Belgian Dubbel Vespers Abbey Dubbel

Vespers Abbey Dubbel

5.25 gallon batch

8 lb. Belgian Pilsner
2 lb. Munich (20 L)
0.5 lb. Caramunich
0.5 lb. Special B
1.5 lb. homemade candy syrup (deep amber - 290 degrees F)
1.5 oz. Tettnanger (3.2% AA) - first wort hop

Yeast cultured from a bottle of Chimay red label. WL500 is a reasonable substitute.

Mash at 150 degrees F for 90 minutes, and then batch sparge. Boil for 90 minutes. Ferment for 21 days at 64 degrees. No secondary. Age in bottles for at least 4 weeks.

For more information on making candy syrup, see this thread: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/20-lb-sugar-jar-yeast-nutrient-114837/

This is easily my best beer, and it has met with rave reviews from friends and family. I used more restraint with grain bill, and I think that it showcases the yeast and the candy syrup well. The aroma is rich with dark fruits, caramel, and a hint of spice. The flavor is malty with a real depth of complex caramels--hints of toffee, raisins, stone fruits, vanilla, etc. It is slightly sweet but sufficiently dry to be "digestible." While it is a fairly strong beer at nearly 7% ABV, it is smooth, and the alcohol is not at all "hot." I could happily drink more than one in a sitting.

I conducted a blind tasting between this beer and Chimay red label. Five out of seven tasters preferred my Vespers Dubbel. We agreed that my beer was slightly sweeter (just a shade) and had a richer aroma. This may have been because the Chimay was imported and had lost some aroma over time. At any rate, I am still very proud of this effort!

Hey - this one looks really great. I'm planning about making a Dubbel soon, and I'm generally a big fan of simpler grain bills. I'm wondering if you've aged any of these, and if so how they taste after a few months - I'm thinking about brewing this one up soon and giving it to people at Christmas, and I'm wondering if you think the 4+ months of aging would be worth it!

I know for a fact that this beer tastes delicious with 4 months of age on it. It's also good at 2, 3, and 5 months (and probably more, too). I'd say go for it.

Allright - just finished brewing this guy up! Made a few small changes: added 1lb of Munich (wanted to go slightly bigger), used Saaz instead of Tettnanger (cause that's what I had), added 0.5oz Saaz at 60 min, and used WLP500 instead of culturing. Other than that it's exactly the same. Hit OG 1.070.

The hydro sample already tasted nice and rich. That candy syrup is great!

Thanks much for the recipe; I'm really excited to see how it comes out. Should be fantastic by Christmas. I'll post tasting notes in a few months or so if you'd like.

So I'm planning on making a variation on this recipe in the next few days. I've heard tell that Chimay red is brewed using winter barley, and so I'm replacing the 8# Belgian pils and 2# Munich with straight-up 10# of Marris Otter. I figured the extra maltiness of MO should compensate for the lack of Munich, so I left it out. Also, unless someone feels like dissuading me, I think I'll add a few ounces of Belgian Aromatic.

Past that, I made some Maillard syrup that tastes great, and am going to make a starter for a WL500 vial soon. Should be fun!

Thoughts? I'll update here how it's turning out. Palefire, I'd love to hear tasting notes once you have them.

Thanks for the recipe chemnitz! I brewed this a couple weeks ago but i've been stuck at 1.030 for about a week now. My problem was not making a yeast starter...pitched directly with WL500. I've tried swirling it, raising temp (from 68 to 73) and nothing.

I'm thinking about dumping this onto some washed yeast from another cake but my only available is a kolsch yeast cake. Wondering if I should go with that or brew another beer with a lower OG and use that yeast instead?

Looking forward to the finished beer eventually!

I ended up repitching a WL500 2L starter I made. Within 2 HOURS(!) it was already going bonkers and krausen (4") was creeping through the blowoff tube. Will be interested to see how this ends up as I've never had a stuck fermentation (nor had to repitch) before in my 30+ brews.

