Belgian Dark Strong Ale Rochefort 8 clone (as close as you can get)!

I batch sparge.

MagicLarry said:

I batch sparge.

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the reason that I ask is that 0.73 gallons of water seems like a small amount. Do you get all the sugars out with this amount and do you do a small beer with more running of this?

No, I follow the recipe to a T. I have always had great results!

Subscribing ... will do this after a Westvleteren 12 clone.

Anyone try this recipe in a 10 gallon mash tun? I don't think it can hold all that grain and water at the same time. Any recommendations for a less space intensive mash schedule?

I might try and do 10g of this sometime soon. That way I can maybe bottle half and keg half. Might be fun that way! just have to recalculate the measurements for the mash schedule which I haven't done before but sure I can figure it out. Looks delicious!

Synergy012 said:

Anyone try this recipe in a 10 gallon mash tun? I don't think it can hold all that grain and water at the same time. Any recommendations for a less space intensive mash schedule?

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I've only done this with a 10 gallon mash tun and obviously no problem. 5 gallon MT would be pushing things, even at 1.25 qt/lb, especially if your efficiency is much less than 80%. I think you could pull this off, but it will be pretty tight.

The only simple way to be less space intensive would be a thicker mash and going any less than 1.25 qt/lb would probably affect efficiency. Or you could split into two mashes, but that will take alot more time. Another alternative would be to take some of the pilsner out of the mash and make it up with extra light DME in the boil, but leave enough pils for conversion (shouldn't be too hard).

I also use a 10 Gallon MT with no problems.

Awesome. Thanks. Will give it a try.

Anyone keg this ever? Or even better, anyone keg and bottle and notice how different they are? I would rather keg this but if it's going to taste a whole lot better then maybe I'll bottle instead. I don't mind letting it bulk age on yeast or whatever for a longer time then the month+ it calls for.

Love my kegs... But always bottle this. Try it and let us know.

Matteo57 said:

Anyone keg this ever? Or even better, anyone keg and bottle and notice how different they are? I would rather keg this but if it's going to taste a whole lot better then maybe I'll bottle instead. I don't mind letting it bulk age on yeast or whatever for a longer time then the month+ it calls for.

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i did over a year ago and still have a case left! used the beergun and got my keg really cold.. soaked my bottles in a starsan icebath and filled right away.. although you cant beat bottle conditioned and the original is still maltier its still one of my best batches.. oh, i bumped mine up to a 10 point too!!

When I get around to the batch, it will be kegged too. I gave up bottling, and my bottles a long time ago.

I'm trying to figure out how my OG came in at 1060. All of my other brews have come in with a slightly higher OG. I usually crush my own grains at LHBS, but for this recipe I ordered the grain crushed online. I also usually fly sparge, but not with this brew.

I threw in the whole 2lbs of the syrup and my OG turned out to be 1.085 and FG 1.011!! So almost 10%!! I didn't want it that high! I brewed this back in January and while it's getting better and better and actually pretty decent right now it's still quite a bit boozy and feel it will be better with a bit more age to mellow that out. I wish I could have nailed the numbers as I think it would definitely taste a lot better and more to what I wanted in the first place!
Oh well!

Fermentation schedule anyone? Sorry ignore this request.....!

Although those temp ranges look very narrow....some Belgians are supposed to go as high as they can go after an initial ~70 period, is that true for this one...?

dear friends, sorry for the question but I'm new here on the blog. I am beginner in the art of homebrew, and I am very big fan of the Belgians, especially the strong dark ale. I once did a tripel, was very good, however the yeast not attenuated as expected. this month I made a dark strong ale, and yeast not attenuated again. i was reviewed all my process and not think it was a failure. I've been reading on the internet, and read reports of people recommend adding the candy only after 24-48 hours of fermentation, is this true? because these two beers, I added in the boil.

please someone help me, I want my beer attenuates correctly.

I usually do not get every day on the blog, if anyone has a solution, please send me an email

[email protected]

Thank you.

There are quite a few things that can cause under-attenuation.

Yeast issues:
- Both pitching too much and too little
- Pitching unhealthy yeast
- Yeast stress during fermentation due to low temperature or high OG
- Lack of oxygenation

-Higher temperature mash

Can you tell us what you consider lower than expected attenuation? What's your OG and FG.

You can assess the fermentability of your wort by determining the limit of attenuation, by using a forced ferment test.

I can see how adding sugars after the main fermentation has started could help overall attenuation. It would reduce the stress on the yeast by reducing the initial OG. However, I did not have any attenuation problems with the recipe in this thread.

Well, OG 1.085, FG (apparent) 1.050, FG (real) 1.028. Here in Brazil is hard to find liquid yeast, so I used the T-58 Fermentis. I used 2 packs, I've been reading and I believe not to have made an initial multiply this yeast, and taking into account the added candy before the primary fermentation, the yeast is not reproduced properly. I read in a site that even need starter ferments dry with a little wine 24h before inoculation if the OG is too high.

