Belgian Dubbel Ommegang Abbey Dubbel

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GordonT

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 15, 2010
Messages
156
Reaction score
17
Location
Victoria
Recipe Type
All Grain
Yeast
Wyeast Ardennes
Yeast Starter
Wyeast Smack pack
Additional Yeast or Yeast Starter
none
Batch Size (Gallons)
5
Original Gravity
1085
Final Gravity
1018
Boiling Time (Minutes)
120
IBU
5.5
Color
Almost black with red tones
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
1 week
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
1 week
Additional Fermentation
none
Tasting Notes
complex sweet malt and spice.
I love Dubbels and I love the unique flavour of Special B malt. This beer lets me enjoy both. The recipe was patched together from many sources. Thanks to an interview with the former head brewer at Ommegang the spicing came together more clearly than in previous attempts.

11 lbs lager malt
2 lbs Special B
2 lbs Aromatic
1 lb 30 - 40 Crystal
1 500 ml bottle of dark syrup

1 oz. Hallter for the boil. Added after the first half hour.
.5 Saaz at 5

I zested two mandarin oranges and add at 15
.5 oz licorice root at 15
.4 oz crushed coriander seed add as I turned the heat off.

Mashing schedule was 130 for 15, 148 for 30 and 160 for 15.

Fermented with Wyeast Ardennes yeast at 72F in primary, 60 F in secondary.

This turned out really great. It is a big beer but is quite elegant and well rounded. Nothing really stands out, all flavours blend nicely.

The nose is spicy and malty. It is difficult to distinguish whether the spice in the nose is from the yeast or coriander or a blend.

Tasting it you first get fresh sweet malt and quickly after that the various flavours of licorice, orange, coriander and spicy yeast, all blending together.

It is almost black but shows red around the side of the glass. Nice tight head and looks great in a glass.
 
Can you give us a taste review on the 2007?

I tried a different version of this beer on Thursday. Called Pretty Things. Beautiful big beer. I couldn't distinguish they underlying taste previously but finally realized it was a large late infusion of licorice root.

My next go at this one I'm adding .75 oz of licorice at 15

I'll have to give this a try. I just opened a 2007 of this yesterday. Very good beer.
 
Mashing schedule was 130 for 15, 148 for 30 and 160 for 15.

GordonT - I've never done a step mash and am too lazy to start now. For a single infusion, what would you recommend? 152F for 60 minutes?

Am a REALLY missing out on a flavor profile by not employing step infusion?
 
The beauty of home brew is you can do anything you like. You only have to make one person happy with your beer :)

I don't really consider this a step mash as my method involves adding small amounts of almost boiling water to my mash tun. I just add smaller amounts to achieve the temps I'm looking for and then wait a bit, add more. I would do this anyway, the difference is pausing briefly between additions.

If I was to do this as a one step mash I would do it all at 148. There are already a lot of unfermentables in this recipe. Mashing low will give you the most amount of fermentable sugars while still giving good mouth feel and body. Should be fine.
 
Being one of my favorites, I will have to try this recipe this weekend.

Did you use a particular syrup and when did you add it?

Edit: I think Im going to go with dark Belgian Candi Syrup from my LHBS
 
Brewed this on Sunday as a 2.5 gallon batch to try.

OG: 1.090
I had some trouble finding the Belgian candi syrup at my LHBS. The website listed it but they were out of stock, and apparently so is everyone else. So in a pinch I used amber candi sugar and added it to the boil at the 60 min mark hoping the extra time in the boil would caramelize and invert the sugar.

I have never had a beer ferment this vigorously for 5 days. It started showing signs of activity 12 hours later(early Monday morning) and the krausen had finally fallen Friday morning.
 
Brewed this on Sunday as a 2.5 gallon batch to try.

OG: 1.090
I had some trouble finding the Belgian candi syrup at my LHBS. The website listed it but they were out of stock, and apparently so is everyone else. So in a pinch I used amber candi sugar and added it to the boil at the 60 min mark hoping the extra time in the boil would caramelize and invert the sugar.

I have never had a beer ferment this vigorously for 5 days. It started showing signs of activity 12 hours later(early Monday morning) and the krausen had finally fallen Friday morning.

