Belgian Dark Strong Ale Dark Strong Belgian (Chimay Blue)

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mhot55

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 12, 2007
Messages
228
Reaction score
12
Location
Staten island
Recipe Type
All Grain
Yeast
WY1388- Strong Belgian
Yeast Starter
yes -Large!
Additional Yeast or Yeast Starter
yes- bottling
Batch Size (Gallons)
5
Original Gravity
1.090
Final Gravity
1.012
Boiling Time (Minutes)
90
IBU
23
Color
25
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
28 @ 68
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
35 @ 63
Additional Fermentation
200 @ 50-70
Tasting Notes
Raisins, malty, sweet, yet finishes dry
Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 6.84 gal
Estimated OG: 1.092 SG
Estimated Color: 25.3 SRM
Estimated IBU: 22.9 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes
Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
13.25 lb Pilsner (Weyermann) (1.7 SRM) Grain 77.66 %
1.00 lb Wheat, Flaked (1.6 SRM) Grain 5.86 %
0.50 lb Caramunich I (Weyermann) (51.0 SRM) Grain 2.93 %
0.38 lb Aromatic Malt (Briess) (20.0 SRM) Grain 2.20 %
0.25 lb Special B (Dingemans) (147.5 SRM) Grain 1.47 %
0.19 lb Chocolate Malt, Pale (Crisp) (350.0 SRM) Grain 1.10 %
0.50 oz Galena [13.00 %] (90 min) Hops 19.3 IBU
0.50 oz Hallertauer [4.80 %] (15 min) Hops 3.3 IBU
0.25 oz Hallertauer [4.80 %] (2 min) Hops 0.3 IBU
0.13 tsp Seeds of Paradise (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
0.13 tsp Seeds of Paradise (Boil 2.0 min) Misc
0.50 tsp Orange Peel, Bitter (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
1.00 items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
1.50 lb Candi Sugar, Amber (100.0 SRM) Sugar 8.79 %
1 Pkgs Belgian Strong Ale (Wyeast Labs #1388) Yeast-Ale


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Light Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 15.56 lb
----------------------------
Single Infusion, Light Body, Batch Sparge
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
75 min Mash In Add 19.45 qt of water at 160.2 F 149.0 F


Notes:
------
place frsh yeast in secondary 3 days prior to bottling
minimum 4 months bottle condition (tertiary)

Minimum 4 months bottle conditioning! However, like posted at beginning try to hold out and bottle condition for 6 months, if not a year!!!! So if you want a high alcohol (but mellow) dark winter brew, make this in december/ january and don't expect to crack the bottles until october/ november.

This tasted awesome after 2+months of bottle conditioning!
 
my apologies. I understand why everyone tries to be precise in making claims. Hence I edited my title to ".....(like Chimay Blue)

Sorta didn't want to title it as a clone because that would be presumptuous, and wrong. However, it tastes great. If i can actually hold on to this batch for another 6 or 7 months I would like to try this side by side to Chimay.

Forgive my ignorance, but what is BLAM? I looked all over the place and could not find a friggin thing aside from speculation about Chimay's OG/FG, IBU, SRM. And even this speculation varied a lot.

Still, THIS BATCH TASTES GREAT!
 
Brew Like a Monk by Stan Hieronymus, he got it straight from the horse's mouth, so to speak. You should definitely read it.
 
Belgian Dark Strong is my favorite beer category. The wonderful thing is that there are so many ways to make them, and you have such an opportunity to make it your own. It's sort of an "anti-category" in that the Trappist Belgians brew to taste, not to style.

The take-away from Brew Like a Monk is that pretty much every recipe the actual Belgians use is: Mostly Pils/Pale, a touch of some cara malt, and various types of sugars. Incredibly simple recipes make incredibly complex beers. That's one reason why the category is so interesting to me.

So I see a lot of "clone" recipe floating around that are totally off from what the "real" beer actually is. I'm sure they're all good beers, and I'm sure your beer was a good beer, but I thought you'd be interested in some info on the real deal.
 
I wish I got a hold of you 4 months ago. Was looking (and asking) for advice on Chimay. I remember research pointing to BLAM, and figured someone would've posted some particulars regarding it. But everyone posted something a little different- OG/FG, IBU, SRM, malts. I may be doing another batch real soon and will absolutely buy the bok now. Thanks again
 
Via BLAM:
Chimay Blue - OG 1.077, Alcohol 9%, attenuation 89%, color 40 SRM, 35 IBU.
I'm making a Blue clone soon and bought a bottle and measured the gravity. I was wondering why all the recipes I found had such high OG/FGs. FWIW, I measured it at ~1.007-1.008 which at 9% ABV puts OG right at 1.077 and apparent attenuation at ~89%.

