Belgian IPA

There have been a few Belgian IPAs submitted to the recipe db, but I wanted to do my own thing... I got 2 packs of Unibroue yeast (thanks Ed and Brewmasters Warehouse) and wasnt sure what to do with the other. One is reserved for a La Fin Du Monde clone.

I unexpectedly had some time to brew this afternoon, so I whipped this one up.

10lbs Maris Otter
2lbs Pale Malt
12oz Carapils
8oz Honey Malt
8oz Crystal 20
1oz Columbus FWH
1oz Columbus @20
1oz Cascade @ 10
1oz Cascade @ 2
2gm Grains of Paradise
2gm Clove
4gm Bitter orange peel
1 tab whirfloc
Plan on dry hopping, maybe Cent or Cascade.
Wyeast 3864? Cant remember exact number but its the Unibroue yeast.

Had pretty good efficiency, hit 1.074
Mashed at 150 for 90 minutes, did a 90 min boil

Should be right around 65 IBU, according to Beersmith. I am hoping for a hoppy spicy brew that will be ready for the fall. Its in the basement at 68 right now. Temps are going to rise naturally over the week. Traveling again this week, but its supposed to be warm Mon-Wed. I have high hopes for this one.

s3n8 said:

There have been a few Belgian IPAs submitted to the recipe db, but I wanted to do my own thing... I got 2 packs of Unibroue yeast (thanks Ed and Brewmasters Warehouse) and wasnt sure what to do with the other. One is reserved for a La Fin Du Monde clone.

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Your welcome. That recipe looks very tasty. I think a Belgian IPA may just be my next brew.

Ed

Looks great, but rethink the fall bit. Hoppy beers don't age well.

Looks yummy!

I love the peach/apricot/tangerine flavors of Columbus like you have used it, I think it will compliment the spices really well. This should be very tasty.

jkarp said:

Looks great, but rethink the fall bit. Hoppy beers don't age well.

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While they do tend to lose a little zing, I find that bigger beers really don't hit their stride for about 6 months. Either way, I will be sampling along the way.

My passion is Belgians and I'm a firm believer in drinking them young, just as the Belgians do (lambics excepted, of course.)

jkarp said:

My passion is Belgians and I'm a firm believer in drinking them young, just as the Belgians do (lambics excepted, of course.)

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Really? Can you even really drink a Tripel or Dubbel young? Takes at least a good 3 months before you can even drink it.. and it gets better with age.

I've had Tripels that were 3 years old and great.

jkarp said:

Looks great, but rethink the fall bit. Hoppy beers don't age well.

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I wouldn't say the don't age well. I would say they change over time, maturing into a complex layered beer. The hop bitterness and flavor do mellow though, but often into something great. IMO.

I've got a dubbel going right now. I don't have the storage for aging lots of beers. So they're often in kindergarten when I keg em.

Denny's Evil Concoctions said:

I wouldn't say the don't age well. I would say they change over time, maturing into a complex layered beer. The hop bitterness and flavor do mellow though, but often into something great. IMO.

I've got a dubbel going right now. I don't have the storage for aging lots of beers. So they're often in kindergarten when I keg em.

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This is more in line with my experience. My first dubbel (made in Oct 08) is just right now getting really good. The first trippel (Dec 08) is good, but will get better this summer. It seems all of my homebrews get much better with age. I rarely dip below 1.07 OG though. One of my favorite beers to date is a double IPA made with a lot of Munich and 1.075 OG. It has 10oz of hops in it, and I would say it has aged VERY well 8 months in.

syd138 said:

Really? Can you even really drink a Tripel or Dubbel young? Takes at least a good 3 months before you can even drink it.. and it gets better with age.

I've had Tripels that were 3 years old and great.

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Don't admit that in Belgium. You'll get flogged for beer neglect.

Seriously, 2-3 months of aging on a Tripel is about right. That's when you'll see them on tap at Kulminator, Delirium, etc.

Denny's Evil Concoctions said:

I wouldn't say the don't age well. I would say they change over time, maturing into a complex layered beer. The hop bitterness and flavor do mellow though, but often into something great. IMO.

