Belgian Dark Strong Ale Easy Chimay Blue clone

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I brewed this today and I hope it turns out well. I got a OG of about 1.080 so starting out ok. I made my own candi sugar and I think that was where I lost the point.

Question: would anyone wash this yeast or will it not be a good idea to wash this one since they might be too stressed?
 
So I did this recipe back in Early August. So about 3 months ago and kinda forgot about it. I recorded an OG of 1.088. When I checked it last night I was thinking it might be 1.015. Nope it was all the way down to 1.000. I checked it multiple times and it was sure enough 1.000. So I tasted it and oh man was it good. I felt like I could have just drank the stuff uncarbonated and room temp. I can't wait to try this after bottling for another couple months.

Oh yeah and by the way I used a dry yeast called Safbrew s-33. So anyone wanting to save a couple bucks use this stuff.
 
Bottled this two weeks ago and tasted it today. There is a lot more hop to this than I was expecting. Good though.
 
Patience definitely pays off with this beer. I brewed Fatty Liver's version 8/4, bottled 8/23. It took at least 8 weeks for proper carbonation to develop. Once there it was definitely worth it. Nice, complex Belgian strong ale. With a bit more ageing it should mellow a bit more. Yummy!
 
Follow-up: been about 4 months now since I brewed the first batch and have to say this is an amazing extract beer. I've never had the original chimay blue (sad) but the wife has and says this is "better" than she remembers it. All I know is that it's turned out fantastic and has been well worth the wait. My mother in law doesn't like beer (big time wine snob) but loves this beer as it reminders her of a good red. Not sure I agree with that but glad she likes it....lol
My second batch is slightly stronger (9.7% if I remember correctly but would have to check my notes) and is still pretty young in the bottle but I'm amazed how much the "hot" alcohol burn has mellowed out with time. Very pleased and recommend others give it a go if they're thinking of trying it.
 
Silverbullet said:
I've brewed two version of this and get no hop forward taste at all. Did you follow the schedule or experiment a bit? I wouldn't call this a hoppy beer at all.

I don't think it was hop bitterness. The beer is just green and has not mellowed so it has got a bit of a harsh edge. I followed the hop schedule.
 
So last night brewing this....I messed up and didn't put the wine yeast in at 15min. How will that affect things? Yeast activity hasn't started in the last 8 hours. Temp in the basement is about 65.

I used one vial of WLP 500 and pitched it straight in since I was wrapping up everything around 1am.

Is there any point in boiling some water now with the wine yeast and pitch that for nutrients?
 
WLP500 took forever to kick off in my starter and that was with a stir plate, low OG (1.035ish) and yeast nutrient. One vial will definitely be under pitched and will take several days to take off I would think. I would add another vial of 500 if you can and the nutrient. If you aren't able too, it will still make beer.
 
I took this to a family function last night. It was a HUGE success! I took 4 bombers and brought 1 home, everyone said they would have drank more if they didn't have to drive. Everyone loved it though.
 
I just brewed this a few weeks back. OG was 1.090 and today when I transfered to secondary my gravity was 1.019. It smells real good and the yeast flavor coming through is wonderful. Can't wait to keg and carbonate.
 
Hopefully an easy question. I am ready to order everything for FattyLiver's version of this recipe, for the higher ABV. I'm orderign through MidwestSupplies, unless somebody knows another supplier is as cost effective or cheaper with same quality ingredients.

On the recipe there Munich (German) 2.00 lb listed, I think on Midwest's site I would order this Munich 10L (Briess), is that right? If not can someone shed a little light on that for me, thanks in advance?!!

Also, I have to keep my fermenter at my-in laws so I don't get to keep as close an eye on it as I would like. Has anybody else tried using Fermcap with this? If so, what kind of results did you see, effective or not? If I do use it should I still plan for a blow off tube?

Thanks, can't wait to get this one going!!!!
 
Brewed the FattyLiver recipe yesterday. I only got my OG to hit 1.074 at 70℉. I'm thinking thats due to not getting all the sugars out of the grains. I started with 3 gallons of water in a 5 gallon kettle not thinking how much space the grains would take up. I made it work, but you really need about a 7 gal keetle or larger for this recipe.

