As soon as I get my thermapen, I am going to brew my magnum opus. I am really having the hardest time formulating the recipe, however.
I really love Chimay Red. I want this beer to taste like it, but recipes for dubbels really vary a lot. I've researched this pretty thoroughly in Brew Like a Monk, and I've looked at a lot of different dubbel recipes and compared them.
Chimay Red is a malty beer, but it's incredibly smooth. I want to duplicate the taste, so I don't want it to be too malty. I don't really like strong dark ales and I want to keep this beer firmly in the realm of a dubbel, without what in my opinion is a cloying maltiness that is present in strong darks.
So, basically I have decided on 7 lbs pilsner malt, 1 lb wheat, 1 lb sugar. I'm fine with that, but I can't decide on how to achieve my desired level of maltiness.
I was thinking .5 lbs caramunich and .5 lbs special B. Would that be enough? Or should I add something else, like let's say .5 lbs aromatic and/or .5-1.0 lbs munich? I don't have any experience using aromatic and it kind of makes me nervous, but it seems very appropriate for this recipe. If I were to add all of these, it would basically be Jamil's recipe. Has anyone brewed that? How would it compare to Chimay Red? It seems like it might be a bit too malty for my taste.
The reason I am having so much trouble is that this is not very familiar territory, but also because a lot of "Chimay Red Clone" recipes I have looked at seem pretty off. If I were a betting man, I'd wager they're way too malty. A lot of them don't match up with what Hieronymus says is in Chimay Red at all. I don't want a less alcoholic strong dark.
Thanks for any advice. I should probably just resign myself to the fact that my first dubbel probably won't be exactly what I want, but because this beer takes so long to mature, I'd really like to end up with something that I really like.
I really love Chimay Red. I want this beer to taste like it, but recipes for dubbels really vary a lot. I've researched this pretty thoroughly in Brew Like a Monk, and I've looked at a lot of different dubbel recipes and compared them.
Chimay Red is a malty beer, but it's incredibly smooth. I want to duplicate the taste, so I don't want it to be too malty. I don't really like strong dark ales and I want to keep this beer firmly in the realm of a dubbel, without what in my opinion is a cloying maltiness that is present in strong darks.
So, basically I have decided on 7 lbs pilsner malt, 1 lb wheat, 1 lb sugar. I'm fine with that, but I can't decide on how to achieve my desired level of maltiness.
I was thinking .5 lbs caramunich and .5 lbs special B. Would that be enough? Or should I add something else, like let's say .5 lbs aromatic and/or .5-1.0 lbs munich? I don't have any experience using aromatic and it kind of makes me nervous, but it seems very appropriate for this recipe. If I were to add all of these, it would basically be Jamil's recipe. Has anyone brewed that? How would it compare to Chimay Red? It seems like it might be a bit too malty for my taste.
The reason I am having so much trouble is that this is not very familiar territory, but also because a lot of "Chimay Red Clone" recipes I have looked at seem pretty off. If I were a betting man, I'd wager they're way too malty. A lot of them don't match up with what Hieronymus says is in Chimay Red at all. I don't want a less alcoholic strong dark.
Thanks for any advice. I should probably just resign myself to the fact that my first dubbel probably won't be exactly what I want, but because this beer takes so long to mature, I'd really like to end up with something that I really like.