But no way Chimay Blue is 40 SRM. 40 is very black and opaque. Chimay Blue is closer to half that (I think it's closer to 18). Is BLAM using Lovibond?
 
I wasn't paying too much attention. Initially, just using beer smith's calculations to get to 9%= gave me FG of1.022 so needed 1.090+ SG to get 9% ABV with 70% efficiency.....finally realized beer smith doesn't figure in ur mash temp which would affect fermentability. So when i mashed low temp (149), i made a more fermentable wort and i guess yeast performed at higher end of attenuation, therefore i went down to a 1.012 (maybe even a little less).

Again, i say this was damn good after 4 months (only 2 in bottle) and has mellowed nicely and hopefully will be fantastic in a another 4months
 
I wasn't paying too much attention. Initially, just using beer smith's calculations to get to 9%= gave me FG of1.022 so needed 1.090+ SG to get 9% ABV with 70% efficiency.....finally realized beer smith doesn't figure in ur mash temp which would affect fermentability. So when i mashed low temp (149), i made a more fermentable wort and i guess yeast performed at higher end of attenuation, therefore i went down to a 1.012 (maybe even a little less).

Again, i say this was damn good after 4 months (only 2 in bottle) and has mellowed nicely and hopefully will be fantastic in a another 4months
The candi sugar is another big reason it attenuates so much. The Chimay strain doesn't seem to be as big of an attenuator as some other Belgian strains.
 
castle: I think the 40 SRM was a typo in the book, and it was supposed to be EBC. That would put it at 15 SRM, which sounds about right.
 
castle: I think the 40 SRM was a typo in the book, and it was supposed to be EBC. That would put it at 15 SRM, which sounds about right.
Thanks Nateo. This weekend is Chimay Blue clone attempt #1, I'm racking the starter batch Friday night and brewing Saturday. My recipe should be around 17 SRM.

My biggest concern is using the 'reported' 5% sugar (and allegedly it's just plain corn sugar, no syrup or color to it) and still getting that high attenuation. I would have expected more sugar to get it to finish that low.

EDIT: Here is an interesting article on Chimay that has some scattered info about their beers...and very irritating cursor-chasing-beers. A little over halfway through it says:
Chimay stated that the total amount of sugar in the main brew and for bottle fermentation was of the order of 5%. They declared it to be dextrose, as per the legend on the control panel above, and not candy sugar.
 
Brewing it Sunday, I know it's not a super simple grain bill (even if you lump all the crystal malts together) but hopefully it will at least come close or if not, at least make a decent Dark Strong.

5.25 gal @ 74% efficiency into the fermenter

11 lb (69.8%) Belgian Pils
.5 lb (3.2%) Belgian Aromatic
.625 lb (4.0%) Belgian Caravienne (~21L)
.625 lb (4.0%) Belgian Crystal 45L
.625 lb (4.0%) Belgian Special B (~115L)
1.5 lb (9.5%) White Wheat malt (German)
.625 lb (4.0%) cane sugar
.25 lb (1.6%) dark caramelized syrup (homemade)

Styrian Goldings to hit ~28 IBU
~400mL washed slurry of WLP500 from my Doree-inspired beer to be racked Saturday morning, then chilled until pitch time.

Shooting for:
OG - 1.080
FG - 1.010
~17 SRM
~9% ABV

Don't think I'll get the attenuation of the real thing (from 1.077 to 1.008) so I put a little buffer in there. I'll be mashing in the mid 140s at first, then ramp it up. Plan to pitch in the low 60s and let it warm to high 60s at the beginning (during blow-off), then just let it naturally warm to room temp after that.

Anything look totally out-of-line? I'm using that little bit of syrup just because I have a mason jar with exactly .25 lb left in it and figured I'd use it up (and I need the color anyway).
 
Changed it up last minute to:

11 lb (73.6%) Belgian Pils
.75 lb (5.0%) Belgian Crystal 45L
.75 lb (5.0%) Belgian Special B (~115L)
1.5 lb (10%) White Wheat malt (German)
.75 lb (5.0%) cane sugar
.1875 lb (1.3%) dark caramelized syrup (homemade)

Styrian Goldings to hit ~30 IBU
~400mL washed slurry of WLP500

OG was 1.078
Target FG was 1.009 but the FFT finished at 1.012.:(

I'm making some invert syrup #1 tonight for an ESB this weekend and I'm going to add 1/4 lb of it to the fermenter to try and get it closer to 9% and maybe get the FG down another point or so.
 
I have tested this batch every couple of months, and yes, the longer it sat, the better it got. Still have most of it and I can say after 14+ months from brew day, this tastes awesome. My best beer to date. Haven't compared it to chimay. This attenuated a bit more . Alcohol pushed over 10%. But this is smooth, with a slight alcohol taste too it and a nice raisin, prune sweetness and a little pepper from the yeast.
 
