Belgian Dark Strong Ale Leffe Radieuse Clone

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I just brewed a Jamil's dubbel 2 days ago and his recipe looks almost exactly the same. Same malts and quantity just for 6 gal batch so it came out at SG 1.070. I used 3522 though is what I had on hand and Styrian Goldings instead. Can't wait to sample it. :eek:
 
This one is next on my "To Brew" list.

Gonna pick up the ingredients on Friday and brew on Sunday.
 
it is a great brew, mine is almost 2 months in the bottle and it still getting better. I'm going to have to brew it again soon as i'm running out of it.
 
Mine has been fermenting very strongly. The lid of the bucket opened a few time and it threw up like a drunken teenager. It seems to be coming down right now. I hope the beer is ok with the lid having been opened.
 
I have had the same problem each time i brewed it and except for once the beer turn up great. You should use a blow off tube where one end i in the bucket and the other end in a sanitizer solution. That should prevent the mess. A blow off tube cannot cope with rigourous fermentation.
 
I have had the same problem each time i brewed it and except for once the beer turn up great. You should use a blow off tube where one end i in the bucket and the other end in a sanitizer solution. That should prevent the mess. A blow off tube cannot cope with rigourous fermentation.

Yeah I did some research since the first expulsion of yeast. I will do it next time. Let's hope for the best.
 
Here's mine. I was very surprised at how strong the beer is. My initial gravity readings had to have been WAY off. No doubt mine turned out over 10% as you can taste the phenols. It reminds me of Belgium Tripple. Great strong flavor but mild on the hops. I guess the good thing is Im not drinking that much of it at a time....a pint or so and I know I've been drinking for sure. Fermintation stopped around the 10 day mark. After sitting in the keg for another 10 days it cleared quite well but that may not be evident in the picture. I converted this recipe to partial mash.

Leffe.jpg
 
Very nice colour, Congrats! Glad it turned out great.
Your pic make me want one. Too bad I'm at work.
 
Didn't get a chance to brew last weekend so I will brewing on Friday.

I do have a question though. Should I add the sugar at the beginning of the boil or wait until about 10 minutes left so I don't have to worry about getting burnt sugar on the bottom of my brew pot.

Also the Haulertaus hops that my LHBS had are only 4.3% AA. So, my plan is to add .5 oz. of Williamette @ 15 minutes as I have some left from my last brew. According to brewers-assistant that should get me into the correct IBU range. Thoughts?
 
I have done brew where sugars is to be added at various time during the boil and never had a problem with burnt sugar. The Common wisdom seems to be to add the sugar in the last 10 minutes of the boil.

I think that williamette is a harsher hops that hallertaus and that it could change the flavour of the final result. Maybe a little more hallertaus to raise the ibu to the desire level. Maybe someone has a different opinion.
 
Well, I finally got to brew this beer today. I missed the OG by a few points. Mine was at 1.068. I did use the Williamette, but added at 10 minutes instead of 15. It did increase the "hoppiness" of the nose, but didn't impart any real bitterness to the wort.

It smelled and tasted wonderful. My starter was very active so I am thinking I will be seeing activity in the primary before I go to bed tonight.

I have to confess, I have never had an actual Leffe Radieuse. I brewed this because I have liked every other Leffe beer I have had and the recipe sounded like it would give a great beer. If the beer picks up some of the "classic Belgian" tastes from the yeast and combines with the malty/nutty flavor of the wort, this beer is going to be amazing.
 
The radieuse is my second favorite leffe. The first one is the Vieille Cuvee. They are both great beer. I'm sure you'll like yours.
I hope you have put in place a blow off tube because I always has very active fermentation with those.
Cheers.
 
The radieuse is my second favorite leffe. The first one is the Vieille Cuvee. They are both great beer. I'm sure you'll like yours.
I hope you have put in place a blow off tube because I always has very active fermentation with those.
Cheers.

You are not kidding!

I have 5 gallons of wort in a 6 gallon carboy with a blow-off tube and a one gallon bucket half full of sanitizer. I ended up with 2 inches of yeast sludge in the bucket and yeasty sanitizer all over the inside of my fermentation fridge.

I switched over to an airlock today as it looks like the violent fermentation stage is over.
 
It's been roughly 4 weeks since brew day. I was out of coopers drops and used dextrose to prime the beer for the first time. I hope it works out ok.
The OG was also a little lower than the original recipes but the ABV is right on. Really nice and rich color. More patience needed.
 
If you used the right amount of sugar, there shouldn't be any problems. From my experience beer carbonate faster with dextrose than coopers drops but that doesn't meant that you shouldn't wait for drink them. That beer ages very well in bottle.
 
I am thinking about transferring mine to a secondary to age. I am going to be on vacation at the 30 day period, so it will be closer to 40 before I get to bottle. Plus, there is a ton of yeasty beasties in the primary and the outside is pretty dirty due to the explosive fermentation in the beginning.

I know it isn't needed, but just wondering if you think I am being too obsessive about it.
 
