Hoppy Belgian dubbel

I really enjoy La Chouffe (belgian and hoppy) and I really enjoy dubbels, so I was thinking... Can I cross the two and make a hoppy dubbel?? And would it be any good?? What do you guys think. Any ideas for a recipe?? Could I just take a dubbel recipe and up the hops on it. Thinking in the 6-7%abv range. Thanks.

What I have learned from homebrewing is that you can modify all you want. I say go for it. You are likely to come up with something that is at least drinkable and you will know going forward if you ever want to do it again.

It depends on what you mean by Hoppy. In other words what you are looking for, bittering/flavor/aroma. The reason I say this is if you run a Belgian strain up and get all those nice Phenolics and Esters you have to do your homework with your Hops to make sure any competing flavors will meld. Otherwise you can get into a drown out contest where you always keep upping x to meet y, if you see what I am saying. So if you use a really citrusy flavored hop in the hop addition make sure the yeast you are using fits that goal. I hope that makes sense. You have to think about all those hop addition aspects. I think if you approach it like that you can make it work well. So think Malty sweet, raisiny, etc and what hops flavors and aromas will work properly with that.

Thanks for the feedback. I guess I'm not looking for overpowering hop aroma, maybe a little to blend with the fruity esthers. But I am looking to blend some nice hop flavor in, and make the dubbel more bitter. Do you guys think I should take a the hop schedule(or something close) to a beer such as La Chouffe (belgian tripel). Or maybe just add more of the hops recommended in dubbel recipes. Sorry if these are dumb questions, I'm new to recipe-making.

I think you have a good direction going there. I'd definitely take what works and just bring it up more in the flavor addition. If you go with a different type of hops, such as in the La Chouffe then make sure they'll work.

I haven't seen that particular recipe, but Tripels tend more towards the singular lighter Pilsner malt maltiness with the light sugar additions than the Dubbels which get much of the complexity from the darker sugar addition so that is something to consider.

Try and find what Allagash uses, I found there Dubbel (12 oz) to have a very bitter finish.

They don't seem to have ingredients listed on there website but you may be able to find a clone recipe or possibly something on there website where the brewer may talk about it?

sure you can! don't add too much on the bittering end...basically just keep it to style for a dubbel and then add a bunch of hops in the last 5 minutes. i wouldn't go for too much flavor, just aroma.

use some styrian goldings, saaz, EKG or something like that. i'd steer clear of the american citrusy hops for this type of thing...but that's just me.

no rules, man, do what you'd like!

Thanks for all the replies. I agree with previous post too I guess, I'm going to go for more aromas. I was thinking of maybe dry hopping with willamette also. What do you guys think?

I would do the dryhopping, I had a French farmhouse ale that was dryhopped and was very good summer beer.


As for alagash, I think their dubbel is an amazing example from an American craft brewery. I think the bitterness your getting is either from the high alcohol or yeast.

I've had a lot of Dubbel's (really like Corsendonk) and never had that same bitterness. I must have gotten a bad bottle, I like Allagash's wit, and tripel and I'm not a huge fan of tripels, in general, but there was certainly nothing amazing about the one bottle of dubbel I had.

I guess it could be from the yeast but I doubt I would perceive alcohol as bitterness. Next time I drink it I'll get it out of the larger corked bottle.