How did this beer turn out? I'm curious because every time I brew this it becomes my favorite beer.

"What's your favorite beer?"
The one I'm drinking :cross:
 
Finished fermenting at 1.018, so it has some alcohol to it :D.

It has a great flavor but I may have overdone the corriander so it's not an exact clone, but it is very good. It has been in the bottle for 3 weeks and is not fully carbonated so I can not give an exact review but all signs point to awesome at this point.
 
My next go at this one I'm adding .75 oz of licorice at 15

Hi Gordon,

My next brew will be my second time. Obviously, it will be an extract type, rather than all grain. I found this Ommegang Abbey Ale Clone extract with grains recipe from Brew magazine (thanks to former head brew master at Ommegang Brewery).


Ommegang Abbey Ale clone
(5 gallons/19 L, extract with grains)
OG = 1.074
FG = 1.013
IBU = 22
SRM = 27
ABV = 7.8%

Ingredients
3.33 lbs (1.51 kg) Weyermann Bavarian Pilsner liquid malt extract (late addition)
1 lb. 2 oz (0.51 kg) Pilsner malt
2.25 lbs (1.02 kg) aromatic malt
1 lb. 6.4 oz. (0.64 kg) crystal malt (20 degrees L)
2.25 lbs (1.02 kg) Briess Special Roast malt (50 degrees L)
2.66 lbs (1.21 kg) corn sugar
6.25 AAU Styrian Goldings hops (60 mins) (1.25 oz./35 g of 5% alpha acids)
0.33 oz Styrian Goldings hops (0 mins)
0.25 oz. (7.1 g) Curacao orange peel
0.5 oz. (14 g) licorice root
Wyeast 1214 (Belgian Ale) yeast or cultured Ommegang yeast
1.2 cups corn sugar (for priming)

Step by Step

Heat 10.5 qts (9.9 L) of steeping water in your brewpot to 124 degrees F (51 degrees C). In a separate pot, heat 7.9 qts. (7.4 L) of rinse water to 170 degrees F (77 degrees C). Place crushed grains in a large steeping bag and submerge bag in your brewpot. Heat steeping water quickly to 144 degrees F (62 degrees C), stirring occasionally, then turn down heat and slowly raise temperature to 169 degrees F (76 degrees C). It should take
about 30 minutes to go from 144 degrees F (62 degrees C) to 169 degrees F (76 degrees C). Remove the grain bag and place in a colander over your brewpot. Rinse grains slowly and evenly with hot rinse water. Heat this "grain tea" - approximately 17.4 qts (16.4 L) to a boil.

Boil wort for 60 minutes, adding corn sugar at the beginning of the boil and hops at time indicated. (There is no dried malt extract in the recipe.) Add liquid malt extract, orange peel and licorice with 15 minutes left in the boil. Cool wort and transfer to fermenter. Add water to make 5 gallons (19 L), aerate and pitch yeast.

Ferment 76-84 degrees F (24-29 degrees C). (Yes, that hot.) Condition for 2 weeks at 28 degrees F (-2 degrees C). Keg and adjust to 3.0 volumes CO2. Or bottle in heavy bottles with corn sugar with a target of 3.5 volumes of CO2.

---------------
My questions:

1) Compared to your (Gordon's) recipe and this one...are there anything to modified?
2) How long do I ferment this in the primary? Does it depend on however long it takes to reach FG = 1.013?
3) Your recipe calls for 72F in primary and 60F in secondary. This one 76-84F in primary. How? Put the glass carboy in a large bucket, fill the bucket with water and put aquarium heater in to heat the water to 80F?
4) Condition at 28F??? Transfer to another carboy and put it in freezer.

This one seems more complicated. Yours seems easier but mashing is out of my league at this point. Hope you help the newbie.

Billy
 
Hi Gordon,

---------------
My questions:

1) Compared to your (Gordon's) recipe and this one...are there anything to modified?
2) How long do I ferment this in the primary? Does it depend on however long it takes to reach FG = 1.013?
3) Your recipe calls for 72F in primary and 60F in secondary. This one 76-84F in primary. How? Put the glass carboy in a large bucket, fill the bucket with water and put aquarium heater in to heat the water to 80F?
4) Condition at 28F??? Transfer to another carboy and put it in freezer.

