Belgian Dark Strong Ale Double Drunk Monk Belgian Dark

Just curious, what/how much did you use a priming sugar? This has always been the guessing game for me since there is so much debate out there on this topic. I have used regular cane sugar and had good luck but the amount to use is always different for every brew I do. Just seeing what others have used with this recipe.

I used 2/3 cup cane sugar with 2 cups of water. Pretty general and worked well.

Gave this a shot last night as my first full boil batch. OG of 1.088-1.090! Pretty excited.

Bottled this today. Finished up at 8% and tastes awesome. Looks like my friends will enjoy a nice Christmas beer this year.

Bottled mine Friday and everything's looking good. Couldn't find a single reference on how much headspace to leave in champagne bottles. Any idea? Hope it doesn't affect these beers too much- I'd like to give some as gifts.

Thanks to the malto and caramelization, the beer finished at around 1.026, from 1.090. Tastes amazing.

Never used champagne bottles so I am no help. I use 22 oz. bombers generally and leave ~2 in. of head room.

looks really good...only 3 days in secondary? did you go to bottles that early and then age them?

I'm on week 4 in the primary. My current S.G. is 1.036. I've been rousing and such. I think the slow fermentation is due to the 1 lb of orange blossom honey I added. Do you think I should still do the 3 days in a secondary once the gravity levels out, or go straight to bottles and aging?

Just for future generations (this is only occuring to me now) but in order to help this beer attenuate all the way down, you may want to try adding the sugar in the primary once fermentation slows down. That way once the yeast is tired out, it can have some very simple sugars to chew on and get the beer down to FG.

Also: @hopheaded- this beer needs a good long primary, a good long secondary, and plenty of time in bottles. I think OP's original recipe was a little hasty. I pitched a huge starter and it didn't get down to 1.030 for two weeks.

This turned out really well for me, however, I was hoping for a little more full bodied result but not too bad. Maybe I steeped the grain a few degrees too warm. I was told by the Brewmaster at Half Acre that a even a couple degrees can make a huge difference.

I strongly suggest adding a kriek with this beer after its fermented. I am going to try adding some bugs and oaking it this next time.

Just brewed this up tonight! Only changes from the original recipe: LHBS sold the Rock Candi in 1lb bags, so I bought 1lb and added regular sugar to make up the difference. Used Styrian Golding instead of the other Styrian listed. Used White Labes WLP 550 Belgian yeast, LHBS didnt offer the yeast listed in the recipe. OG of 1.092. Tasted like syrup!! This is gonna be an a** kicker for sure!

I entered this in a local competition and got a 35/50 in the Belgian Dark Strong Ale—however, they said it would've scored 40-45 in the Russian Imperial Stout group, which I thought was interesting. They said it was the best BDSA they had, but since it wasn't quite to style, it wasn't scored higher.

Im at day 7 in the primary and it is still bubbling. Thats gonna be a lot of alcohol in there.......

kyleslattery said:

I entered this in a local competition and got a 35/50 in the Belgian Dark Strong Ale—however, they said it would've scored 40-45 in the Russian Imperial Stout group, which I thought was interesting. They said it was the best BDSA they had, but since it wasn't quite to style, it wasn't scored higher.

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Not to style?

kinkothecarp said:

Not to style?

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I have to think that 1lb Carafa III made this just black or a very dark brown.

Just FYI (no intention to denigrate OP's recipe) I have received MULTIPLE commendations for this beer but with the explicit note that it is TOO DARK for a BSDA. Three times I have entered this beer and received the note "Enter this as a Belgian Stout and WIN THE COMPETITION." Almost 1.5 years after initially brewing this beer, it is still the most complex recipe I have made. This is a beer made for laying down, if you have the patience.

I brewed this tonight and only made a two changes. I sub'd the Northern Brewer with Perle and used WLP500. I'm sure this is going to be a different beer than what was posted just based on the yeast change, but I'm sure it's still going to be good. I'll update in a few weeks / months.

also, I'm just going to do a 4 week primary fermentation in a glass carboy. I'll try to rouse the yeast once or twice to make sure that it attunates well. Looking forward to it!

daksin said:

This is a beer made for laying down, if you have the patience.

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This. Mine is about a year old now and it is hitting its stride. Really good, smooth, delicious. It took about 5 months just to carb up in bottles so I dont know how some of you guys are drinking it so young!

Just a quick update on fermentation; I pitched a three liter starter and it blew the 3 piece air lock off. This was on a 6.5 gallon car boy...

