-by-side comparison with Leffe Blonde, this was clearly very different.

Nonetheless, I think I'll try this again as a half batch, but go all grain and sub out some grain for more candi sugar, and go with a different hop selection (maybe Saaz and Styrian Golding).
 
Mines still in the secondary. Had a sip this morning and seems I have the opposite problem, not sweet enough. I was having a Leffe today during my brew day (attempt at a Westmalle Tripel) to compare with a previous leffe attempt. Its actually damn sweet when you pay attention. I thought my previous one was too sweet. Was still a long way off a clone though. Mine had the right amount of sweetness, but it was all the way at the back for some reason. The leffe is sweet right through
 
I did this recipe last year. The best brew in my wife's opinion. I subbed Galena for the ringwood hops. Mine had a bit more of the yeast flavors because of higher ferm temp. Aged well

-Cheers
 
I made this recipe and had issues. I'm thinking it got to warm. I used the Wyeast Abby Ale II yeast. It fermented around 70 degrees and wreaked of bubblegum. Also needed a blow off as my OG was 1.074. It was in primary for 2 weeks then racked to secondary and has been there for several weeks. The smell wreaks of cider. I'm wondering if it just fermented too warm. I have a fermentation chamber and it was set to 65 but I pitched at 72 and it took off quick. I don't think my chamber could get it cold enough. Anywho...I just tried it again tonight and the bubblegum is going away but the taste is like I used S-05 and fermented too warm.

I was expecting banana and clove...I hope this thing comes around. Oh well...maybe I'll brew it again to see if I can get it right.
 
I just made an experiment for creating leffe. I used pilsner, munich and caramalt AND some wheat (10%). Because leffe definitely contains wheat. Just tasted the beer. Although it's not exactly the same as leffe blonde but it is very close to it.
 
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