This one seems more complicated. Yours seems easier but mashing is out of my league at this point. Hope you help the newbie.

Billy

The recipe looks great Billy. Go with it as is and see how you like it. You can always adjust according to your taste on the second attempt.
My temp. of 72 was because that was as high as I could get it. I would have gone higher but given that it was winter and I live in a temperate climate.. that's it. I use a Brewbelt around the carboy to raise the temperature. Maybe I'll use two next time and see if I can reach 80F :)

A cool to cold conditioning period is again whatever your environment allows, don't sweat it too much. My basement in winter gets down to high 50s, low 60s and that it enough to clear the beer nicely.

Primary lasts until the head drops and the beer begins to clear. You can also time your airlock. When the exhalations have 10 seconds between them the beer is probably ready for secondary.

Have fun, don't worry too much. THis looks like a great recipe and you'll probably end up with a fantastic beer.

When its drinkable let us know how it turned out.
Cheers, Gordon
 
This is a great beer, lots of flavor, high in alcohol yet light in body.

My only complaint is that it needs better head retention. Poured it into my Delirium glass and it poured a nice head but it quickly dissipated. Im looking for that thick foamy Belgian head but it is lacking in that department.
 
My only complaint is that it needs better head retention. Poured it into my Delirium glass and it poured a nice head but it quickly dissipated. Im looking for that thick foamy Belgian head but it is lacking in that department.

From a keg this pours with a huge head that slowly drops Belgian lace down the side of the glass. I just re-made this and bottled three large bottles. Maybe bottle aging vs. bulk ageing makes a difference? Amount of sugar in bottle?
Anyway, so far no head problems. A bit of wheat, say a 1/4 lb or so can add to the head and won't change the flavour much.
 
It has been in the bottle since 2/6/11 and I bulk primed with 2.4oz of corn sugar for 2.2 gallons(a half batch) which should net me over 3vols of carbonation.

The carbonation has been getting stronger with each week so it might not be ready yet. Im not terribly worried about it, but if it does not improve, maybe some wheat would help in my case.

Edit: Gave a bottle to a friend and he tells me that head retention was not an issue for him. Time to start rinsing my glasses thoroughly after the dishwasher.
 
The recipe looks great Billy. Go with it as is and see how you like it. You can always adjust according to your taste on the second attempt.
My temp. of 72 was because that was as high as I could get it. I would have gone higher but given that it was winter and I live in a temperate climate.. that's it. I use a Brewbelt around the carboy to raise the temperature. Maybe I'll use two next time and see if I can reach 80F :)

Hi Gordon,

Finally got around to brewing the extract recipe of Ommegang Abbey Ale clone last Saturday. The OG is 1.06. I wonder why it is lower than the recommended 1.074? Instead of shooting for FG of 1.013, should I shoot for lower gravity, let's say 1.003 or something to make up for the low OG?

My temp is now 72 also. But I am going to get some kind of warmer to raise to 80 tomorrow. I will let you know how it turns out.

Billy
 
Letting it ferment that low will give you the same ABV but it will not feel like it should. It will feel very light and thin, when it should be a bit thicker(higher FG).
 
I brewed two batches in succession.

The first batch had 3.3# of malt extract. The second one had 4.4#.

The recipe calls for OG of 1.074 and I had 1.060 for both. Isn't that weird? I thought the second batch would have higher OG. Is it because I didn't boil longer. Or what factor can cause lower OG than expected?
 
I brewed two batches in succession.

The first batch had 3.3# of malt extract. The second one had 4.4#.

The recipe calls for OG of 1.074 and I had 1.060 for both. Isn't that weird? I thought the second batch would have higher OG. Is it because I didn't boil longer. Or what factor can cause lower OG than expected?

Did you take into account temperature when taking OG? It would still be odd to be off so much but it can skew your reading.

If you are not counting on conversion of starches to add to your OG then the only other factor I can think of is batch volume. If your ending volume was greater the OG will be more diluted.

Don't worry though, even at what you achieved it will still be a nice beer. Better luck next time.
 
