Looking for a Belgian Recipe

Hey! Hey! Hey!


The hubby & I are just about to bottle our first HOMEBREW!!
We are really excited!! For the first kit, we used a Munton's Bock Kit... It's still in the fridge fermenting & we are bottling her promptly Wednesday night - Day 16 after BREW DAY!


This, ladies & gents - is our FIRST Bock Brew Don't know what we are gonna name her yet... Gonna make sure she has a good taste, i guess before we name her...

Here is the deal... We are looking for an AG Belgian recipe to try next. They hubby & I have been researching & watching AG videos for a couple of days now, contemplating which brew should be our next... The hubby really wants a Belgian AG recipe we can try - maybe a BIAB. Anyone think they can help a girl out? We have a 5-gal Brew Pot & a 5-gal carboy... We have a fridge -


with a temp. control... We can set our "fermenter" to any temp we desire... Anyone have a basic Belgian recipe that we can try? Maybe tweak it a bit & remake one - i would lik,e to start do some extract brews after a couple of AG.
Any help would benefit my learning of BELGIAN BEERS!

.... Okay, Off to More Beer Drinking so I can Bottle MY First Brew this Week!



Peace. Love.. & Beer.
CHEERS!

What kind of Belgian? Do you like tripels or BDSA's? Big difference.

Make sure the gravity has stopped dropping before you bottle. Bottle when it's finished. 16 days should be good, but I'd check the gravity before pulling the trigger.
for a Belgian a lot of it's unique character comes from yeast and spices.
I'd start out with a basic wheat or pale ale recipe.
something like
5 Lb pale malt
2 LB Munich malt
1 Lb Wheat malt
0.25 Lb Biscuit malt
0.25 Lb flaked oats
0.5 Lb unrefined sugar or honey

For hops I like Hallertau and Kent Goldings ( a little out of style I know)
something like 1 oz at 60 minutes 1/2 at 10 and 1/2 at 5.

Any of the following spices would work.
Coriander, orange zest, grapefruit zest, black pepper, chamomile, sage, basil, or ginger.
small amounts of the above are fine.
I like Wyeasts forbidden fruit or belgian ale strains.

Starting on a muntons kit but controlling temperature with a fridge? You're ahead of 95% of all homebrewers, I'd say. Definitely jump right into AG with BIAB. I started that way after two extract beers and haven't done anything else- no 3-vessel system for me (at home at least). Read up on mashing and a little bit of the science (so you know what you're doing when you change things) and you're good to go.

It's hot in Texas right now- I'd say do a medium gravity Saison with Wyeast 3711 or White Labs WLP566- they are the less-finicky strains. Ferment it outside of your fridge and let it get HOT HOT HOT. Makes for a tasty saison.

beergolf said:

What kind of Belgian? Do you like tripels or BDSA's? Big difference.

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Ummmm...... I am not really sure.... We like a couple... But I don't know which ones... Fat Tire? Is that one? Any who... I don't know if we would really like the banana flavor.. Might be a little too sweet for our buds.. I would prefer the spice & clover taste..

Anyone care to explain the difference between Tripple & BDSA Belgians!? In a learning curve...

Belgian beers typically have crazy fruity, phenolic, estery flavors and aromas created with the yeast- flavors like clove, spice, pepper, fruit and other stuff. They also often have pretty simple grainbills, a lot of pilsener, maybe some wheat, maybe some sugar. Dark beers typically just use very highly kilned malts for their color.

Two belgians you can get pretty easily in the styles you mentioned are Chimay White (a tripel) and Chimay Blue (a Belgian Dark Strong Ale). Saison Dupont and Ommegang Hennepin are pretty common Saisons, a belgian farmhouse style (my favorite), and a few breweries make other beers with belgian yeasts that don't necessarily fit a style (Stone's Cali-Belgique IPA comes to mind- it's exactly the same as their standard IPA but fermented with saison yeast).

Fat Tire is an American Amber ale that's very lightly hopped, with a big biscuit malt character. Most Belgian beers are about as far from that as you can get (though they do tend to also be lightly hopped).

daksin said:

Belgian beers typically have crazy fruity, phenolic, estery flavors and aromas created with the yeast- flavors like clove, spice, pepper, fruit and other stuff. They also often have pretty simple grainbills, a lot of pilsener, maybe some wheat, maybe some sugar. Dark beers typically just use very highly kilned malts for their color.

Two belgians you can get pretty easily in the styles you mentioned are Chimay White (a tripel) and Chimay Blue (a Belgian Dark Strong Ale). Saison Dupont and Ommegang Hennepin are pretty common Saisons, a belgian farmhouse style (my favorite), and a few breweries make other beers with belgian yeasts that don't necessarily fit a style (Stone's Cali-Belgique IPA comes to mind- it's exactly the same as their standard IPA but fermented with saison yeast).