Will post tasting notes

I just finished brewing this, with the aforementioned changes. It went really well! The wort is a lot lighter than I expected, sort of like a copper ale. It tastes good though, malt and caramel mostly. The starter tasted like a good witbier, rather than the usual nastiness. I'll post updates here as it comes along.

Thanks for posting. This sounds like a great beer.

I love your 'year of Belgians' too

Well...just kegged this as its not dropping any lower.

Ended up with a FG of 1.024 which I know is too high for the style but at least is better than the 1.030 that I ended up with before I re-pitched another yeast starter. So with all that activity mentioned in the above post I got just 6 points out of it.

Still trying to figure out why I got a stuck fermentation? First time for everything I guess?

I'll post tasting notes in a few days.

I made this with an extra pound of pilsener and I used WLP 550 Belgian Ale yeast with no starter. I also only did a 60 minute boil and mash, and used 2 oz of Saaz 3.0% because that's what I had - only boiled for 60 minutes, not FWH. OG - 1.068, FG - 1.014. It's only been in the bottle 8 days but it is already an awesome beer. This is probably one of the best beers I have made, and it's definitely better than a tripel I made a few months back. I plan on entering it into my local homebrew club dubbel competition next month.

Thanks for the recipe!

I'm glad to hear that it turned out so well for you. This is a recipe that I am very pleased with. I'm planning on brewing the second batch this summer as part of my "Year of Belgians" project (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/year-belgians-217289/). I'm thinking about making a couple of minor tweaks. I'd like it to be just a touch less sweet. So, should I lower the mash temperature to 148? Or should I remove a few ounces of Caramunich and/or Special B?

chemnitz said:

I'd like it to be just a touch less sweet. So, should I lower the mash temperature to 148? Or should I remove a few ounces of Caramunich and/or Special B?

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I'm no expert but I've been reading quite a bit lately so I'll give you a quote from John Palmer and Jamil Zainasheff from Brewing Classic Styles (pg 236)

Keys to Brewing Belgian Dubbel:

"Good fermentation temperature control also produces the right kind of fruit esters for this style. The best results come from pitching the yeast at a lower temperature, in this case 64 F, and then letting the temperature rise slowly through the course of fermentation. It is important to let the temperature increase (or to increase it through heating) throughout fermentation to ensure good attenuation and a dry enough finish."

Then under Fermentation and Conditioning it says "Pitch yeast at 64 F and let the temperature slowly rise to 70 F over the course of 1 week."

Reading through Brew Like A Monk by Stan Hieronymus, the rising temperature and high attenuation also seem to be a reoccurring theme for all the Trappist breweries. Specifically regarding Chimay Red, the yeast is pitched at 68 F and rises to 81 to 82 F over the course of 4 days (pg 48). It has an 88% apparent attenuation, so you would need to get your final gravity down to about 1.008 if you keep your starting gravity at 1.065 (it says that Chimay red has a starting gravity of 1.061 so that would have a final gravity of about 1.007). It doesn't say anything about their mash temperatures, but most of the mash schedules it provides in the book are multiple step mashes. I would think lowering it a few degrees would do the trick though.

chemnitz said:

I'm glad to hear that it turned out so well for you. This is a recipe that I am very pleased with. I'm planning on brewing the second batch this summer as part of my "Year of Belgians" project (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/year-belgians-217289/). I'm thinking about making a couple of minor tweaks. I'd like it to be just a touch less sweet. So, should I lower the mash temperature to 148? Or should I remove a few ounces of Caramunich and/or Special B?

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JumboBlimpJumbo said:

I'm no expert but I've been reading quite a bit lately so I'll give you a quote from John Palmer and Jamil Zainasheff from Brewing Classic Styles (pg 236)

Keys to Brewing Belgian Dubbel:

"Good fermentation temperature control also produces the right kind of fruit esters for this style. The best results come from pitching the yeast at a lower temperature, in this case 64 F, and then letting the temperature rise slowly through the course of fermentation. It is important to let the temperature increase (or to increase it through heating) throughout fermentation to ensure good attenuation and a dry enough finish."

