Trappist Ale

Ingredients
• 7 ½ lbs Pale Liquid Malt Extract
• ¾ lb Crystal 40 Malt
• ¼ lb Belgian Special B Malt
• 1 lb Belgian Dark Candi Sugar
• 1 ½ oz Fuggle Pellet Hops (Bittering)
• ½ oz Fuggle Pellet Hops (Aroma)
• 1 Vial of White Labs 500 Trappist Ale Yeast
• ¾ c Corn Sugar (Priming)

1. Fill brew pot with 2 – 3 gallons of cool water. Turn the heat on and bring the water to 160° F. Remove the brew pot from the heat and place specialty grain bag in the pot. Allow grains to steep for 30 minutes.
2. Remove specialty grains from the brew pot. Allow the grains to drain, avoid squeezing.
3. Add the malt extract to the water. Stir the extract until it is completely dissolved.
4. Place the brew pot back on the heat and bring the wort to a rolling boil.
5. Add 1 ½ oz of Fuggle Pellet Hops (Bittering) for 60 minutes.
6. Add 1 lb Belgian Dark Candi Sugar with 15 minutes left in boil (45 Minutes after adding the bittering hops).
7. Add ½ oz of Fuggle Pellet Hops (Aroma) with 5 minutes left in boil (55 minutes after adding the bittering hops).
8. After 60 minutes of boiling remove brew pot from heat and cool the wort in an ice bath in your sink.
9. Add 2 gallons of cool water to the primary fermenter.
10. Add wort to the primary fermenter.
11. Top of wort to just over 5 gallons with cool water.
12. Aerate the wort by stirring for 5 minutes.
13. Take Original Gravity reading and record it.
14. When wort is at or below 80° F pitch the yeast.
15. Seal the primary fermenter with lid (for buckets) then attach the airlock half filled with sanitizing solution.

Fermentation should be completed within 10-14 days.

16. Take and record Final Gravity.
17. Bring 16 oz of water to boil and add ¾ c Corn Sugar (Priming). Stir and simmer for 10 minutes.
18. Add the priming solution to the sanitized bottling bucket.
19. Siphon the beer out of the primary fermenter on to the priming solution.
20. Bottle the Beer!

Looks like a great recipe. I have a washed Wyeast Belgian Ardennes. Think this might be a good sub?

I just read up a little on that yeast strain and it sounds like it would work well. I would probably ferment in the low 70's because I like a lot of the characteristics yeasts get at that range, but that is of course up to you and your preferences. Let me know if you end up going with this recipe or something like it!

DrinkinSurfer said:

I just read up a little on that yeast strain and it sounds like it would work well. I would probably ferment in the low 70's because I like a lot of the characteristics yeasts get at that range, but that is of course up to you and your preferences. Let me know if you end up going with this recipe or something like it!

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Thanks Surfer, this is my next brew.

Erie, have you got around to brewing this yet? I hope it turns out great for you. I am going to brew it, or a slight variation, again soon and am curious as to how your yeast selection works out for you.

I'm waiting on Midwest to ship the CORRECT order, they sent crystal 80L and unfortunately, I didn't notice until I was ready to brew last week.

That is frustrating. At least you noticed before you brewed. I hope your correct order arrives quickly.

Erie, how is it coming along?

Sorry Surfer, I forgot to keep you updated...
I brewed this right before the start of July and cracked my first at a neighbor's party this past weekend.
I candied my own sugar and brewed exactly as your recipe ordered. ... https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/How_to_make_Candi_Sugar
It was received with mixed results. I personally enjoyed it along with a friend who just returned from Belgium on military business. The women and a few men drank it but complained of the clove taste (DAMN YEAST). I still have a case left and I plan to enjoy them throughout the rest of the summer. I'd love to try this again but with the White Labs Trappist Yeast. Great recipe, wrong yeast.
Edit: I forgot to mention that I knew a guy that played for the Sabres that was from HB named John Blue.

At least you enjoyed it. Not all flavors are for everyone. I personally appreciate my yeast flavors kind of on the heavy side in this style, where others may only like hints of the esters. Right now I am trying out WLP530 Abbey Ale yeast in a specialty beer I brewed yesterday, it says it has less fruity character than the 500 I used. Some people might enjoy that one even more in that case.
I think next time I make a recipe with candi sugar I will try that recipe, that will save me a few bucks. I am glad you enjoyed the recipe though. I might make some tweaks to it next time I brew it. I was think of using 8 oz of Special B, when you said you got the 80L by mistake that got me thinking... so I might try that in 8 oz instead of the 40, and using about 4 oz of aromatic malt. Who knows, maybe a pinch of chocolate malt just to be different.
And that is cool about John Blue, I used to play hockey as a kid so we may have played in the same rink(different era's though).