The hydro tasted pretty good, extremely sweet but as others have said that should mellow. I pitched a 2.5L starter of WY1214 and I'm hoping I get a good start on fermentation. The 2 month old smack pack and the first step of my starter both showed really slow starts.
 
After a week in the primary the gravity is at 1.015 the yeast was crazy for the first 3 days and I haven't seen any airlock activity since. The hydro sample was still sweet, drier but sweet and kind of muddled. I can tell this will take some time to come together but so for things look good.

Another week or two in the primary and then racking to secondary and possibly using the WY1214 cake for a blonde.
 
You shouldn't use the cake for a high OG beer on other beers. If you want to reuse it, work your way UP, not down.
 
Agreed, I guess i should've clarified. I'm planning to collect the yeast, and build up a starter. Due to the OG of the Chimay clone I would prefer to allow the yeast to reproduce on a starter to make sure the yeast is viable to ferment the Blonde.
 
just tried a glass of my finished beer and it's very good. Gonna let it sit till early fall in the keg before I really start drinking it up. I has a bit of a thin mouth feel to it, but very good.
 
I'm going to brew a batch of this next month but I want to build up a stock of other beers first to help me keep away from it for 6 months :)
I live in Germany and there are different types of both of the hops mentioned.

1 oz Hallertauer (60 mins)
1 oz Styrian Goldings (30 mins)

What % alpha are the ones used for this beer?

Thanks.
 
Bottled this last Friday, almost a week now sitting in a room where temps bounce from 75 - 80!! The hydro sample was at 1.012, so it should be at about 8.1% ABV, not horrible but I was hoping for around 9%, like Chimay Blue is. The smell had a lot of alcohol to it, but after getting past that I think mine is going to be a touch sweeter than Chimay.

I may throw a bottle in the fridge tonight so I can "sample" it over the weekend just to see how the carbonation is coming and whether or not that helps cut through some of the alcohol. Then I'm planning to take 6 bottles out around then end of July when my brother's in town, and the rest are going to get moved to a 65 - 70 degree room until Fall/Winter
 
Was looking into making this in a week or 2 based on the fattyliver recipe, is a stir plate necessary for the yeast starter, or do I need to pitch a gallon yeast starter into this? Just seeing what everyone has done.

For an OG of 1.090 with 5 gallons, I compute roughly a 4 liter yeast starter on this. It says about 2.2 liter starter is needed with a stirplate. Is that what everyone is doing with this? I don't have a stirplate yet and only a 2 liter flask.

http://www.brewersfriend.com/yeast-pitch-rate-and-starter-calculator/
 
I brewed this about three months ago and kegged one week ago. It tastes like Chimay but with a bit of prune juice added. I am happy with it but am thinking I didn't get the level of attenuation I wanted. And, no, I was too lazy to get gravity readings :)
 
@rideincircles - I didn't use a stirplate for my starter. I made a 2.5L starter in a glass gallon jug, shook it every couple hours when I was home and awake. Mine seemed to ferment fine, no off flavors on the few bottles I've tried. Couple of friends that like Belgians have said they like this better than Chimay, it's not as bitter in the finish. I brewed back in April and plan to wait until October/November before I put the bottles in the fridge. I've been opening one a month just to taste the changes and it definitely changes over time.
 
Finally made my batch last night.

I ended up making a 2-stage yeast starter since I didn't add enough DME the first time. I ended up making the easy stir plate found here before making this beer.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/my-shamelessly-cheap-12-diy-stir-plate-338695/

Anyways, Everything went pretty smoothly with making the Fatty Liver recipe, but my gravity ended up around 1.081 and I think its because I didn't sparge. MY grains soaked for about 45 minutes from 166 to 156, and I dunked it a few times pulling it out, then let it drain and added that water back in. I added all 6 gallons to my kettle so I didn't want to add any more water, but I guess I should have just rinsed the grains with the water I was using.

Besides that, everything went pretty smoothly other than it boiling over when adding the first hops. My other one small mistake was adding the Amber Belgian Candi sugar at 15 minutes instead of 45. I don't think these will be detrimental, but will try to remember next batch I make.