Then under Fermentation and Conditioning it says "Pitch yeast at 64 F and let the temperature slowly rise to 70 F over the course of 1 week."

Reading through Brew Like A Monk by Stan Hieronymus, the rising temperature and high attenuation also seem to be a reoccurring theme for all the Trappist breweries. Specifically regarding Chimay Red, the yeast is pitched at 68 F and rises to 81 to 82 F over the course of 4 days (pg 48). It has an 88% apparent attenuation, so you would need to get your final gravity down to about 1.008 if you keep your starting gravity at 1.065 (it says that Chimay red has a starting gravity of 1.061 so that would have a final gravity of about 1.007). It doesn't say anything about their mash temperatures, but most of the mash schedules it provides in the book are multiple step mashes. I would think lowering it a few degrees would do the trick though.

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I agree with the Okie
...lower mash temp and a slow ramping of temp over the course of fermentation will help. My Golden Strong brewed with 550 showed active signs of fermentation from the blowoff (I know Revvy, but I brew in buckets so I can't watch ) for 11-12 days!!!

There is another possible culprit though. As I read through the original Candi Syrup thread by SnickASaurusRex and the spinoff by Nateo, it seems that the Maillard reactions that create the syrup also convert many of the fermentable sugars to non-fermentables. I have a post up in Nateo's thread hoping to get some feedback on how to balance the flavors we want to get from this syrup with the desired fermentability and dry finish. I love the DIY mentality and would rather not pay $6-8 a pound for DarkCandi stuff, so I am wondering if blending the darker syrup with some of the lighter versions (assuming the lighter is more fermentable/ less converted than the darker) would help or even adding plain sugar to the boil with the homemade syrup to get both the flavor and dryness.

I will keep this thread updated on anything I find and I'd love to hear if anyone has attempted this recipe with some modifications to decrease sweetness and get the dry digestable finish we want.

Happy Brewing

I just got through brewing this, though I added .5 oz of Tettnanger at 30 minutes and .25 oz of Nelson Sauvin I had layin around at flame out. I also added .5 lb of table sugar to compensate for the sugars that were converted to unfermentables in SnickASaurusRex's sugar #5...but man was that syrup unreal!!! I am pretty proud of my first attempt at any kind of candy making whatsoever!

The difference between the hydrometer sample pre sugars and post sugars is pretty significant as well. The color is considerably darker after adding 1.5 lbs of the Candi Syrup and the hydro readings were 1059 pre sugar and 1075 post sugar.

I propogated washed WLP550 in a 1500 ml starter (finally found a size that gets max growth without overflowing yeastie beasties...not sure what yeast Revvy's using, but I ALWAYS get a huge Krausen on my starters!!!), chilled, decanted and then saved about 500ml from the second runnings, boiled, chilled and added to the yeast to get 'em fired up and ready to eat some sugar, excrete some ethanol, and fart some CO2

I just got my keggle as well so this was the first full boil I have been able to do. I've been doing split boils in a 5gal and a 3gal kettle on my stove...needless to say the 15gal capacity was really nice when I have been watching for boil overs like a hawk for months!!!

All in all this brew went extremely well and I can't wait to sample this beer. Each of my last 6 or 7 brews have been getting successively better with the last two Belgians the best yet. Here's hoping this Dubbel tops 'em all!!

