Trappist/Chimay Clone Recipe

I found a very basic extract recipe for a Chimay clone, but it seems a little light in the OG (approx 1.050-1.055).

I was going to try a half batch as my second non-kit batch, and was wondering what I could do to up the OG, and if there were any other tips for making this kind of beer.

Sadly, I am limited to making a half-batch at the moment, I just moved and I was sharing some equipment with a friend and with the move (I thought it was a good deal at the time to buy the bottle-capper and let him get the pot (and some other stuff too), but now I find myself short of equipment.

My recipe thusfar is

3lbs gold liquid malt extract
8oz clear candi sugar
4oz caramel 40
4oz carapils
1/2 oz styrian golding
1oz hallertau
1 sachet wyeast 3787

Hmmm.....which Chimay are you talking? This recipe is definitely too light to be the Blue (Belgian Strong Dark), and probably the Red. Maybe it's their triple (white label)? I'd skip the clear candi sugar in favor of plain old table sugar. Clear candi sugar is basically just inverted table sugar. Chimay White has an OG of 1.069, so yeah you're off by quite a bit. According to Brew Like a Monk, it is 35 IBUs...

Wyeast 1214 is supposed to be the Chimay strain.... I'd use that.

I agree with wonderbread. Up the gravity by putting in more extract, probably dme would be easiest. Calculate out how much you would need using a brewing calculator, but I'd venture to guess that 8 oz. or so would do the trick. Go with either 1214 or 1762, with 1214 getting the nod.

Yes the recipe was for the White - thanks for the tips, I will calculate out some extra DME.

If I was to use the rest of the DME to bottle condition, would I need to decrease the priming sugar?

kombatkoala said:

Yes the recipe was for the White - thanks for the tips, I will calculate out some extra DME.

If I was to use the rest of the DME to bottle condition, would I need to decrease the priming sugar?

Click to expand...

Hmmm...now 100% sure what you mean by that phrase. What I would do is:

1. Add enough fermentables to the recipe to hit your target OG.
2. Add enough hops at 60 minutes to hit the 35 IBUs
3. Use an appropriate amount of priming sugar / DME based on your final volume of beer (use what normally works for you). The amount of priming sugar is not dependent on the amount of fermentables you use in the actual recipe.

Sorry, I should have been more clear.

Several recipes I have seen use DME to either prime and/or bottle condition. As I'm unfamiliar with the technique I'd like to try it. As they're fermentables, and yeast works on sugars it looks to me like adding priming sugar and DME would be a recipe for bottle bombs if not done properly (as the DME is a 'sugar' that the yeast would then use with the priming sugar to carbonate). Or is the DME added with that method done in such a slight amount that the effect is negligible?

Or am I just way off on that concept?