I ended up racking it over to my carboy at 88 degrees and pitched the yeast. I hope the temp wasn't too high, but I didn't have any other easy way to cool it off. Didn't see much activity this morning (6 hours later), but I assume it will kick in today. It is still cooling off to regular temps. Should have just pitched the yeast this morning, but not much I can do now.
 
My FattyLiver version went from 1.081-1.018 in a week and I have been letting it hover around 70-74 degrees the past week since my house gets up to 86 during the day when I am gone. When I sampled it, it tasted awesome with a little alcohol bite and fruity flavors.

How necessary is it to repitch yeast for bottling? My plan is to just bottle straight from primary at 4 weeks. I can adjust this if needed, but was hoping to avoid buying more yeast. If anything, I was thinking about getting some more syrup to use for priming instead of corn sugar.

Otherwise, all systems go and it is 11 days into fermentation. I am good about being able to age it for a while, and I may get a fridge set on the lowest setting for my long term beers.
 
No need to pitch more yeast at bottling, there will be plenty still in circulation going from the primary at 4 weeks. Priming sugar, and you're good to go. I've done this recipe 4 times, each one a little different - let it age, you won't be sorry. :)
 
I used blue caps for a nice finishing touch and no labeling required. Thought I would share a picture and link to where I got them. Thanks to both the OP and Fatty Liver for the recipe!

Dark Blue Bottle Caps

Chimay_Blue_Clone.jpg
 
Bottled mine on Saturday after 6 weeks at primary. Lots of fruity plum notes and easy to drink as is. Going to throw this into the bottom of beer closet for a while and let it sit.

Final yield was 12 - 22oz bottles and 30 -12 oz bottles. Could have had 31 bottles, but sampled a bit too much. The two cases will be locked away for a while, and I gave two away to my friend and the other four will be for testing this year.

Sidenote: I let it sit at room temperature at my house for about a month with an average of 76 degrees after primary. I did not find any flaws from this that I could tell, fermentation temps were mostly controlled during primary.

Now I need to bottle my tripel and my closet will be stacked.
 
Ohh, how I've been waiting for this. I finally brewed this recipe this past Friday. Three small changes from FattyLiver's version: only 3lb Amber LME, because that is the size my LHBS sells, homemade candi syrup and I screwed up and bought Styrian Goldings (celeia) hops. After some research it seems that these hops are at least close to regular Styrian Goldings, they are a hybrid of the original and something else with similar profiles, but lower alpha acids. I'm disappointed in the hop mistake, but after the tiny taste that I got today I'm far less disappointed...it is good despite the fact that it is still fermenting!

Somehow I hit 1.090 on the nose and the SG is already down to 1.025. I started with a sanitized pillow case over the top of my fermentation bucket rather than a closed carboy, but slapped on the lid with an airlock today. If I were checking the SG daily I probably would have done this yesterday, but this should still be good timing since it is getting close to FG, but not quite (still some CO2 production).

I started with the wort at 65F and left it to rise naturally; ambient is usually 68F-70F. The highest temperature that my digital thermometer read off the side of the bucket was 77F, so the center of the fermentation could/should have been a little higher.

Nothing to do now, but wait for at least a couple more weeks for it to finish. I plan to cold condition for some period of time before bottling.
 
I just want to put my 2 cents in this thread as I recently made a chimay blue clone based on a number of well reviewed recipes and some advice from an experienced brewer.

4 lbs Pilsner
1 lbs Caramunich
.5 lbs Munich
.5 lbs Torrified Wheat
.25 lbs Special B

Mashed in at 165, mash temp dropped to 151 F and was held for some amount of time. I put this in the oven and it was set to warm. The thermometer in the mash pot read 150, but after an hour in the oven and a quick stir this shot up to 168. Consulting with a buddy, most conversion took place in first 15 mins and I expect the temp crept up only in the last half hour which would possibly explain the slight bitter note detected during bottling.

Also:
6.6 lbs Pilsner LME at 60 min
1 oz Brewers Gold 8% at 60 min
1 oz Hallertauer 4.8% at 30 min
1 lb D90 Candi Syrup at 15 min
Irish Moss capful at 15 mins
WLP500 yeast 1.6 L stir plate starter

I fermented for 20 days starting at 65, ramping up 1 degree per couple days till 69 and then leaving till I hit 3 weeks. I didn't check gravity or anything, too nervous about infections to do that. Racked to secondary and then bulk aged 2 months at 68. During ferment had a STRONG banana odor, which toned down over time and was pleasant in the bottle stage.

