Belgian Dubbel Award Winning Dubbel XL (40th batch)

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DubbelDach

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 29, 2008
Messages
1,267
Reaction score
59
Location
Lancaster, PA
Recipe Type
All Grain
Yeast
WLP530
Yeast Starter
Yes
Batch Size (Gallons)
5
Original Gravity
1.066
Final Gravity
1.013
Boiling Time (Minutes)
60
IBU
22.9
Color
32.29
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
2 weeks @ 65F
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
4 weeks @ 65F
Tasting Notes
Deep dark fruit, chocolate tones... Very much a Rochefort 10 clone
10 lbs Belgian Pilsner
2 lbs Belgian Caramunich®
1 lb Belgian Special B
.25 lbs Weyermann Carafa I®

0.75 oz Styrian Goldings (Pellets, 6.00 %AA) boiled 60 min.
0.5 oz Hallertau Hersbruck (Pellets, 4.50 %AA) boiled 20 min.
0.5 oz Hallertau Hersbruck (Pellets, 4.50 %AA) boiled 5 min.

1 lb Dark Candi Syrup

1 vial White Labs WLP530 Abbey Ale

Mashed 60 mins at 154.

Took 3rd place overall in Appalachian Brewing Co. 2009 Homebrew Contest.

dubbel.jpg
 
Brand new to Belgian Beers. How do you think WLP500 would be in this beer? It's the only Belgian yeast I have access to at the moment.
 
When do you add the Candi syrup? At the end of the boil? Into the fermenter? Other?

Also, have you ever tried this with WLP540 Abbey IV Ale Yeast? I've seen claims that this is the Rochefort yeast. They White Labs site says that 540 is fruitier than 530, but less so that 500.
 
I'll be brewing this within a week or so. I'll be using belgian dark 2 candi syrup since I couldn't get it locally or from AHS.
 
Made this up yesterday- ended up with a SG or 1.075! Must have been my double milling (and use of blender) prior to throwing grains in the bag. Anxious to see how it'll turn out- smells very good and more hoppy than I expected.

*Update 12/12*
Took the hydrometer reading today: 1.022 for a ABV of 6.88! Taste is fruity, with a lingering smokey malt flavor and some good hop aroma. Very anxious to see how this tastes carb'd up.
 
this seems like an interesting beer. How long does it take to bottle condition? Im wondering whether this could be ready for xmas.
 
Im making similar dubble (half of cara munich and 1/4 of specB but 1.5lb of dark sugar) and i like this beer very much (have 3rd batch in 2ndary right now), next time i may change it according to this recipe. And i dont think it will be ready for Christmas if you brew it now, for me its 6 weeks fermentation and long bottle conditioning (around 3months) for great effect
 
Saw this recipe earlier this morning, looked amazing, and picked it up at lunch. Substituted the #1/4 Carafa I for more Special B, also upped the Pilsner by #1. Went with the WLP530, was hoping for the 540 as other said this was fruitier but the LHBS didn't have it. Question, when do I add the candi syrup? Boil or Secondary? Can't wait to try this 4 months from now. Brewing on Sunday, will let you all know how my results turned out.
 
For high gravity beers i always add dugar in prinary around 48h after pitching, but for a lot of ppl boil works fine
 
Hey guys, I think I ran into a little problem here! I brewed this beer on 11/9/12 and had a SG of 1.067. Just racked it over to secondary today and took a reading and it's at 1.026..... What can I do to drop this a little more? It's only 5.5%, I was expecting at least 6.5-7%. HELP!
 
Hey guys, I think I ran into a little problem here! I brewed this beer on 11/9/12 and had a SG of 1.067. Just racked it over to secondary today and took a reading and it's at 1.026..... What can I do to drop this a little more? It's only 5.5%, I was expecting at least 6.5-7%. HELP!

Warm it up some, add yeast if necessary. Probably give it some more time. I wouldn't have transferred to secondary since you weren't adding anything.
 
I just washed the yeast I used. I'll let it settle out for a little, try to make a starter, and repitch. I took it to secondary so it could age off of the yeast cake for a month or so.
 
I just washed the yeast I used. I'll let it settle out for a little, try to make a starter, and repitch. I took it to secondary so it could age off of the yeast cake for a month or so.

Sound enough reasoning but I recommend not doing so in the future until you're sure the yeast is done with everything. Pitching fresh yeast can help. Btw what was your mash temps and have you calibrated your thermometer lately? Did you aerate well? Did you add the sugar to the boil or to the fermentor at high krausen? What temp did you ferment at?
 
I am pretty sure the yeast has been finished with fermentation, as it has been about a month since I pitched the yeast. My mash temp was 154*, my thermometer is a brand new one and it agrees with the old fashion mercury thermometer I have. I can not remember if I shook it well enough, but I do not have a oxygen stone/tank setup (definitely looking into it now). I added the Belgian candi syrup during the last 5 of the boil. The sitting temp of my house is between 72-74 degrees, so it's going to be a little on the high side for fermentation. Looking to get a fermentation chamber, but after the winter is over (trying to utilize this cold weather).
 