I am thinking about transferring mine to a secondary to age. I am going to be on vacation at the 30 day period, so it will be closer to 40 before I get to bottle. Plus, there is a ton of yeasty beasties in the primary and the outside is pretty dirty due to the explosive fermentation in the beginning.

I know it isn't needed, but just wondering if you think I am being too obsessive about it.
Don't worry about what i think. If you think there is too much yeast in it and fermentation is done then go ahead and rack it in the secondary.
It won't hurt the beer either way as long as the secondary is clean and sanitised.

I personally keep it 5 weeks in the primary without ill effect and have gone for as long as 9 weeks in the primary without any problems.

It is really how you feel about it.
 
Well, I am really bummed.

I think I got an infection. I took a gravity reading and then tasted my sample. I got an off flavor. Kinda like rubber. Not sure what it is. I haven't been brewing long enough to know what different infections taste like. The yeast ring at the top of the carboy was really dark as well. Dark brown instead of the tan I am used to.

It could have been that I was drinking a semi-sour beer right before, but I don't know.

I will take another sample in a week to see.

My gravity was pretty much right where I expected at 1.012.
 
Upon further review (drinking a Belgian Stout from Boulevard) I am tasting the same flavor profile, so it is probably the yeast and not an infection. Coming off of drinking a semi-sour (Lips of Faith Brett Beer), it made that flavor stand out. In the stout I am drinking now it just adds depth.

Considering how much yeast was still suspended, I will attribute it to that and not an infection.

I transferred to a secondary and I will let it sit for another 2 weeks.

To what volume do you suggest carbing to? I was thinking 2.5 volumes.
 
Without tasting it, it is hard to tell what is the causing the off taste. Hopefully it isn't an infection. It could be the yeast or possibly the hops. You have used willamette which is very close to fuggle. I have done a leffe recipe and substituded the styrian golding by fuggle and it changed the beer completely. Up to the point that I thouhgt it was infected and i almost dumped it. It wasn't but, it didn't turn out to be a great beer.

As for the carbonation 2.5 sounds good to me.
 
This patience thing is not my thing, already open a bootle last night and it was not fully carbonated but showed great potential.
 
Build yourself some stock, then the patience will be much easier to deal with.
 
Bottled tonight. The extra time in the secondary helped it tremendously. It mellowed quite well. Still a bit of the Williamette taste coming through, but it tastes a lot like Trois Pistoles from Unibroue, which is one of my favorites.

Having not tasted Leffe Radieuse, I don't know what to compare it to, but if it stays like it is, I am going to like it a lot.
 
I don't know the trois pistoles either. I doubt i can find it here. As Long as you like it that is what matters.
 
I got my hands on some original Leffe radieuse today. Off course I had to compare it to my brew. I have to say that I was bluffed and it is really close to the original. The taste and color is spot on. The lacing and head retention is better on the original but on every other aspects that clone recipe does come close to home.

I'm almost running out of my stash. Will be brewing this one again soon.
 
I have had the same experience. Color and taste are spot on but lacking head retention and lacing. Now i use some wheat (about 150g or 5 OZ) in all my beers and that really helps the head retention and the lacing.

Save some of the last bottles to compare to you new batch. It will be depressing because it is just better when it is aged. So that means that you will need to age that new batch. Get yourself a pipe line so patience isn't that big of a problem.
 
Oh sure I'll save some, so I can't compare the 2. I'm curious to see the difference. I'll be brewing it on sunday.

I have a few other beers to make wait but so far this is my favorite one and always the one I turn to in time of need....
 
Didn't get the chance to brew it last week end but finally did it this morning. Gravity ended a little higher at 1.081. Another round of patience begins....
 
Got to try the first of my batch tonight. It turned out quite well. The "off" flavor that I had when I transferred it to the secondary is completely gone. It finishes a bit dry, but I don't have the original to compare it to, so it may be that it is supposed to.

Mine finished at 7.3%, which is bit lower than the original, but that was due to my poor mash efficiency. I have fixed that by getting my own mill and going from a converted rectangular cooler MLT to a converted 10 gallon Igloo MLT. Hopefully that will help me.

Anyway, I have a feeling that this beer is going to age very well.

Here is a pic of my first pour.

2012-10-13_19-32-47_195.jpg
 
I say this while at work in the morning, this look like a very tasty brew. Nice head. Enjoy it.
 
Just bottle this week end after 5 weeks in fermenter. FG was a little lower than expected but tasted seems to be very similar that when I first bottled it. The ABV is about 9%. How well tough for me.
If the beer is just as good as the first batch, I will have no complains.

How can you get such different results with the same recipe? I guess I will have to brew this a third time to see what I can achieve next.

At least 6 weeks before drinking the first one, almost unbearable.
 
Good Job mate. How sure how you can get such different results with the same recipe but I have noticed that too. Fermentation temps can make a beer ferment lower that another one at the lower temp. I'm sure there are other factors but I haven't figured them out yet.
 
Quickly running out of them. This beer is great and very popular with my friends. Gonna have to brew this again in the next couple weeks. This is the first of the beer i made that I will rebrew. Thanks for the great recipe.
 
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