Tasting notes after just 10 days:

A: Poured a muddy brown, but this is surprising given that it was relatively clear in the bottling stage. I suspect that yeast got stirred up and is still active. Also due to this strain being a low flocculator I would want to cold age at least 10 days for a real test. Had some yeast on the bottom of bottle, but not compacted. There was no head on this as it is not carbed up yet.

S: Malty, raisins, plums, very faint hop aroma, some chocolate, slight cherry, and slight banana. I don't want to pat myself on the back, but this smells exactly like Chimay Blue.

T: Tastes almost like rum soaked raisins in beer, which is what I would describe Chimay as. There is definitely a bready note which I wanted to emphasize more than the actual version, but came up tasting just like the real thing. The only thing lacking is the alcohol is noticeable, but very slight on the finish. Aftertaste also has a bit of alcohol taste, but I fully expect that to fade with some aging and also not surprising for a 9.06% beer.

M: A bit sweeter than the original, but I expect this is due to my failure in the mash stage. The sweetness is quite light and enjoyable though. No real carbonation to speak of at this point.

O: This tastes like a flat Chimay that is slightly sweeter. I could not be happier with the results and look forward to trying this in a month or two.
 
My last bottle of this was fantastic. It has been bottled around 4 months now and will be entered into bluebonnet brewoff. I got 2nd place in my homebrew competition after 1 month from bottling. It has improved massively. Will post how it goes. Used the fattyliver recipe.
 
Three weeks after bottling I pulled one bottle and put in the refrigerator...impatience! Luckily I have the rest stowed in the basement, because it was very tasty. My wife, who is not a beer drinker, took a sip and then continued drinking! I will do a side-by-side with the real thing at some point in the future.
 
I ended up getting a 38.5 point average when I entered this in bluebonnet using the fattyliver recipe. I was told Belgian strong Ales was a really tough category this year. I think my batch is over 6 months old now and sitting patiently in my cellar.

I like it a lot.
 
I just cracked one of these open that I made probably around 2 years ago. This bad boy ages spectacularly. I'm sipping on it at room temp right now and enjoying the amazing depth of flavor that this beer has. I'm telling you guys, after a year or two in the bottle this is like a whole new beer!
 
I just cracked one of these open that I made probably around 2 years ago. This bad boy ages spectacularly. I'm sipping on it at room temp right now and enjoying the amazing depth of flavor that this beer has. I'm telling you guys, after a year or two in the bottle this is like a whole new beer!

I agree, I just had the last bottle that I have of this and it was about a year old. Flavoe mellows in a very good way, not as sweet, closer to the original in my opinion. Really wish I had bottled a couple 22's to lay up for a while now. Might have to make another batch and set aside 1/4 to 1/2 of the bottles and compare over a few years.
 
I agree, I just had the last bottle that I have of this and it was about a year old. Flavoe mellows in a very good way, not as sweet, closer to the original in my opinion. Really wish I had bottled a couple 22's to lay up for a while now. Might have to make another batch and set aside 1/4 to 1/2 of the bottles and compare over a few years.

I had honestly forgot all about this beer. I found a stash when I went to clean out the brew closet to make room for a batch of skeeter pee that I am about to make. I got so excited that I couldn't even wait to chill one.
 
I had my own recipe for this (scored 35, but after 1.5 months bottle aging, would be better now I think). I initially aged in secondary for 2 months, then after a month in the bottle it tasted sweet and was still not fully carbed, was cloying almost. 2 months, a little more carbed, tastes a little more balanced and getting better. 3 months it's starting to hit its stride and is finally carbed and taste is greatly improved. This only gets better with time.
 
After a week in the fermenter, the gravity is down to 1.02 and it smells and tastes like banana. Does this flavor fade over time? I kept it in a swamp cooler and let it do its thing. I was hoping for plum and raisin, but it doesn't taste too different than the Hef I just bottled.
 
What yeast strain did you use? What temp did you hold the swamp cooler at?
 
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