Hey guys, so it has been about 3 months now since I brewed this beer (11/09/12). Wanted to bottle it in about a month, so I can start bottle aging it. Should there be enough active yeast in there to help carbonate the beer? Or should I pitch some yeast to help out? If so, how much should I pitch?
 
Hey guys, so it has been about 3 months now since I brewed this beer (11/09/12). Wanted to bottle it in about a month, so I can start bottle aging it. Should there be enough active yeast in there to help carbonate the beer? Or should I pitch some yeast to help out? If so, how much should I pitch?

I think you should be fine. If you're worried throw some dry yeast in there. Just be sure to hydrate so that you don't kill the yeast with alcohol while the cell walls are permeable.
 
I brewed this up today. Adapted as a partial mash, with a number of modifications

3# of Belgian Pils Mashed with the other grains as directed at 154 for an hour
3# of Briess Pilsen DME @ 15 min
1 # amber candi sugar for the dark syrup

Since the lhbs was out of SGs I went the domestic route
1oz Willamette for the SG
Mt Hood for the HH

2 liter starter of wyeast 3787 pitched when cooled to 65

Some significant modifications, but I'm stoked.
 
how long do you let this beer age in the bottle. I made my first dubbel a while ago its sitting in the keg for about three weeks and the flavors still need to mellow out. My recipe is similar to yours but has less base malt and pound more of the sugar. I used d-90
 
Hi,

First of all, thank you for posting the recipe.

I just finished brewing this (6 and half busy hours...), but I'm still a newbie, so I changed the recipe a bit to increase efficiency. This is my 8th all-grain batch, I think, after many extract "kits", so I'm still learning.

Here are the numbers:
I increased the grain by 10% each, aprox.

Mash with 5 gallons.
Batch sparge, and final pre-boil wort was 6.8 gallons.

Pre-boil OG wasn't what I would like so I changed the boiling time to 90 minutes. In any case I dropped the hops at the appropiate times (60, 20, 5)

After boiling I got 5.3 gallons at 1061 OG, which according to BeerSmith is 55% efficiency. I think my mistake was to batch sparge with too much water, but the final measure was around 1025, so there was still sugar in there... Which I honestly don't know how I should have gathered. Maybe my mash temperature was too low (around 145-150F). I though on adding 30 minutes more to mash to give the Pils more time to convert.. but finally didn't do it.

The yeast I used was Trappist High Gravity 3787, as was the only good alternative available.

Anyway, I know this beer will taste wonderfully, even if it ends up with low alcohol, so thanks again for the recipe. For now I named it "Dubbel", I hope you don't mind. I only put names to my own recipes so I don't think I will name this anything special.. maybe some nickname that reminds me it's not mine :)

If I don't forget about it, I promise to come back and post my opinion here when I open a bottle that aged enough. I of course plan on doing this again, even without knowing how it turned out, because it sounds like a great recipe, so I can re-walk my steps and try doing it better next time. I still haven't brewed the same recipe twice, to compare...
 
Subscribed.

So is the Wyeast 3787 Trappist High Gravity a good sub for the WLP here? I have no access to the WLP at the local homebrew store.

My first Dubbel. Cant wait!!
 
So is the Wyeast 3787 Trappist High Gravity a good sub for the WLP here?

As I've read around they are basically the same: westmalle yeast.

Just do a google search with both names and you will find plenty of threads on forums around with recipes listing "WLP or 3787" as yeast.
 
I've been eyeballing this recipe for a bit.

Just tossed it together using what I had laying around... subbed caramunich for 1lb caramunich II and 1lb crystal 40L, and did 1lb 2oz of Special B (dropping the carafa). I'll be tossing in liquefied dark candi in the primary in a few days, when the fermentation has calmed down.

Here's hoping it tastes as good as it looks/sounds.
 
I brewed this up today. Adapted as a partial mash, with a number of modifications

3# of Belgian Pils Mashed with the other grains as directed at 154 for an hour
3# of Briess Pilsen DME @ 15 min
1 # amber candi sugar for the dark syrup

Since the lhbs was out of SGs I went the domestic route
1oz Willamette for the SG
Mt Hood for the HH

2 liter starter of wyeast 3787 pitched when cooled to 65

Some significant modifications, but I'm stoked.


So this beer turned out great - except for the the bottle bomb and the gushers i had from not fermenting the 3787 properly.

Really though, the taste was great and i expect had I been able to age a few they would have turned out even better. Next time for sure!
 
I made this yesterday, modified to a partial mash. This was my first use of the new mash tun so I was learning a lot.
Couldn't quite hit the mash temp (153) but my gravity was fine (1.072). Now fermenting happily downstairs.
-bill
 
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