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Personally, I think a lot of late-hop addition flavors simply get lost with time. If you've ever had a Pliny the Elder, the label is plastered with dire warnings about aging the beer.

jkarp said:

Don't admit that in Belgium. You'll get flogged for beer neglect.

Seriously, 2-3 months of aging on a Tripel is about right. That's when you'll see them on tap at Kulminator, Delirium, etc.

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Having had a 13 year old Quad @ Kulminator I'd have to disagree with you.

Would I age a Wit? Nope, but I'd age Tripel's, Quad's and the likes.

HarvInSTL said:

Having had a 13 year old Quad @ Kulminator I'd have to disagree with you.

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Not on tap, you didn't.

I never said Tripels couldn't be aged. Just that it isn't a requirement.

Back on-topic, I know my Tripel IPA fades past its prime after 4 months. The yeast esters again dominate and are no longer balanced with the late-addition hop flavors.

I don't think anyone has said that it is a requirement that you have to age tripels.

Using your Tripel IPA recipe that you linked to, when you increase the IBU's and add more dry hopping do you think that would extend it's "prime".

Speaking of which what is your defination of prime? When the hop flavors are no longer dominate?

What hop flavors?

Using the BJCP guidelines for an English IPA, they state the following (Which I could see being applied to just about ANY IPA).

Fresher versions will obviously have a more significant finishing hop character.

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So if a Tripel IPA still has significant bittering hop character, but has lost it's finishing hop character, would you say that is past its "prime"?

This is mine, tried it after 1.5 weeks in the bottle, already really good.

3.00 lb Extra Light Dry Extract (3.0 SRM) Dry Extract 25.0 %
6.00 lb Pilsner (2 Row) Bel (2.0 SRM) Grain 50.0 %
0.75 lb Wheat Malt, Bel (2.0 SRM) Grain 6.3 %
0.50 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 4.2 %
0.25 lb Aromatic Malt (26.0 SRM) Grain 2.1 %
0.25 lb Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain 2.1 %

1.00 oz Chinook [13.00%] (60 min) Hops 58.2 IBU
0.50 oz Chinook [13.00%] (90 min) Hops 29.1 IBU
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50%] (60 min) Hops 24.6 IBU
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50%] (20 min) Hops 8.3 IBU
0.75 oz Cascade [5.50%] (5 min) Hops 4.8 IBU
0.50 oz Cascade [5.50%] (Dry Hop 3 days) Hops -
0.50 oz Centennial [10.00%] (Dry Hop 3 days) Hops -
0.50 oz Chinook [13.00%] (Dry Hop 3 days) Hops -

1.25 lb Candi Sugar, Clear (0.5 SRM) Sugar 10.4 %

1 Pkgs Belgian Style Ale Blend (White Labs #WLP575) Yeast-Ale

HarvInSTL said:

So if a Tripel IPA still has significant bittering hop character, but has lost it's finishing hop character, would you say that is past its "prime"?

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I would, personally. For the very same reason, I find Green Flash's Le Freak a bit wanting. It's a very good Tripel IPA, no doubt, but a bit overpowering in bitterness and lacking in hop flavor IMO. When I designed my recipe, I focused on the late additions so hop flavor instead of raw bitterness would mix with the Belgian yeast esters.

One theory I have about my poor Tripel IPA shelf life is the amount of solids making it to the bottle. Even after a cold-crashed secondary, it bottles fairly cloudy but the bottles do clear in the fridge after a couple months. It's quite possible this precipitate carries a significant amount of hop flavor out of suspension.

I just took a gravity sample of this one, and its down to 1.015 or so. The krausen fell and it is beginning to clear. I boiled up a lb of sugar in .5l water and am going to add that to hopefully get the yeast going again and help dry it out. Hoping it will finish out around 9%.

The sample is chilling in the fridge, but I took a little nip, and it tastes rediculous. Big hop flavor, big yeasy character, and nice and spicy. I think this ones gonna be good.

I had one of these the other night. Besides being delicious, complex, flavorful, and generally awesome, I am going to stick to my guns and say this one needs a little time. The flavors still seemed separate. Great, but separate.