St. Bernardus 12 Extract Clone Recipe Help

I've been looking around various sources (mostly all-grain) about a St. Bernardus 12 clone recipe. Combining a lot of them together and converting to extract, here is what I am thinking of going with...

5.5 Gallon Batch w/full boil
OG 1.098
FG 1.018
ABV 10.3%

Munich Liquid Malt Extract - 3.3 Lbs
Pilsner Dry Malt Extract - 7 lbs
D2 Belgian Candi Syrup - 3 lbs

Carafa Special III Malt Dehusked - 0.5 lbs
Aromatic Malt - 1 lbs

Target Hops - 1oz @ 60 mins
Saaz Hops - .5 oz @ 20 mins

Wyeast 3787 (Trappist High Gravity) yeast (big starter/double pitch)

Yeast pitched at 68F, rising to 84F for 5 to 7 days

Secondary fermentation 6-8 weeks at 50F

I have a few questions...
1) Would this 3787 yeast be closest to the Bernardus, or would I be better off with a WLP500 or other?
2) Is there anything I should keep in mind when using the large amounts of extract?
3) I really disliked the Rochefort 10 I tried, but I think that the Bernardus tastes heavenly. I often see these two lumped together...is there anything I can do to make this recipe distinctly Bernardus tasting and not Rochefort?
4) For the secondary fermentation, should I transfer to carboy, or leave the beer on the trub for the duration
5) How quickly should I rise the temp during primary from 68F to 84F? Should I pick up a heating belt to achieve this?

In addition, any recipe advice/tweaks would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Good luck. St Bernardus Abt 12 is my #1 favorite beer!
Austin Homebrew Supply has this one that I have been thinking about. Im not sure how close it is to St Bernardus

http://www.austinhomebrew.com/produ...=1934&osCsid=1c3ce0b2a900363c0b9d8abf038ae7fd

SevenFields said:

Good luck. St Bernardus Abt 12 is my #1 favorite beer!
Austin Homebrew Supply has this one that I have been thinking about. Im not sure how close it is to St Bernardus

http://www.austinhomebrew.com/produ...=1934&osCsid=1c3ce0b2a900363c0b9d8abf038ae7fd

Click to expand...

I had looked at that AHS kit but I am pretty sure it's just a generic Belgian Quad kit and not specifically modeled after the Bernardus Abt 12.

I think you need a healthy dose of Special B and Caramunich.

I'd cut back on the candi sugar and make that up with simple table sugar.

St Bernardus uses yeast from Westmalle. WLP 530 or wyeast 3787 is the Westmalle strain. Make sure you make a HUGE starter. Check the mr malty pitching calc to see how much you will need. Start the ferment in the mid 60's and slowly raise the temp to the low to mid 70's over the course of a week. Then hold it in the low to mid 70's until it's fully attenuated.

Do you have a copy of Brewing Classic Styles? I believe Jamil's Belgian Dark Strong is modeled after St Bernardus Abt 12.

maida7 said:

I think you need a healthy dose of Special B and Caramunich.

I'd cut back on the candi sugar and make that up with simple table sugar.

St Bernardus uses yeast from Westmalle. WLP 530 or wyeast 3787 is the Westmalle strain. Make sure you make a HUGE starter. Check the mr malty pitching calc to see how much you will need. Start the ferment in the mid 60's and slowly raise the temp to the low to mid 70's over the course of a week. Then hold it in the low to mid 70's until it's fully attenuated.

Do you have a copy of Brewing Classic Styles? I believe Jamil's Belgian Dark Strong is modeled after St Bernardus Abt 12.

Click to expand...

I was thinking about adding some Special B after reading the malt profile...sounds exactly like what I want. Half pound should be ok?

What is the reasoning behind subbing in the table sugar for the candi?

Alot of the quad recipes call for fermenting in the 80s initially....should I not do that?

tozebeach said:

I was thinking about adding some Special B after reading the malt profile...sounds exactly like what I want. Half pound should be ok?

What is the reasoning behind subbing in the table sugar for the candi?

Alot of the quad recipes call for fermenting in the 80s initially....should I not do that?

Click to expand...

Yeah 1/2 lb of special B is good. That stuff is kinda strong. I use a 1/2lb in my dubble and it's great.

Table sugar is cheaper then the candi. Unless your using the D2 type syrup. The rock candi really won't add much flavor. The sugar is really there to reduce the FG and make the beer drier and more drinkable.

DO NOT START in the 80's The initial phase of fermentaion is critical. The yeast will produce all kinds of harsh alcohols and crazy bananna flavors at high temps. Start slow in the mid 60's.

BUT warm towards the end. keeping it warm at the end is important for full attenuation. The yeast will be stressed from all the alcohol and if the temp drops a bit the yeast will quit working and you will have a sweet cloying beer. Sweet and cloying is the death of a belgian beer.

maida7 said:

Yeah 1/2 lb of special B is good. That stuff is kinda strong. I use a 1/2lb in my dubble and it's great.

Table sugar is cheaper then the candi. Unless your using the D2 type syrup. The rock candi really won't add much flavor. The sugar is really there to reduce the FG and make the beer drier and more drinkable.

DO NOT START in the 80's The initial phase of fermentaion is critical. The yeast will produce all kinds of harsh alcohols and crazy bananna flavors at high temps. Start slow in the mid 60's.

BUT warm towards the end. keeping it warm at the end is important for full attenuation. The yeast will be stressed from all the alcohol and if the temp drops a bit the yeast will quit working and you will have a sweet cloying beer. Sweet and cloying is the death of a belgian beer.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the clarification about the temps. I was planning on using the d2 candy syrup. They sell them in 3.3 lb containers so I was going to just dump it all in.

I just tried rochefort 10 last night during a tasting party. I have only tried extract brewing so far with success. I want to make this beer. How did yours turn out?