Thank you for the recipe chemnitz

Update: Got a little scare when I got home from hiking today...apparently I gathered closer to 6gal than the 5.5 I thought, limiting the headspace in a vigorous fermentation. As soon as I got home I checked on my brews I found a clogged blowoff and a jar full of braun hefe in StarSan!!! Fortunately it blew the seal on the lid rather than blowing the lid OFF...that would have been one nasty fermentation fridge

Just took a sample. Down to 1013 from 1075, resulting in an 8.11% ABV and very tasty dubbel! I'm leaving this for one more week for a total of 4, then will bottle next weekend. The hydro sample tastes amazing though! Dark, rich, fruity, spicy, a little alcohol warmth. Can't wait for this to be carbed and aged

Well, I just drank my third-to-last bottle of the original batch (now 14 months old), and it finally hit the wall. While it was tasty at 12 months, now it has lost its aroma entirely and is pretty bland. That said, I've slotted this in to brew again sometime this summer, and I can't wait for more.

Just bottled mine today...hydro samples tasted promising

I'll be trying this recipe in the next few weeks. My LHBS doesn't have Belgian pilsner malts, but does have a Belgian pale malt, Marris Otter, or a pilsner malt of which I don't know the origin. What would you guys recommend as a substitute for the belgian pilsner malt? They have MANY other selections, but I don't have enough experience with the different malts to know how each one will effect my final product.

This will be my intro to AG. So hopefully I won't screw it up.

seabass07 said:

I'll be trying this recipe in the next few weeks. My LHBS doesn't have Belgian pilsner malts, but does have a Belgian pale malt, Marris Otter, or a pilsner malt of which I don't know the origin. What would you guys recommend as a substitute for the belgian pilsner malt? They have MANY other selections, but I don't have enough experience with the different malts to know how each one will effect my final product.

This will be my intro to AG. So hopefully I won't screw it up.

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I would not use the Marris Otter--it has the wrong flavor profile. If the pilsner is continental (e.g. German), I would use that. Otherwise, go with the Belgian pale malt.

This recipe looks great! Just ordered the ingredients so hopefully I can brew it next week. I have one question though. When exactly would you add the candi-syrup? Flame out? 5 minutes? Does it matter?

RESURRECTION!!!


I'd like some feedback on this recipe. It has been here for quite a while, so I suspect a few more people have a had the opportunity to try it and can provide a little feedback. I am planning to brew it this weekend.

Let me know what to expect and if you modified the recipe any. Thanks!

This is a pretty good recipe. Mine turned out similar to Chimay Red but lighter and more refreshing with a sweet almost apple-like overtone. I followed the recipe exactly however I don't think my fermentation schedule was perfect for it. Haha and it wasn't completely my fault. I brewed this beer right before my wedding/honeymoon Oct 2011. After the initial fermentation slowed I pulled it out of the fridge to let it finish up at room temp of 73 F. Upon returning from our honeymoon it was fairly obvious the AC had gone out in my apartment and the temp was about 85 F (still very warm in south AR in October). I think this might have had something to do with it seeming a little thin but I don't know for sure. Surprisingly, I also didn't get a lot of the Belgian type flavors in this brew. I also have zero head retention on this brew. Not a huge deal but it sure would have been nice. This has been my one and only Belgian brew since they aren't my favorite style so I'm sure there were lots of things I did wrong. I haven't tried to correct any so hopefully someone more experienced with it can chime in on some fixes.

This beer has improved a lot with aging. I haven't had one recently but it was pretty good at 8 months and again at 1 year.

This is a pretty good recipe. Mine turned out similar to Chimay Red but lighter and more refreshing with a sweet almost apple-like overtone. I followed the recipe exactly however I don't think my fermentation schedule was perfect for it. Haha and it wasn't completely my fault. I brewed this beer right before my wedding/honeymoon Oct 2011. After the initial fermentation slowed I pulled it out of the fridge to let it finish up at room temp of 73 F. Upon returning from our honeymoon it was fairly obvious the AC had gone out in my apartment and the temp was about 85 F (still very warm in south AR in October). I think this might have had something to do with it seeming a little thin but I don't know for sure. Surprisingly, I also didn't get a lot of the Belgian type flavors in this brew. I also have zero head retention on this brew. Not a huge deal but it sure would have been nice. This has been my one and only Belgian brew since they aren't my favorite style so I'm sure there were lots of things I did wrong. I haven't tried to correct any so hopefully someone more experienced with it can chime in on some fixes.