I'll try to make this starter with dry yeast and see how it goes, and anything I write my results here. Thank you.

Bottled this tonite after brewing it with a friend in February. It was my second all grain brew and got down to 1.011! It's a little hotter and higher ABV than I was shooting for but I guess that's from using a brew belt and double pitching the yeast.

I am going to let it sit for another month and sample every 30 days. It's a very good beer at this point, and I hope it gets even better.

Whoot Whoot!! What a beer! I brewed this on May 4th (hence I call it "Dark Vader"). Its been bottle conditioning since beginning of June and tastes really good now. Its lost the sweetness it had from the early days, which is good, and is just quite delicious. I had never had Rocheforte 8 until couple of weeks ago and was quite surprised how similar this is!! Great recipe, thanks! Here are some pics from last night and tonight!!

That looks mighty nice!

For the people that have brewed this several times with no subs I'm wondering what did you use for the "dark candi sugar"?

Are you using a dark candi syrup like D2 or is it in fact dark candi sugar which is essentially from my understanding just rock sugar with some molasses? The taste would be entirely different which is why I ask.

Basically are we looking for flavor from this addition or just alcohol? I've tasted a few beers with the dark rock sugar and it added nothing flavor wise as far as I'm concerned. The syrup on the other hand has an incredible flavor.

That is a great looking ale . In deferring to a more recent grain bills at Rochefort, we use torrified wheat and no longer use coriander. Carafa actually departed considerably from the actual Rochefort 8 flavor profile, (even though BLAM does mention coriander). Special B is also not a required part of the grist as there is no burned raisin affect in an actual Rochefort 8. This assumes that what we're after is an actual clone of a Rochefort 8 and not a replication of Hermann Holtrop's well brewed recipe.

A Rochefort 8 is better made with fewer ingredients relying heavily on a good water profile, strict mash method, a high quality adjunct, and careful ferm temps.

But, with due respect H.H's recipe makes a nice ale, just not much like a Rochefort 8 other than the ester profiles from using the same yeast.

thirstyutahn said:

For the people that have brewed this several times with no subs I'm wondering what did you use for the "dark candi sugar"?

Are you using a dark candi syrup like D2 or is it in fact dark candi sugar which is essentially from my understanding just rock sugar with some molasses? The taste would be entirely different which is why I ask.

Basically are we looking for flavor from this addition or just alcohol? I've tasted a few beers with the dark rock sugar and it added nothing flavor wise as far as I'm concerned. The syrup on the other hand has an incredible flavor.

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Absolutely agree. Belgian rock is just crystallized sucrose. Some say it has a little dye in it for the appearance of a darker color. The rock candi definitely has no caramel or maillard in it and is very much flavorless. Always recommended to use the syrups whether the D-180 or D2 is selected, (actually a Rochefort 8 is best brewed with D-90). The syrup will do much better than the rock candi for natural color and flavor.

Dear homebrew friends,

We brewed this recipe for our first strong Belgian ale and followed it very closely; however, our OG was way low at 1.064. The only deviation occurred during the mash out. The temperature only raised to 160 degrees. Otherwise we followed the recipe to the letter.

A low OG seems to be a reoccurring issue when I brew. Someone help!

I heat y strike water about 25F over what beer smith tells me. My cooler mash run takes it down about 10 and the grains absorb the rest, 15, which is more than beer smith usually calculates. Always aim on the high side because its easier to cool down than heat up. Same with mash out water. And if you mash has dropped 5 F during mash the mash out water needs to bring it up even more to account for that. Other tha getting that right you might check your grains are milled properly.

I'm drinking one of these right now... in Brussels! Great beer, but I noticed that it's 9.2% and the first recipe on this thread is 1.078 - 1.018 = 7.9%, not a huge diff but wondering if anyone noticed that. Sorry if this was already covered in the thread, I read through about half but not all.

thirstyutahn said:

For the people that have brewed this several times with no subs I'm wondering what did you use for the "dark candi sugar"?

Are you using a dark candi syrup like D2 or is it in fact dark candi sugar which is essentially from my understanding just rock sugar with some molasses? The taste would be entirely different which is why I ask.

Basically are we looking for flavor from this addition or just alcohol? I've tasted a few beers with the dark rock sugar and it added nothing flavor wise as far as I'm concerned. The syrup on the other hand has an incredible flavor.

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The brown soft sugars, (Cassonade), have a little too much sucrose for this recipe. They're great in Maredsous Brun and Achel but are slightly off for a Roch 8 pallet. D2 is a little more molasses-like and ends in more of a brown ale unless you up the percentages. D-180 Candi Syrup is best for color and the characteristic plums/cherry in a Rochefort 8 (and 10).

