Michael Jackson Book to make Duvel

I once made a Duvel that came out well. It was like a Duvel light as I didn't go with all the recommended added sugar. Anyway, as I recall, I made it based on a description I got from a Michael Jackson book. Problem is I can't find the recipe and don't remember the name of the book.

Does anyone know which book this might be?

I don't know about the book, but a standard Duvel recipe is about 80% Belgian Pilsener malt, 20% cane or beet sugar, fermented with WLP570.

Do a long, low mash around 148-149 for 90 minutes. Ferment around 67-68f for the first 48 hours, then slowly ramp the temp up to the high 70s. The 570 won't flocc well, so some crash cooling may be necessary.

How much attenuation should one expect from that PseudoChef? I ask because when I've done similar to what you wrote the attenuation was way high...it seemed too high. Like from 1.088 to 1.008 and that was doing a decoction (this beer is not ready yet so can't say what it tastes like). I just brewed another and decided to try a more dextrinous wort...the fast ferment test should be done in a day or two.

I would think you definitely want it around 1.010 or below. Duvel only starts at like 1.072 or so, however. It attenuates a ton, still making it around 8.5%, IIRC.

I have 2 MJ beer books. One is a small pocket one and the other is MJ's Beer Companion. I looked in both and didn't find any really good descriptions that would be enough to go off of.

It might be in Amazon.com: Michael Jackson's Great Beers of Belgium, 6th Edition: Michael Jackson: Books

Thanks all. My other recollection was that I had to keep the fermentation cold(?) I remember keeping it in the coldest part of the cellar of the condo I lived in at the time. Maybe that was the crash cooling PseudoChef mentioned.

I also propogated the yeast from a small Duvel bottle. I assume that is where the taste of the beer comes from. I suppose if I did it again, I'd use the bigger size Duvel bottle to get the yeast.

JMass said:

I also propogated the yeast from a small Duvel bottle. I assume that is where the taste of the beer comes from. I suppose if I did it again, I'd use the bigger size Duvel bottle to get the yeast.

Click to expand...

or just grab a vial of WLP570/smack pack of 1388 as mentioned
Yeast Strains

PseudoChef said:

I don't know about the book, but a standard Duvel recipe is about 80% Belgian Pilsener malt, 20% cane or beet sugar, fermented with WLP570.

Do a long, low mash around 148-149 for 90 minutes. Ferment around 67-68f for the first 48 hours, then slowly ramp the temp up to the high 70s. The 570 won't flocc well, so some crash cooling may be necessary.

Click to expand...

IIRC from Brew Like A Monk, Moortgat uses only dextrose for the sugar addition. They also use a mixture of French and Belgian Pilsener malts of varying profiles (modification, protein, etc.), for which they conduct a step mash. But for homebrewing purposes and the malt we typically get (Dingeman's), I agree with your suggestion for Belgian pilsener malt and the mash temp/length.

Yeah, I had forgotten about the different malts - I believe you had pointed it out in another thread, thanks for reminding me.

A little off topic - I have actually had a couple Duvels in the past month or so (from different sources - one was here in Nashville and one was up in NY) and they both poured with very minimal head, nothing like I remember when I first had it. Still a fantastic beer on both occasions, but I was disappointed in the carb level and foam stability.