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Thanks for the response!

A very late congrats on the wedding. I hope you are still on a honeymoon of sorts.

My fermentation schedules usually are not strict rules, but only suggestions or targets to which I'd like to hit. Sounds like there were a few hiccups in your schedule, but you produced a good brew anyway!

Anyone else have the opportunity to brew this? What were your results or changes to the recipe? Suggestions.

Unfortunately I failed to write out any tasting notes from my version of this brew
However, from what I remember it was a VERY vigorous fermentation (I even built a Burton Union one sleepless night and top cropped yeast from the blowoff!!!) that showed signs of being active for over 2 weeks. Even in a fermentation chamber it was difficult to keep temps under control. I allowed this to slowly ramp to about 78* over the course of the fermentation to get full attenuation and to allow some Belgian funk out :rockin:
Because of the higher temps the alcohol was pretty strong at first and there were a lot of esters, but all the flavors mellowed and blended within a couple of months...it was hard to stop "sampling" and I probably did not give it enough time to do it justice. The flavors were complex--dark fruit, caramel/ toffee like flavors, roasty burnt flavors from the sugars, malt backbone, some spiciness from the hops (I'm sure the Nelson Sauvin threw its 2 cents in!), and phenols and esters from the yeast. It ended up being pretty damn dry (1075 down to 1013) but was not thin or weak. I remember it being VERY tasty but a pretty strong beer, both in flavor and alcohol.

I saved a single bomber and brought it to a friend's wedding--"Rarest beer on earth--I made the the Belgian sugar that went into making this and this is the last bottle left in existence!" and it was a little disappointing. I bottled on 4-15-11 and the wedding was 5-26-12, so it had diminished a little over the course of a year. It was still good but a little too old and oxidized.

The flavors were complex--dark fruit, caramel/ toffee like flavors, roasty burnt flavors from the sugars, malt backbone, some spiciness from the hops (I'm sure the Nelson Sauvin threw its 2 cents in!), and phenols and esters from the yeast.

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I am looking to get those flavors too. I am happy to hear that they were present in your brew!

Anyone else care to share a review or notes on this recipe?

argyle said:

I am looking to get those flavors too. I am happy to hear that they were present in your brew!

Anyone else care to share a review or notes on this recipe?

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Most of the dark fruit, caramel/ toffee and toasty flavors came from the homemade sugar...it was dark and intense! YMMV

Brewing this recipe today! I am 45 minutes into the mash. I am modifying the recipe a little bit though.

1. Substituting dark Belgian candy sugar for the amber sugar syrup.
2. I am not doing a FWH instead I'll be doing a 60 and 15 minute addition and will be using a different hop.

I've never made this recipe so I don't know how it will compare to the original, but all I'm really shooting for is the Belgian Dubbel Style.

I'll let you know how it turns out.

I brewed this recipe a few days ago. I used the same grain/hops bill, but used Wyeast 1214 (Belgian Abbey). I also cheated and bought D-45 candi syrup instead of making my own. I'll post the results when this brew is ready to drink.

kalmah21 said:

I brewed this recipe a few days ago. I used the same grain/hops bill, but used Wyeast 1214 (Belgian Abbey). I also cheated and bought D-45 candi syrup instead of making my own. I'll post the results when this brew is ready to drink.

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I tried a bottle last night to see how it's progressing. This stuff is amazing! Thanks to chemnitz for the great recipe!