CraigM said:

Dear homebrew friends,

We brewed this recipe for our first strong Belgian ale and followed it very closely; however, our OG was way low at 1.064. The only deviation occurred during the mash out. The temperature only raised to 160 degrees. Otherwise we followed the recipe to the letter.

A low OG seems to be a reoccurring issue when I brew. Someone help!

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Could it have been mash temp or diastatic issue with older malts? What was your dough in temp and sacc temp?

Does anyone know the Brewhouse efficiency this recipe was intended for? Id like to undertake this recipe this weekend and it would be nice to adjust for my system.

Well I figured it was about 72%. But Id like to know when exactly are you supposed to add the sugar? I have never brewed with sugar before

andrewb_1985 said:

Well I figured it was about 72%. But Id like to know when exactly are you supposed to add the sugar? I have never brewed with sugar before

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If using syrup it generally goes in at flame-out or T-10. If using solid adjuncts you can add at the beginning of hot break. If using solids, make sure to stir so they don't carbonize at the bottom the kettle.

andrewb_1985 said:

Does anyone know the Brewhouse efficiency this recipe was intended for? Id like to undertake this recipe this weekend and it would be nice to adjust for my system.

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I get 75-76% on this one.

Bernie Brewer said:

Hmmmm now we two of the same recipes in this category. Monk-y-Shines is the same, almost word for word. we must have gotten our recipes from the same source.

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wow yeah this recipe is identical to Monk-Y-Shines. It must of somehow come from the same source!

Brewed this one tonight with a few changes based on the comments from this thread. Here is my recipe:

Yeast: Belgian Abbey ll (Wyeast #1762)
Yeast Starter: Yes, 2L made from yeast harvested from the last Dubbel I did
Additional Yeast or Yeast Starter: no
Batch Size (Gallons): 5.5
Original Gravity: 1.079
Est. Final Gravity: 1.014
IBU: 25.4
Boiling Time (Minutes): 90
Color: 26.3
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 23 days @ 70 (start at 62 and allow to self rise to 70)
Additional Fermentation: Bottle condition for at least two months
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 14 days @69-70


11 lb Pilsner (2 row) Belgian (2.0 SRM) 68.5%
1.75 lb Caramunich Malt (46.0 SRM) 10.9%
10 oz. Torrified Wheat (1.7 SRM) 3.9%
8 oz. Special B Malt (148.0 SRM) 3.1%
3 oz. Carafa I (337.0 SRM) 1.2%
0.5 lb Clear candy sugar (0.5 SRM) 3.1% (add at beginning of boil)
1.50 lb Dark Belgian candy sugar (90 SRM) 9.3 % (add at 5 minutes left in boil)
2 oz Styrian Goldings [3.20%] Boil 60 min
1 oz Hallertauer Hersbrucker [2.00%] Boil 30 min
0.5 oz Hallertauer Hersbrucker [2.00%] Boil 5 min
0.4 oz coriander seed Boil 5 min (Crush first)

I also didn't do the protein rest. I mashed for 75 at 152F. Mashed out @168 and then sparged at 170F.

I will post back after primary to let you know how it tastes.

I forgot to add that I hit my OG perfectly.

It is bubbling away nicely now.

Racked to the secondary on Friday. Gravity was a bit lower than expected at 1.010. The sample tasted a bit boozy but the character is definitely there under it. Hoping that a bit of aging will mellow it and allow those flavors to blend and balance.

SteelRinger said:

Racked to the secondary on Friday. Gravity was a bit lower than expected at 1.010. The sample tasted a bit boozy but the character is definitely there under it. Hoping that a bit of aging will mellow it and allow those flavors to blend and balance.

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Well, it has been 4 months now and this beer is outstanding. The boozy flavor has mellowed and the dark fruits and chocolate flavors are very prevalent. My only critizism is that head retention is not good at all. Good lacing, but the head disappears almost immediately. If I brew this again, I am going to add a bit of Carapils to try to solve this.
I have a bottle of Rochefort 8 and a 10 that I am going to compare this to.

I am planning on taking on this recipe on Black Friday. But first, I have a question about bottle conditioning this style of beer.

I read an article on BYO about bottle conditioning Belgian ales with corn sugar AND a yeast starter. Article can be found here: https://byo.com/stories/item/1207-on-the-yeast-guide-to-bottle-conditioning

I have always primed my bottles with corn sugar only. So my question is about the addition of a yeast starter.

Is this recommended for this recipe (and in general)? Has anyone tried it with this recipe? What do I need to know before attempting to condition the beer this way?

I just experienced my first exploding bottle on my last brew (another Belgian) where I only used corn sugar. I am hoping the addition of a yeast starter will not lead to more exploding bottles!