I have tested this batch every couple of months, and yes, the longer it sat, the better it got. Still have most of it and I can say after 14+ months from brew day, this tastes awesome. My best beer to date. Haven't compared it to chimay. This attenuated a bit more . Alcohol pushed over 10%. But this is smooth, with a slight alcohol taste too it and a nice raisin, prune sweetness and a little pepper from the yeast.

Thanks for posting this. I'm just finishing up a run of Belgians that includes a Karmeliete cone, a La Chouffe clone and wanted to finish with either a Dubbel or a Dark Strong. Your recipe and review of it convinced me to try yours. I'll give you a review as it ages.
 
After all this time, I don't remember where I got it from. But I know it wasn't 1 particular site/ recipe. Searched throughout HBT, and a few other sites. Did my homework and came up with what I did. I wound up getting a copy of Brew Like A Monk and there really wasn't much info other than the OG was 1.077 and the attenuation was 85+%. I don't know how well this can be replicated on a homebrew scale. I'd shoot for 1.082-1.087 OG. Mash for high fermentation (147*) and control temps so after a couple of days you can jack temp to 75, then 80 and then 85. I STILL have a few bottles (been almost 2 years). This ages beautifully.
 
After all this time, I don't remember where I got it from. But I know it wasn't 1 particular site/ recipe. Searched throughout HBT, and a few other sites. Did my homework and came up with what I did. I wound up getting a copy of Brew Like A Monk and there really wasn't much info other than the OG was 1.077 and the attenuation was 85+%. I don't know how well this can be replicated on a homebrew scale. I'd shoot for 1.082-1.087 OG. Mash for high fermentation (147*) and control temps so after a couple of days you can jack temp to 75, then 80 and then 85. I STILL have a few bottles (been almost 2 years). This ages beautifully.
If it were my batch, I would use the Wyeast High Gravity Trappist Ale yeast to get your gravity down where it's supposed to go. I used it for a Dubbel and as it matures, I can't help tasting Chimay like esters in it, even without much Special B or Aromatic malts. I'm going to brew us a batch soon and let you know how it comes out.
 
If I remember, this attenuated down further under 1.010... Think to around 1.008/ 1.006. So the WY 1388 did the job. Just had another one yesterday. It still tastes great. Seems like every few months it changes a little. Became a little sweeter, the alcohol has mellowed so much that it seems non-existent. I officially only have 1 750ml bottle left. That sucks.
 
If I remember, this attenuated down further under 1.010... Think to around 1.008/ 1.006. So the WY 1388 did the job. Just had another one yesterday. It still tastes great. Seems like every few months it changes a little. Became a little sweeter, the alcohol has mellowed so much that it seems non-existent. I officially only have 1 750ml bottle left. That sucks.
That's how I felt when I got to the last of my belgian strong golden ale. In Dave Line's Brewing beers like those you buy, the recipe says to not even touch it for 18 months. I am not that patient of a man!
 
This needs 6months aging. You could get away with 4, but it is not quite ready. Good, but not great. 6-9 months was almost perfect. 9-12 months seemed to be getting to the perfect aging time for this. Once the 12 month mark hits it pretty much stabilizes and doesn't change much for a few months.12-15 month mark is the sweet spot for this. Here is the interesting thing- Once you start going past this, the beer start changing......not for the worse though. There my be some slight oxidation, but not necessarily in a bad way. Any bitterness has all but faded as well as any alcohol heat. Just mellow and smooth. Even 2 years later this beer still tastes great.
 
Sorry for a few newb questions. This will be a first attempt at a belgian style. Recipe looks great and chimay has many great reviews. First question is when adding the sugar, is it at flame out or last few minutes of the boil? Second question, when adding yeast before bottling, would a dry packet be too much and would this be at room temps?
 
I added sugar toward send of the boil- like last 10-15 minutes.
Yeast at bottling wasn't the whole package- but maybe 1/3. Remember, you aren't fermenting...you just need enough to eat the priming sugar and carb the beer.

To update again, I finally finished the last bottle last month. This beer was truly amazing, even 2+ years after. The best seemed to be somewhere between 10-15 months. Yes, big range, but it was awesome. Throw a bottle or 2 on the side and keep stored for a while. Noticing the subtle differences is neat. This beer 2+ years was a smooth, raisin-y, slightly sweet and mellow alcohol bomb.
 