This beer had almost another 5 months to mellow. I cracked one over the weekend...wow. This turned out great, I will brew this again! Thanks again Surfer!

Great! I'm glad this turned out well for you. I am thinking of brewing it again soon as well. Any changes you would make since you were able to save some bottles to age? Happy Holidays.

To be honest, the only addition would be a bit of Biscuit malt simply for a bit more color. Other than that, not a thing! I'll probably convert this to all grain in Beersmith next time and age it for a bit longer in the bottles. Thanks for the Holiday greetings, same to you! I plan to have a nice quiet Christmas this year, I'm not working and I'm staying home and enjoying some homebrews!

DrinkinSurfer, thanks for posting this recipe. I will be brewing this on January 2nd. This will be my 3rd batch ever and I'm really looking forward to it. I'll keep you posted on the outcome.
Cheers!

Didje, hope you had a good brew day. Let me know how it goes for you.

DrinkinSurfer said:

Didje, hope you had a good brew day. Let me know how it goes for you.

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Sorry for the late reply, but I just got around to brewing today.
We had a bit of a busy day... We had our first boilover right after adding the first hops (drama!!!), and our hydrometer cracked on us. It's the second one we crack, and this time we were super careful with it. There were no bubbles coming out of it, it was a super thing hairline crack. I'm getting tired of those things already It cracked while inside the tube after the wort chilling, so we don't know if the reading is accurate but it was at 1.056.

I plan on letting this in the pail for 3 weeks and then bottle it. I'll keep you posted but thanks again for the recipe :rockin:

Any news Didje? And Erie, if you are still following this I just ordered the ingredients to to an improved(hopefully) AG version of this. It should be a bit bigger and darker but still within the style at over ~1.072 OG and 17 SRM. It looks like this:
2 row - 13 lbs
Special B- 1 lb
Crystal 60 - 4 oz
Biscuit- 2 oz
Clear Candi Sugar - 1 lb
Saaz 4.5%- 1 oz at 60 min and 1 oz at 10 min
WLP500

I will probably post this recipe officially after it gets brewed for quality assurance.

So here are the news...
Beer has been bottled for just just over 3 weeks now. Tried a couple so far. It has a somewhat strong banana smell which points me that it might have fermented a bit too hot. But I really like the taste, it's a nice mix of spices and a bit of fruit. This really came out as a 'Belgian' tasting beer. I will brew it again for sure! Thanks again, DrinkinSurfer!

Glad to hear you like it Didje. The WLP500 has lots of esters so you may not have gotten it too hot. I just made a starter with it that I kept in the mid-high 60's and it smells like straight banana. Try to be patient with letting some of your batch age, this one hits its prime down the road a bit. I'm happy that you are enjoying it and I would like to know how it progresses for you.

Just bottled this recipe tonight. I'm curious as to how long you recommend before cooling and drinking? Having spent lots of time in Belgium/ Germany in the military am a huge Belgian beer fan! You wouldn't have come across a Leffe Brown or Rochefort 8 or 10 recipe anywhere?

msw708, there isn't really a short answer to your question. This recipe improves with a few months of aging but has proven to be tasty within just a few weeks. It depends a lot on how much time it spent before bottling too. The first time I brewed it, I didn't give it enough time to bulk age and let the yeasts clean up after themselves. So I had to wait for that to happen while in the bottle. My advice is give it enough time to carb up and sample it and try to stick some aside for a few months. Let me know how you like it.

I've never had a Leffe or Rochefort but all I can say is give this beer time. If you have patience with it, you will be rewarded in the end.

Surfer, I let it ferment 14 days. Ok will try as you suggest. I'm guessing that during aging it should be kept unrefridgerated or does it matter? Thanks much. will let ya know how it turns out.
Erie, you must try a Leffe and Rochefort when able. Fantastic!

If you can keep it in the low 70's it will age faster. Storing it cooler will result in a more clear beer but would take more time. I usually let it stay at room temp then throw a few bottles in the fridge for a week or a few days before you drink them. I have a Belgian finishing up its fourth week in the bucket and about to be bottled, so I am playing the same waiting game.

