Recipe critiique need..belgian strong golden ale..brewing tomorrow!

I have a starter of WLP500 going right now, but i'm still toying around with my first try at a recipe. The base recipe was of a RR damnation clone, but i tweaked it a bit. Anyone see any problems?


Batch Size: 5.50 gal

Ingredients

Amount Item Type % or IBU
13.00 lb Pilsner (2 Row) Bel (2.0 SRM) Grain 82.54 %
0.50 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 3.17 %
0.50 lb Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 3.17 %
0.50 lb Wheat Malt, Bel (2.0 SRM) Grain 3.17 %
0.25 lb Aromatic Malt (26.0 SRM) Grain 1.59 %
0.95 oz Styrian Goldings [4.80 %] (90 min) Hops 13.3 IBU
1.05 oz Styrian Goldings [4.80 %] (25 min) Hops 9.5 IBU
1.00 oz Saaz [3.60 %] (5 min) Hops 2.0 IBU
1.00 lb Corn Sugar (Dextrose) (0.0 SRM) Sugar 6.35 %
1 Pkgs Trappist Ale (White Labs #WLP500) [Starter 35 ml] Yeast-Ale


Any suggestions/input would be appreciated. I'm heading to the LBHS to pick of the ingredients tomorrow morning to brew in the afternoon.

Anyone? I'm going to the LHBS in the morning to get the grain/hops.

You should use at minimum 10% sugar in this beer
I used 15% and its a nice beer

Mash it low and long
148 for 90 minutes

Good luck and be patient, takes time in the bottle to mature

Thanks for the suggestion. I bumped up the sugar to 2lbs, which brings it to around 12%.

Should i add the sugar at the end of the boil, or wait till a week or so after fermentation starts?

End of boil
Make sure you aerate well and use LOTS of yeast

Yeah, you will need a ton of yeast for this one to finish fermenting. If you've brewed it and haven't added the yeast yet, aerate the wort for about 10 minutes with oxygen, or 20 minutes with an aquarium pump to get in as much as possible for the yeast. Also, use yeast nutrient.

I aerated as must as possible with my setup (which is pouring back and forth between buckets) and had a starter going for about 2.5 days, so hopefully it will ferment out OK. Og was pretty close to the target...hit 1.080 with about 5.7 gallons into the fermenter.

I have no experiance with WLP500 but it is rumoured to be the chimay strain. I do have experiance with eh chimay strain. The best advice I can give is to warm it up to encourage attenuation and authentic trappist flavor. For the chimay strain pitching in the upper sixties is great...then let it rise gradually to 75-80 degrees and keep it there. You will get a nice, fruity, spicy and dry belgian treat.

I have a 1.100 belgian strong that I pitched with chimay yeast 8 days ago that is still fermenting like crazy, the yeast is a beast. Give it time and keep it warm, it will give you CRAZY attenuation if you do it right. I have 1.100 OG and I am hoping for 1.010 FG......%90 attenuation and approaching %12 ABV...........welcome to the world of trappist ale.

Thanks for the input. I've read elsewhere to keep it on the cool side (60-65) for the first few days, then let the temp rise into the 70's. Would you agree? Or should i let it warm up immediately? I'm getting pretty good activity from the airlock now and it's sitting in a swamp cooler with the water about 62 degrees.

Let it run
Might have to pull it out of the swamp cooler after a day or two
I had to use an aquarium heater to get it up to 75

Little over one week fermenting and it's down from 1.080 to 1.012, making it almost 9%! Tastes really good too. Can't wait to see what a few months of aging does.

Edit: didn't realize that you already brewed the beer. Good luck with it!
I brewed one up last summer and bottled it a month ago. Turned out delicious, although a stronger than I intended. The alcohol hides well, though.

I think that the yeast should do play the lead role in this beer, so a really simple recipe will benefit you. I used something like this for a 5 gallon batch (apologize for the metrics):

OG 1085
6 kg Pilsner malt
1,5 kg table sugar (cane for you guys, I used beet)

45 g saaz 2,8% AA
45 g Bobek 3,0 % AA, both 90 minutes

The important thing is the yeast. WLP 570 will dry the beer to an FG of between 1004 and 1007, but leave the characteristic sweetness associated with a BGSA, as well as a delightful, pear-like aroma.
Start fermentation at 18 C to avoid fusels and keep it there for a few days, then ramp it up to 28 over a week. I racked mine to secondary after two weeks, cold crashed it, and lagered it at 16 C for 6 months, although this might not be necessary.