Fat Tire is an American Amber ale that's very lightly hopped, with a big biscuit malt character. Most Belgian beers are about as far from that as you can get (though they do tend to also be lightly hopped).

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Thank You!! Well, then, maybe I need to do some research on either we want to go with the Belgian or if we want to go with the something else... Gonna let the hubby read up on this & see what we decide!! Hummmm.... Decisions. Decisions.

.... Thoughts on any Belgian Blondes??

If you are looking for spice and clove, maybe you want a Belgian wit. Something like Hogaarden.

Try a few of the brews suggested and decide what you are looking for and we can get you a good recipe.

Look around the recipe part of this forum and there are a lot of good recipes there. You just have to secide what you want. Belgian is not a very good description. Too many different Belgian styles.

Another thing to look out for is if you want to do a 5gal AG BIAB batch in a 5gal brewpot you'll need to make sure that you have enough pot space for all the water in your mash. One good thing about Belgians is lots of recipes use candi sugar which lowers the amount of mash water you'll need since the candi sugar replaces some of the grain bill.

A personal favorite recipe of mine is over on hopville.com by a guy named Brewer Mike for a Ommegang Hennepin Saison clone. It's a fairly simple beer to brew for a first AG and has come out delicious the few times I've made it. Hopville is doing some server maintenance right now, so I can't give you an exact link, but it shouldn't be too hard to find if you go to the Saison recipe page over there.

bdh said:

Another thing to look out for is if you want to do a 5gal AG BIAB batch in a 5gal brewpot you'll need to make sure that you have enough pot space for all the water in your mash. One good thing about Belgians is lots of recipes use candi sugar which lowers the amount of mash water you'll need since the candi sugar replaces some of the grain bill.

A personal favorite recipe of mine is over on hopville.com by a guy named Brewer Mike for a Ommegang Hennepin Saison clone. It's a fairly simple beer to brew for a first AG and has come out delicious the few times I've made it. Hopville is doing some server maintenance right now, so I can't give you an exact link, but it shouldn't be too hard to find if you go to the Saison recipe page over there.

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Okay. Cool! Thank You!!
I haven't been on too many other forums - for this one I can use in an app... on my phone.... I will look up this forum & check it out here later today or tomorrow. Thanks for the tip!! I keep trying to get the hubby to sway to do a Saison but for some reason, he's like, we have a fridge - let's just do 2 in the fridge & be done with it... Well, i want to make a Saison beer since it's so freaking hot!! I am about to get to the point to just buying my own kits & making him do them - regardless! I am purchasing another 5 gallon bucket & perhaps a larger carboy soon! Like, very soon! :rockin: That way I can now work with 2 instead of just waiting for one!

Thanks for the help!
CHEERS!

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f71/austin-homebrews-belgian-white-beer-135187/

This is my favorite...just my 2 cents!

This is a Saison recipe that I make often that is really great when it is hot:

10lbs Belgian Pils
1lbs Caravienne
1lb Turbinado Sugar added at 15 min

1.5 oz Styrian Goldings @ 60
1.0 oz Styrian Golding @ 15
2.0 oz Saaz @ 5

If you can get it, Wyeast 3725 is an awesome Saison yeast. Otherwise, I like to use Wyeast 3711.

Mash low, like 148

Ferment in mid 60's for first day then ramp up to mid 70's. I usually keg and have this one on tap in 6 weeks, but it can be bottled and it will age nicely. Hope that helps!

dchmela- that Saison sounds mighty tasty.
I just did a partial mash Saison that used 1lb honey
Looking forward to how that comes out.

I'm a fan of Duppels. Check out the Trappist Ale recipe that Midwestsupplies.com offers. It's basically this: 9 Lbs of Domestic 2-row, 8 oz. Caramel 40, 8 oz. Carapils, 1 Lb of candi sugar (light, amber, or dark), 2 oz. of hops (Styrian), 1oz Hallertau aroma hops. Use Wyeast Trappist High Gravity 3787 yeast. Start ferm at 64F and increase temp about 1 degree per day until reaching 70F. Big krausen, use a blow off tube.

So.... I wanna do the Siason... The hubby isn't too thrilled about doing it... Makes me sad... He thinks that why do a Siason? We have a fridge that we can totally control the temps... We will see.. I think the final go on the fermenter is the Belgian Blonde... I have so many beers to make! & so many ideas to in my head! There is so much into brewing.. I didn't even know...