About to swoop my ingredients today from my LHBS to BIAB this on Friday. I've read the different variants- but I am going to follow the original recipe (yeast sub & possibly add corn sugar to dry it out)

i did a partial mash/extract version of a triple that had a higher FG, but was still 9.3%. (at work, so no exact info on hand). It drinks smooth (2mos in 2ndary, 2mos in bottle) - but i feel the higher alcohol helps cut the sweetness. It's not 'hot' but still present.

And a question - double/triple/quad?
In terms of the grain bill, is the only 'difference' found in +/- the base malt? (Other than larger yeast starters) Sort of like the 60 to 90 shil Scottish ales?


Belgian beers!!


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i brewed this a couple weeks ago. got it kegged right now and carbing up. will probably bottle it in a couple weeks and then let it age for a few months.

Just took a sample from the keg. This is good but WOW the alcohol is strong in it. Its not fussels since i fermented at 65 in my ferment chamber. Def needs to age a bit. mine finished at 9% abv. i added some more grains to get the gravity higher making it a trippel.

Hi,

I just brewed your recipe yesterday, 10 gallon batch. My OG worked out same as yours. Which for my experience is unbelievable. I brew with the BREWHA BIAC, an all in 1 vessel (mash, boil, ferment). And I have not been sparging. So, I think the difference was the 90 min mash, at 150. (ranging 149 to 151, even a little at 152). I don't recall using a recipe that called for 90 minute mash. I used Saaz instead of Tettnanger, for the last 60 minutes of the 90 min boil. I am a relatively new brewer, this was batch #7 since I started in April '15. The OG sample tasted excellent. Quite smooth. Just as you said, I think my family and friends are going to be happy to drink this beer.

I had a "troubled" experience first time making my candy syrup. Long story, but in the end, I was able to use it, just not as much as you had in your recipe. I think it had to do with trying to make 3 lb in a 3 quart sauce pan. Next time I'll make 2 smaller batches.

Thanks for the recipe, and I'll try to remember to come back here and give my feedback on taste.

Ron8

Hi. Used WLP500 to brew this recipe last Saturday. Made a starter that got bubbling in 18 hours. It's been 4.5 days and no evidence of fermentation yet. No CO2 bubbling out the blowoff tube. I brew in a stainless steel conical so can't see inside. There has been sound of activity when put ear to vessel. Any thoughts if this is too long time? Should I take action like adding yeast? Or wait. I read some posts on other thread this yeast can take time. Starter was going well at 71 f indoor temp. Fermenter temp was at 69 when pitched. Maintaining 70 to 71f since then. Thanks for any advice

Think i will make this my next brew!

Follow up to my earlier post. I checked gravity and it is 1.010. After 6.5 days since pitched. Looks like yeast did its job. I on the other hand failed to button up the conical real tight. I think I found and corrected the leak. Purged the fermenter with co2. I decided to check the lid gasket. So had to remove the lid. Raised the temp from 72 to 75. To see if the yeast would do a little more work and use up what remaining oxygen may remain after purging. This is WLP500 Abbey Ale yeast. Lot of trouble hijacked my Sunday afternoon. But don't want oxygen messing up the beer 3 more weeks in fermenter from now until racking day

Btw the link to the candi making thread is wrong... Anybody have the correct link?

I used a recipe found on YouTube for Belgian candy syrup. Just do a search there. I doubled that recipe for my 10 gal batch. Found out 3 lb candy syrup won't fit in a 3 quart saucepan. Next time I'll do it in 2 separate batches

Following up on my post #37. I have been seeing bubbling through the blowoff tube/airlock. I think raising the ferm temp from 72 to 75 may have roused the yeast to do a bit more work on the remaining sugars. I did that hoping they would consume any remaining oxygen let in when I took off the conicals lid to check the fitup of its gasket. So I am feeling ok that the beer should not go stale from the air that got in. When I closed it up last 2 days ago j purged the head space with co2. But thought it couldn't hurt this yeast to raise to 75f. Wlp50, abbey ale yeast. Brew your own has a good article on Belgian beer and the different ferm temps different commercial Brewers use.