Well Surfer I couldn't wait any longer to try it. I cooled one today and am savoring it currently. It is terrific! Thank you soooooo much for that recipe. This was only my second ever attempt and I'm thrilled with the outcome! Now the challenge is to not drink it all quickly! Perhaps I've been lucky but it turned out fantastic. I did find a Leffe Brune clone and am awaiting arrival of ingridents. Will keep you up dated if you're interested. I intend to double your recipe next too.

Glad you are enjoying!

Guess what.......... *drum roll*.........
Everyone loves this beer, including my non beer-fan wife! So we are brewing a second batch this weekend! The only "issue" for us is the lack of bubbles and head with this beer. Maybe we'll try with a bit more priming sugar when it's time to bottle.
I'd be curious to know how this would turn out if brewed as a "cream" ale. Thoughts on that?

Hi I'm brewing this tommorow and i'm plugging everything into beersmith as to keep records. I know you labaeled this trappist ale but what style is this as trappist only indicates monk brewery. is this a belgian dark strong? a dubbbel ? just curious as to get everything into my calcs correct. thanks.

Ok next question.... I bottled this on the 16th of June and everything went fine but here I am on the 28th of june and I have minimal carbonation. I know everyone talks about the 3 week rule but i was curious about other peoples expierence with this does it take longer due to the high gravity? and also is this beer so supposed to be kinda cloudy/murky?thanks for the input.

You want yeast flavor, try bread yeast, you will get yeast flaver.

Aschecte, sorry for the late reply. How is it coming so far? Is the carbonation better? Regardless, this brew opens up to a whole new level after a few months of aging. Be patient my friend.

e384, not all yeasts are created equal...

Hey !!!! it's coming along pretty well.... at first the carbonation wasn't coming along to well but seems "ok" now after 1 month but I guess I should have expected that with a high abv beer. Also flavor is getting much better the taste of the wlp500 was intense at first ( I've used it before so I was familiar with the profile ) but it's becoming quite mellow now and all the flavors are melding very nicely. I can see this is a beer you don't want to drink young not that it's bad youngbut it's better aged.

Ok here's the almost 6 month review. this aged woderfully !!! def as I said before as you have also not a "young beer" I'm down to my last 6 bottles and I wish i had more their is a prominent raisiny plum charecter from the special b that is there and the esters from the wlp500 are blended perfectly I would say this is a beer that will be best enjoyed by the patient brewer ( usually not me ). thanks for the great recipe.

Just a fyi I brewed this well over a year ago it was my last extract batch and I have been ageing this as it had a pretty good ABV. I recently entered this ( slightly modified ) into a large competition here called the 2012 Hudson Valley Brew fest and this beer took 2nd place in category for a combined score of 40 out of 50 points. It was also the only extract batch to place in the entire competition. I just thought you would like to hear this recipe did so well oh and BTW it only missed first place by less than 1 point combined actually more like .3 points from 1st place and while we are at it only 4 points from the best of show score.

Aschecte, that is awesome you place so well with your version of the recipe. Congrats!

just tasted the extract versions gravity reading after two weeks (1.010), It tasted amazing! Fermented exactly 14 days at 72* I don't know if this will survive the aging process...

blakie, I would set a case of it aside for aging! Trust me, if you give it a few months you will be happy you did. It gets better with some time. Enjoy!

alright alright you're right it's even more fantastic now then it was 2 months ago.. :cross:

True story...... I had a few bottles of this beer I aged well over 18-24 months I brewed it sometime in 2011. I entered this beer 2 years or so old and beat AG brewers and extract for that matter and placed 2nd place in category and missed first place by less than 1/2 a point and was only 4 points from best of show !!!! this beer really ages well. speaking of which I need to brew this again thanks for the reminder.

Hey guys, I brewed the original posted version of this beer 10 days ago. Only differences were 1.058 OG and 1.010 FG. Fermented a little hot, had to put it in cool water to keep it in the 70's. I am about to rack to secondary and took my FG reading. It smelled pretty fruity but the taste was okay but overall a little lackluster to me, not a lot of flavor. Is it just me? Should I withhold judgement until it gets some carbonation in there? Will using a special priming sugar add some more flavors? And finally, what do you think I could change to give it more flavor (not necessarily Belgian ester-y flavor but in general) I saw surfer said he wanted to add some aromatic malt, maybe chocolate malt and someone else suggested victory I think, has anyone tired any of that? Thanks!