ASassyBeerChick83 said:

So.... I wanna do the Siason... The hubby isn't too thrilled about doing it... Makes me sad... He thinks that why do a Siason? We have a fridge that we can totally control the temps... We will see.. I think the final go on the fermenter is the Belgian Blonde... I have so many beers to make! & so many ideas to in my head! There is so much into brewing.. I didn't even know...

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Go for the Saison!!! I love Saisons!

And you can brew all those beers. I have to make a calendar to make sure I have open fermenters & temp control, and I use my brewing software to plan out the batches as well. So much fun!!

This is a 10 gallon Belgian Quad batch:

Rectal Bleeding Belgian Dark Strong

Bronze medal winner at the 2010 Fugetaboutit competition.
Gold medal winner at the 2011 Final Gravity Strong Beer competition.
Gold and Silver medal winner at the 2011 Fugetaboutit competition.
Bronze at 2012 Peach State Brew Off

This beer ages quite well.

Mash at 155 for 60 minutes. Boil for 90 minutes. Make sure to use a yeast starter. I recommend building it up twice before pitching.

Ingredient Name Amount
Belgian Pale Ale
16 lbs, 0 oz
Belgian Pilsner
8 lbs, 0 oz
Amber Candi Sugar
2 lbs, 0 oz
Clear Candi Sugar
2 lbs, 0 oz
Briess 2 Row Caramel 60
1 lbs, 0 oz
Briess 2 Row Caramel 80
1 lbs, 0 oz
Briess 2 Row Caramel 40
1 lbs, 0 oz
Briess Special Roast Malt
0 lbs, 12 oz
Santiam Plugs
2 oz @ 60 mins
French Strisselspalt Pellets
2 oz @ 20 mins
Fuggles Pellets, UK
2 oz @ 5 mins
White Labs Trappist Ale
1 ea

Hey! Hey! Hey!!
Cheers!

Well, the hubby & I found our next brew!! Gonna be posting a couple of threads to a couple of different places!! Hope you guys can give me any advice or pointers before our next brewing day... In which I think will be tomorrow since Dallas is finally gonna catch a break in this heat & get some rain!! :rockin: We need rain bad!! Hope to see you guys around for the next go 'round!!
... the intensity is rough, I know!



Good Saturday!
Peace. Love. & Beer!
CHEERS!

Hey!! Hey!! Hey!! Hey!!



They hubby & I went & picked this recipe up at the LHBS yesterday & are ready to start brewing!! Thinking of this recipe!!


Sugars:
Amount Type
8 lbs. Light Malt Extract
1 lb. Light Belgian Candi Sugar
3/4 cup Corn Sugar (priming)

Grains:
Amount Type
2 lb. Pilsner Malt
1/2 lb. Carmel-Pils Malt

Hops:
Amount Type
1 oz. German Tradition
1 oz. Fuggles (flavoring)
1/2 oz. Czech Saaz (finishing)

Yeast: Safbrew T-58 Dry Brewing Yeast

Starting Gravity: 1.074
Ending Gravity: 1.016

Directions: Make any water adjustments first. It is best boil as much (up to 5 gallons) as your brew-pot will hold. Be careful not to overfill or cover your brew-pot when boiling, this will cause a boil over.

The use of a grain baf is highly recommended,. Place grains in grain bag, and put into 160 degree water. Cover, turn fire off, let steep for 30 minutes. Remove grain bag and bring water to a boil. Turn off the heat (to prevent scorching), and mix in the malt extracts and any other adjuncts. When fully dissolved, turn the heat back on and return the wort to a rolling boil. Add the bittering hops, continue to boil for 50 minutes. Add the flavoring hops, continue to boil for 5 minutes. Add the finishing hops and continue to boil for 5 more minutes. The use of hop socks makes the addition and removal of hops much easier.

After you have boiled your wort for a full 60 minutes, remove all hops and add water to reach 5 gallons. Cool to 75 degrees and add yeast. Shale your fermenter vigorously for 5 minutes to aerate the wort. Remember, your yeast needs oxygen to live and grow. Attach the blow-off hose to the fermenter and place the end into a container of water to form an air-lock. Rack into secondary fermenter after kreusen has begun to subside.




We have a 2-stage fermenter - a 5-gallon bucket & a 5-gallon glass carboy.... What do you think about this!?! the one question that we have is how long should we leave it in the primary fermenter before we move it to the secondary? That's the only thing we are wondering about....

We wen through with this recipe!! Can't wait to do the update!!

Stay Posted Folks!


Peace. Love. & Beer!
CHEERS!

ASassyBeerChick83 said:

Hey!! Hey!! Hey!! Hey!!


We have a 2-stage fermenter - a 5-gallon bucket & a 5-gallon glass carboy.... What do you think about this!?! the one question that we have is how long should we leave it in the primary fermenter before we move it to the secondary? That's the only thing we are wondering about....