Hi Gordon,

Finally got around to brewing the extract recipe of Ommegang Abbey Ale clone last Saturday. The OG is 1.06. I wonder why it is lower than the recommended 1.074? Instead of shooting for FG of 1.013, should I shoot for lower gravity, let's say 1.003 or something to make up for the low OG?

My temp is now 72 also. But I am going to get some kind of warmer to raise to 80 tomorrow. I will let you know how it turns out.

Billy

I agree with Polaris. This should be a beer with some body, don't let it ferment down too low.

The brewbelt plus a blanket wrapped around the carboy are the best way to keep a high temp for amateurs like us.
 
I agree with Polaris. This should be a beer with some body, don't let it ferment down too low.

The brewbelt plus a blanket wrapped around the carboy are the best way to keep a high temp for amateurs like us.

Thanks, Gordon. I went ahead and bought a ceramic heat bulb for lizard at the pet store. Put both fermenters and the lizard heat in the laundry closet. When the temp reached 78 degrees, I opened the closet door ajar and the temp stayed 77 degrees. Exactly where I wanted it to be.

And today, the bubbles in the airlock for both batches were non-existent. Already. Saturday to Wednesday. I racked each batch to each 5 gallon carboy and poured vodka in airlock (the worker at homebrew store suggested it so it won't freeze) and put in the fridge at 28 degrees.

First batch: OG=1.060, FG=1.010
Second batch (the one with 4.6# of malt extract): OG=1.060, FG=1.015

Both tasted nicely.
 
Anybody know if it would be pointless to do this with a single infusion? I don't have the capabilities yet to do step mash temps. I really want to clone this beer though.
 
Anybody know if it would be pointless to do this with a single infusion? I don't have the capabilities yet to do step mash temps. I really want to clone this beer though.

Step mash is not that big a deal. Just leave it at 149 or so for an hour and you should be good. One tip I just picked up for a beer like this is to use simple table sugar and add it just as your ferment is finishing its peak. This will help to get away from the high FG's beers like this often have. Good luck with it, its a great beer.
 
This will be my second all-grain batch and i'm still a bit of a noob. How much strike/sparge water would you recommend that I use?
 
Just cracked open a bottle of this after being bottled for a week, one of the best i've ever had for the style. Thanks for the recipe!
 
Just cracked open a bottle of this after being bottled for a week, one of the best i've ever had for the style. Thanks for the recipe!

:cross:
You're very welcome. Glad that it turned out for you. I just finished a keg that was brewed in June and I was sad to see it go. As soon as Xmas is over I'm brewing this again with the same recipe but using several variations in the brewing process that I have since learned about. Should be even better this time around.
 
This will be my second all-grain batch and i'm still a bit of a noob. How much strike/sparge water would you recommend that I use?

Sorry I didn't see this question until just now. I use an old keg as my brew kettle and for a beer of this strength I fill it up about the 10 gallon mark. I use all or most of that through the mashing/sparging process giving me upwards of 9 gallons at the beginning of the boil. I boil vigorously for 2 hours or until I see that I am at the right volume (about 6 gallons coming off the boil). After cooling and racking I end up with 5.5+ gallons in the fermenter and again after secondary and bottling/kegging will have pretty close to 5.

Hope that helps.
 
Yeah, that was roughly the way I ended up doing it anyway. Honestly, this is one of the best beers I have ever had, there is no way this batch will make the 3 week bottle conditioning deadline. I'm just hoping I can maintain enough self control to save some for the brew club meeting in 2 weeks. Thank God I already brewed up another batch last week.
 
Yeah, that was roughly the way I ended up doing it anyway. Honestly, this is one of the best beers I have ever had, there is no way this batch will make the 3 week bottle conditioning deadline. I'm just hoping I can maintain enough self control to save some for the brew club meeting in 2 weeks. Thank God I already brewed up another batch last week.

That's a pretty funny post :) This and my Triple used to be my favorite beers but since then I've researched and brewed a clone of Oaked Arrogant Bastard and my loyalties have switched. I'll have to post that recipe when I have a moment.