In the process of brewing a one gallon batch of this recipe, scaled to fit. The smell is amazing! Orange zest, galena hops and grains oh my. The seeds of paradise I never heard before and they do smell great. Thanks for this recipe, sure is going to be a long wait...
 
really getting into dark strongs/quads and this is a great thread - would love to see a cross between this and Rochefort 8 or 10 and if anyone has any experience adding other levels of flavor or replacing flavors with something like black licorice or amaretto and if they might work with this type of brew

someone mentioned utilizing those flavors for an English Brown, but - I'm ultra picky when it comes to those and really only have "loved" Samuel Smith's Nut Brown Ale - I would think these profiles might work in a dark strong / quad - thoughts anyone - maybe the original recipe with these flavors might even work well?
 
I just brewed this today and came in at 1.088 in OG. Not too bad as far as I'm concerned. This recipe has done extremely well for me the last 2 times I brewed it!
 
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 28 @ 68
Additional Fermentation: 200 @ 50-70
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 35 @ 63


I'm confused, does this mean:
28 days @ 68 followed by 35 days @63
Then 200 days bottle conditioned?
 
I may have a problem. FG after 30 days 1.022. OG was 1.092. I am thinking of adding champaign yeast to bring it down a little more but I don't want to make it to dry. Or should I just leave it alone?


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
 
Primary was 4 weeks at 68. Then pretty mich let it bulk age for 200 days (6-7 months). Then bottled and let it naturally carb and bottle age for 4 weeks. The longer you let it go the better. I believe I stated earlier the sweet spot was around the 12 month mark. Can't remember. Gotta look at earlier post.
 
Ok. I will just have to wait and see.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
 
I'm brewing this one today. It's storming like crazy in GA, so this should be fun. This will be the 4th time I brew this one and I've found that adding dry champagne yeast a few days before bottling adds a little extra character to it. Aging is very necessary with or without the champagne yeast though!!!
 
I brewed this one a fortnight ago. I made a few adjustments which were removing the chocolate malt and colour adjusted with candi sugar (which after tasting directly side by side chimay I regret). I had 4-days primary fermentation at around 25-degrees then straight into the bottle which I think is how it should be done to reduce huge conditioning times (instead of waiting for the yeast to go dormant and then priming). I cracked a bottle yesterday and did a side by side comparison and it tastes great. I got the carbonation wrong as it is fizzy but nowhere near a Chimay. It's missing some dark cherry flavors (probably from the missing chocolate malt) but it is insanely good. This is now my go to Belgian strong recipe. I would even go as far as saying that it tastes better then the store bought Chimay. I'd definitely recommend trying this brew. Well done to OP for figuring this one out.

I've attached a photo, with the right being a real Chimay and the left being my one.

Mash 27L Batch
6.50 kg Pilsner (2 Row) Bel (3.9 EBC) Grain 4 66.7 %
0.50 kg Abby Malt (43.3 EBC) Grain 5 5.1 %
0.50 kg Caramunich Malt (90.0 EBC) Grain 6 5.1 %
0.50 kg Wheat Malt, Bel (3.9 EBC) Grain 7 5.1 %
0.40 kg Special B (300.0 EBC) Grain 8 4.1 %
0.25 kg Aromatic Malt (50.0 EBC) Grain 9 2.6 %

Boil Ingredients
50.00 g Hallertauer [4.80 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 10 16.6 IBUs
0.60 kg Candi Sugar, Clear (1.0 EBC) Sugar 11 6.2 %
0.50 kg Candi Sugar, Amber (157.0 EBC) Sugar 12 5.1 %
20.00 g Hallertauer [4.80 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 13 4.6 IBUs
1.00 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins) Fining 14 -
0.20 tsp Seeds of Paradise (Boil 10.0 mins) Spice 15 -
0.50 tsp Orange Peel, Bitter (Boil 5.0 mins) Spice 16 -

Chimay Clone.jpg
 
I'm back on my kick of wanting to brew something in the realm of Chimay blue again.

Of all the poeple that have brewed the recipe in this thread, what are your tasting notes and differences between it and Chimay Blue?


Do Trappist Monks use things like seeds of paradise or orange peel? I wouldn't think so, but don't know for certain.


I'd love to hear tasting notes and of other recipes that have been on target to Chimay Blue.
 
This thread looks dead....but for anyone stumbling upon it I thought it would be worth noting that this brew is exceptionally sweet. FG was 1.010 so it's not residual sugar. Granted this is a taste test after a month, hoping the sweetness fades by Thanksgiving or it will be an after dinner drink.
 
Follow up to earlier post - After aging for 5 months it was great, not sweet at all. I would add more chocolate to adjust color and maybe double the last addition of seeds of paradise. It's a keeper.
 
I had one that was 7 years old last Sunday. It was pretty smooth!

Any idea what water profile is best for this recipe? I’m using distilled and building it up using Bru’n water
 
Last edited:
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