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Be sure to have some patience with this one...

Dubbels / Trippels need a longer fermentation time as well as a longer conditioning time. There's a lot of flavor melding going on in the process. Early days in primary can be messy, I used a blow-off tube for the primary on the Dubbel I'm still working on - while it never exploded it did ferment into the tube somewhat.

Waited close to three weeks before I got consistent hydrometer readings indicating the primary fermentation was complete, racked it to secondary and it is *still* sitting in secondary (albeit in the fridge right now for cold-crashing). This is going to almost six weeks at this point. It's all good though, as I know it's going to be sooooooooo tasty.

Conditioning takes a while too, I know if Dubbels / Trippels are bottled the recommended time is anywhere from a minimum of three months up to 9 months for optimum enhancement of the profile. Could be different with kegging though - I'm sure someone could chime in on that.

Namely, just make sure you are getting the same readings several days in a row before racking it for bottling. Good luck and hope you find it to be something you like - I enjoy these beer styles as they have a lot of complexity to them with the fruit / spice notes.

Okay... With the Belgian Triple.. How long should it ferment before moving? To carboy? To bottling?

ASassyBeerChick83 said:

Okay... With the Belgian Triple.. How long should it ferment before moving? To carboy? To bottling?

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You'll need to likely wait a minimum of about two weeks from primary to secondary. You can rack to whatever container you are suited to use, either a bucket or a carboy.

The Trippel recipe I have states this (it's the same for the Dubbel I mentioned above):

*7-10 days in primary, allow krausen to fall and leave a dried ring in the primary fermenter. Do not rack to secondary before the krausen has fallen, or the 7-10 day time frame has elapsed.
*Rack to secondary - leave to ferment for several weeks.
-----*Note: on the Dubbel it has been just over three weeks in secondary. I'd guess three weeks would be safe, and you'd be okay to start checking at two weeks - but you'd absolutely need to ensure you were getting the same hydrometer readings before moving to the bottling bucket. No bottle bombs - eek!* :cross:
*Confirm completion of fermentation in secondary (obtain the same hydrometer readings for several days in a row).
*Prime bottling bucket and rack beer for bottling. Store bottles in an upright position away from light and allow beer to condition for a minimum of 6-9 months.

ASassyBeerChick83 said:

Okay... With the Belgian Triple.. How long should it ferment before moving? To carboy? To bottling?

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The short answer is to bottle when it's done fermenting. You don't need to move this one to secondary. I would leave it in primary for a month & then bottle, provided I have consistent hydrometer readings indicating that fermentation is done.

hogwash said:

The short answer is to bottle when it's done fermenting. You don't need to move this one to secondary.

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I agree with your first statement in the sense that the beer should tell us--via stable hydrometer readings--when it's finished fermenting.

The second statement is a bit dogmatic. By all accounts, a high gravity Tripel benefits from extended conditioning, and I don't want the OP to read your post as "bottle and drink right away," which is what I did when first starting out b/c I was so excited. (TBH, I still do on smaller beers--but I have enough experience to turn beers around quickly with good flavor.) You can certainly bottle condition, but there's nothing wrong with bulk conditioning in a secondary vessel. I'm doing one of each at the moment. I'll let you know which is better when I crack 'em open at Thanksgiving

Piratwolf said:

I agree with your first statement in the sense that the beer should tell us--via stable hydrometer readings--when it's finished fermenting.

The second statement is a bit dogmatic. By all accounts, a high gravity Tripel benefits from extended conditioning, and I don't want the OP to read your post as "bottle and drink right away"

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Agreed, and I did not intend for it to read that way. One would certainly want to let it sit for a while whether in bottles or in bulk in a secondary. I stand by my statement that 2ndary is not necessary with this beer.

Fwiw, I'm brewing a tripel soon that I intend to leave in primary about a month, bottle and let sit for 2 more months before trying one.

Hey, guys!!
Thought you might like to know.... We brewed the Belgian Triple last night!
it was Awesome & makes me wanna do it again & again!! :rockin:
You can go read my update in the Forum for Beginning Brewers!
Here's a sneak peak before heading on over to my thread!



PS - I can tell you... it smelled AMAZING!


Peace. Love. & Beer!
CHEERS!

hogwash said:

Agreed, and I did not intend for it to read that way. One would certainly want to let it sit for a while whether in bottles or in bulk in a secondary. I stand by my statement that 2ndary is not necessary with this beer.

Fwiw, I'm brewing a tripel soon that I intend to leave in primary about a month, bottle and let sit for 2 more months before trying one.

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That sounds reasonable to me