Glad you're enjoying this one
 
Just purchased the ingredients for this and can't wait to brew it! I'm still a noob and have a question for someone: Would switching out the Hallertauer with Amarillo adversely effect the flavor of this beer as long as I keep the AAU's the same? I have a bunch of Amarillo in the freezer and would like to use it if I could. I guess I'll do a search of how diiferent styles of hops effect the flavor of beer and see what I can find in the mean time...
 
OK, after a bit of research I have decided to splurge and spend the two bucks for the correct variety of hops (or one of the correct...); I'm sure that I won't be disappointed. I'll just have to brew some more IPA to use up that Amarillo.
 
Just bottled this yesterday and it came out great. Got stuck at 1.020 but still came out at 8.3% abv. I have tweaked a few things with my process and brewed it again, so we'll see if it finishes out a little lower than the first try...
Really looking forward to cracking open the first bottle, thanks Gordon!
 
Just bottled this yesterday and it came out great. Got stuck at 1.020 but still came out at 8.3% abv. I have tweaked a few things with my process and brewed it again, so we'll see if it finishes out a little lower than the first try...
Really looking forward to cracking open the first bottle, thanks Gordon!

You're welcome Turtle. Nothing better than helping someone make good beer.
 
:cross:
You're very welcome. Glad that it turned out for you. I just finished a keg that was brewed in June and I was sad to see it go. As soon as Xmas is over I'm brewing this again with the same recipe but using several variations in the brewing process that I have since learned about. Should be even better this time around.

So Gordon, what was it that you learned about your brewing process that you would do differently the next time you brewed it?

I assume this one you would want to mash a bit on the high side, say 155°?
 
So Gordon, what was it that you learned about your brewing process that you would do differently the next time you brewed it?

I assume this one you would want to mash a bit on the high side, say 155°?

No the opposite. This has enough unfermentables that the FG is going to be relatively high anyway. I would mash lower and longer. Say 146 - 152 for 60 minutes. I've also taken to adding the sugar just after high krausen.
Doing this again I plan to slightly reduce the malt and slightly increase the sugar to make it drier, or as the Belgians say "digestible".
I've been playing with spice timings and would add the Coriander at 5 rather than knock out. I've also found that licorice is extremely sweet and any amount of it adds a LOT of sweetness to a beer so I've switched to Star Anise and a smaller amount.
Ferment warm, don't be in a rush to see it finish. My last few beers with these changes have improved tremendously.
 
So how does Star anise compare to licorice as far as flavor?

Very similar but without the added sweetness. Star anise is available at most supermarkets. If you can find some fresh in the spice department spend a $1 or 2 and taste it yourself. I frequently use this in Chinese and South East Asian recipes and find it aromatic and pleasant.

It certainly works well in beer.
 
Great recipe. Just tasted mine this weekend while I was racking to the secondary. Very pleasant flavors, and looking forward to drinking the rest in November and December.

FYI - I added 2oz candied ginger and 1/4 C honey @ 10 min in addition to the orange peel. (Skipped the coriander because I thought it would be redundant with the ginger). I'll let you know how it turns out when I start drinking the finished product.

Thanks so much.
 
Great recipe. Just tasted mine this weekend while I was racking to the secondary. Very pleasant flavors, and looking forward to drinking the rest in November and December.

FYI - I added 2oz candied ginger and 1/4 C honey @ 10 min in addition to the orange peel. (Skipped the coriander because I thought it would be redundant with the ginger). I'll let you know how it turns out when I start drinking the finished product.

Thanks so much.

It gets even better with some age and carbonation. The coridander does add a unique flavour but yours sounds pretty tasty.
 
Made this a few months back. Turned out excellent, the yeast is really the star here I think.

I used plain old 2 row instead of lager malt and it still turned out great.

Added star anise instead of licorice root, wish I had backed off a bit but it it seems to be mellowing out with age.

Thanks for the recipe, will definitely be making it again!
 
Made this a few months back. Turned out excellent, the yeast is really the star here I think.

I used plain old 2 row instead of lager malt and it still turned out great.

Added star anise instead of licorice root, wish I had backed off a bit but it it seems to be mellowing out with age.

Thanks for the recipe, will definitely be making it again!

Tweaking is as good as reason as any to make it again. Glad you enjoyed it.
 
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