Wlp500 is a beast at high 60's low 70's.

I am finally going to brew this, ever since I found this recipe it has been on my list. Going to stick with original recipe and make a double batch in hopes it will help it last so that it can properly age!

Good call. I had a bomber of this just recently and I could not believe how much it had changed. This was the third beer I ever brewed and now I'm opening a real brewery and this is still the most complex, deliciously aged beer I've made to date. I think I'll be popping the last bottle for the grand opening which will be about 2.5 years after the beer was brewed. I may have to make it again, actually.

That is awesome, what made you decide to make the leap to brewery owner?

I can't wait to finally brew is since I saw it over a year ago it has been in my list!

So I finally brewed this as a 10 gallon batch and after waiting anxiously for about 36 hours they are both fermenting away in the primaries.

OG was ~1.090 so pretty much what was planned and the yeast is Wyeast 1214 Belgian yeast so I will be keeping a close eye on it to make sure the airlocks don't get clogged and blow the tops!

Excited to hurry up and let it age!

How's it going?

kinkothecarp said:

10 lbs Pilsner Liquid Extract
1.3lbs Belgian Rock Candi Amber
1lb Carafa III
8oz Biscuit Malt
7oz Special B
6oz Aromatic Malt
1oz Chocolate Malt

Hops:
60 minutes: 1oz Northern Brewer @ 8.5AA
30 minutes: 1oz Styrian Aurora @ 8.0AA
30 minutes: 1oz Hallertau @ 3.1AA

Boil: 3.0 gallons
9.7% ABV / 8% ABW

Steep Grains. I didn't pitch a starter and the beer worked perfectly. It's rich and smooth. You can drink this young (3-4 weeks) but really deserves age (4-6+ months).

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So, based on the comments of this thread, I intend to tweak this thing a bit to get where I want it to be. Namely, I want to all grain this, I want to use Belgian Candi Syrup in lieu of rock candi (this is what my LHBS carries), and I want this thing to be lighter somehow, to match BJCP style guidelines. Perhaps just switching from pilsner LME to all grain pilsner would give me enough lightning aspects to kill two birds?

So here is my modified recipe so far:

13.33lb Pilsner
2lb of Belgium candi Syrup, one at boil, another for mid ferment (not sure if 180 or 90 or 45 this is what my LHBS carries)
carafa III: considering reducing this to gain light color , can I sub here with pale chocolate malt?
8 oz biscuit malt
7oz special b
6oz aromatic malt
considering omitting the chocolate malt or subbing pale chocolate malt
Belgium Strong 545 yeast (what I have on hand)(I am inclined to make a starter, unless there are strong reasons why I shouldn't)

Thanks to Daksin for steering me here.

I brewed this on 11/13/2011 and started drinking it about a year later. I added 1 lb of Orange Blossom Honey and have gotten rave reviews about it. I'm getting ready to do another batch and have 6 bottles leftover for next year/years to follow. Thanks for the recipe man!

I brewed this with an addition of 2oz. Smoked Malt, and for what it's worth (and to me this is why I brew beer) my wife and I are over the moon in love with it! The brew started out at 1.086 and ended at 1.028. It is rich, sweet, and smoked, a combination I am really enjoying.

This is also my first attempt at kegging, and I am also absolutely in love with kegging too! While it would do well to age some, I don't know how long it will last!

I think I am going to try this recipe in a couple weeks.

Looks really good, but I would say that this is almost a Belgian Dark Strong and not a Dubbel.

I also am going to try making my own candi.

Did anyone try this by tweaking the IBUs a bit to get it closer to mid 30's?

Did you add the rock candi at 0 Boil flame out ? Still a rookie going to be my 2nd brew.

Did you add the rock candi at 0 Boil flame out ? Still a rookie going to be my 2nd brew.

This was one of my first brews as well. I added it at flameout, but you could add it at any point in the boil, really. Just don't forget it!

I am hoarding the last bomber of this, brewed over 2 years ago. At last tasting, about 9mo ago, it was incredible.

Any thoughts on adding oak chips to the secondary? I just had an oak aged dubbel last night that was amazing so just wondering?

Wow, I haven't brewed in three years, but I just started brewing again. I can't believe 26,000 people have seen this recipe!

Oak chips are nice on it. I've tried it many times and the oak comes through nicely.

I am brewing this today. I will keep in touch. Gonna do a couple of things differnt .