First Belgian Dubbel

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Seven

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I'm planning to brew a Belgian dubbel in the next couple of days and was wondering what the best fermentation temperature is for this beer. I've heard Belgians can tolerate higher fermentation temps but I'm curious if I *should* ferment at a higher temp or if a lower temp will produce better results.

Recommended temps from Wyeast are 68-78° F. Should I ferment on the low, middle, or high end of the recommend temps?

Here's the recipe:

11 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) Bel (3.0 SRM) Grain 1 86.3 %
1 lbs Candi Sugar, Dark (80.0 SRM) Sugar 4 7.8 %
8.0 oz Caramunich Malt (56.0 SRM) Grain 2 3.9 %
1.00 oz Tradition [6.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 5 20.3 IBUs
1.00 oz Hallertauer Hersbrucker [4.00 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 6 4.9 IBUs
4.0 oz Special B Malt (180.0 SRM) Grain 3 2.0 %
Wyeast 1214 Belgian Abbey yeast

Thanks....
 
Seven said:
I'm planning to brew a Belgian dubbel in the next couple of days and was wondering what the best fermentation temperature is for this beer. I've heard Belgians can tolerate higher fermentation temps but I'm curious if I *should* ferment at a higher temp or if a lower temp will produce better results.

Recommended temps from Wyeast are 68-78° F. Should I ferment on the low, middle, or high end of the recommend temps?

Here's the recipe:

11 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) Bel (3.0 SRM) Grain 1 86.3 %
1 lbs Candi Sugar, Dark (80.0 SRM) Sugar 4 7.8 %
8.0 oz Caramunich Malt (56.0 SRM) Grain 2 3.9 %
1.00 oz Tradition [6.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 5 20.3 IBUs
1.00 oz Hallertauer Hersbrucker [4.00 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 6 4.9 IBUs
4.0 oz Special B Malt (180.0 SRM) Grain 3 2.0 %
Wyeast 1214 Belgian Abbey yeast

Thanks....
Click to expand...

The Chimay yeast you are using works well with a gradual rise from 64 to 72. I've only ever used WLP 500 (White labs equivalent of your yeast) 550 (Achouffe yeast) and 530 (Westmalle yeast). Out of those 3 yeasts commonly used for abbey-style ales, IMO only the Westmalle yeast can handle hot temps. You can crank that one up to 82 degrees and it will taste great. Chimay will spit out banana at that temp.
 
I always pitch at the low end of the temp range or even a little lower then let it ramp up to the high end.

Works for me.
 
Will that off flavor temper in the bottle, or will it just taste forever of bananas? If the range is listed as going up to 78, I expected that at 78 it would actually work...
 
It sounds like starting at the low end of the temperature range then slowly ramping the temps up towards the end of fermentation is the way to go... I know this is what most do with ales and such but I wasn't sure if the same held true for Belgian yeasts.

The yeast is still working on the stir plate right now so I'll probably brew this batch day after tomorrow. Thanks much for the tips!
 
If you like Belgian style beers, then you really need to read Brew Like a Monk. There is a ton of good info and tips in there about how to brew Belgian styles.

I love Belgian beers of all different styles and brew them a lot, especially now when it is warmer. I am building up a nice stock for the cooler months.

I got the tip about pitching cool(even lower than the yeast recommended temp) and letting it ramp up. I have done that with several brews and they turned out great.
 
Well I'm brewing my dubbel now but just realized the place I ordered supplies from sent me hard amber candi instead of dark candi syrup. I'm still going to use the hard candi but I'm curious if I just dump it in @ 15-mins remaining in the boil or should I add the hard candi some other way?
 
You can add it at 15...I typically wait until like 2 min to add my sugar though.
 
Cool, thanks for the tip. I think I'm going to add them to a mesh strainer bag so they don't scorch on the bottom of the kettle.
 
I added the amber candi with 5-mins remaining in the boil using a mesh bag to keep it off the bottom. It dissolved pretty quickly without any issues. I'm also glad that I used the amber instead of the dark candi because the final color of the wort was gorgeous.

My OG was 1.067 (recipe was 1.065) and the hydrometer sample tasted fantastic with a nice malty backbone. Now it's in the hands of the yeast. :)
 
If you aren't opposed to a little extra alcohol, I've found that hitting the wort with a pound of sugar (candi, brown, cane is fine) really helps encourage the yeast to dry out the beer. I recently used wlp500, started it out @60 as per everyones advice, hit it with a pound of candi on day 2, and by day three my 1.105 belgian had come down to 1.015. Whammy :)
 
bottlebomber said:
If you aren't opposed to a little extra alcohol, I've found that hitting the wort with a pound of sugar (candi, brown, cane is fine) really helps encourage the yeast to dry out the beer. I recently used wlp500, started it out @60 as per everyones advice, hit it with a pound of candi on day 2, and by day three my 1.105 belgian had come down to 1.015. Whammy :)
Click to expand...

That's good to know. I think I'll just brew this one according to the recipe this time but I will try your suggestion on a future batch. Thanks!
 
I'm reading the "Brew like a monk" book and now I'm wondering if I should cold-crash or cold-condition this dubbel once primary fermentation has completed. The Wyeast 1214 says it has medium to low flocculation so I'm guessing that I should cold-crash to try to settle the yeast out a bit after primary fermentation. I'm curious about others' experience with this.
 

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