Chimay Blue Clone, WLP500, WY1214

http://www.candisyrup.com/recipes.html

I want to brew the Chimay Grand Reserve Clone.

I'm wondering what methods to use for crashing the temperature for a week, or if there are other fining methods (if that is what the crash is for). I've thought of putting the carboy in a cooler with ice. Keep in mind that I live in Houston, and I've bought an air conditioner for my closet to control temperatures down to 62 degrees F. I've modded the recipe to the following specifications for extract brewing:

5.00 gal Distilled Water Water 1 -
1 lbs Caramunich Malt (56.0 SRM) Grain 2 8.3 %
9 lbs Pilsner Liquid Extract (3.5 SRM) Extract 3 75.0 %
1 lbs Wheat Liquid Extract (8.0 SRM) Extract 4 8.3 %
1 lbs Candi Sugar, Amber (75.0 SRM) Sugar 5 8.3 %
1.50 oz Saaz [4.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 6 7.5 IBUs
1.50 oz Hallertauer [4.80 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop 7 5.4 IBUs
1.0 pkg Trappist Ale (White Labs #WLP500) [35.49 ml] Yeast 8 -

For the first brew I am substituting 1 lb. DME and 1 lb. Corn Sugar for Pilsner 3 lbs.

Any feedback?

Hello? Hello?

Love the Blue. I'm waiting for an informed reply too!

Inspired by the same beer and poking around to see what is done. I would recommend checking out "brew like a monk" if you haven't done so already. Great read with lots of insight. I can't speak to all of your recipe, but I will say that the author indicates that chimay uses american hops for bittering, and haltertau for flavor. Saaz is interesting and seems to fit the style for its spicinessbut perhaps you may want to consider a different bittering hop. Best of luck in your quest.

Aa760 said:

Inspired by the same beer and poking around to see what is done. I would recommend checking out "brew like a monk" if you haven't done so already. Great read with lots of insight. I can't speak to all of your recipe, but I will say that the author indicates that chimay uses american hops for bittering, and haltertau for flavor. Saaz is interesting and seems to fit the style for its spicinessbut perhaps you may want to consider a different bittering hop. Best of luck in your quest.

Click to expand...

yup BLAM is a pretty awesome book

How did it turn out?

It's still conditioning (in secondary glass 5 gal carboy). The sample I tasted was quite nice, if a bit "raw." I may just put the whole batch into a cubitainer (5 gallon) and decant from there. I must say the character seemed different from the Chimay Blues I have had before. Not an exact clone...

Instead of crashing temps, the whole batch was simply left at 62*F to condition. I added some gelatin to fine it, but got too lazy to bottle it.

nice! when you say different character can you be more specific?

Can I get back to you on that when conditioning is done?

I was taking an impromptu taste of the FG measurement sample. I recall malty, and I thought I detected some coffee flavor. It's been a few weeks and I didn't take notes.

Stephenish said:

Can I get back to you on that when conditioning is done?

I was taking an impromptu taste of the FG measurement sample. I recall malty, and I thought I detected some coffee flavor. It's been a few weeks and I didn't take notes.

Click to expand...

of course!

Ok, I'm tasting now, and I'm enjoying this beer. There seems to be more banana than in the original, probably a result of less vigorous temperature control. I pitched at a higher temperature, because I didn't want to wait (the 1.5 liter starter was ready right then). Then the temperatures ramped up to 72-74*F rather rapidly, even though I was keeping the surrounding air at 62*F. Also, the mouth feel is wrong because of lack of bottle carbonation. I feel if I had those two elements (fermentation temperature and bottle conditioning) better in hand, the clone would have been closer. That said, it's pretty tasty. Cheers!

After three pints, I'm feeling a little headache. Is that the fusel alcohol? I was also thinking the body is a slight bit watery. Also, I think the bitterness could come down a touch. (If I'm remembering my real Chimay Blue correctly.)

Sounds a little disappointing.... wonder if a few bottle months might help

The headache could be from my Anisakiasis. The primary flavors were close, the recipe just needs some tweaks. Less bittering hops, more Pilsner malt, temperature control, and bottle conditioning. I'm really considering a move to kegging, though.

This is funny, the beer started fermenting again in the cubtainer. Maybe it will taste better having fermented a little at room temperature.

Yes, the ale is much better now after a few days at 75*. Perhaps some of the hoppiness was from my use of leaf hops rather than pellets. I substituted aroma leaf hops for pellets at an oz for oz exchange. The recipe called for bittering and aroma hops in pelletized form. The wateriness is completely gone now. There's clearly more fruit. The ale is much tastier now. I believe the original recipe may have been more spot on than I thought. Not too shabby for my first ale.

From reading that recipe, especially the substitution you made, it looks like it will be a very sweet tasting beer. The Belgians use the raw sugar to dry out the heavier beers.
Another way to improve the taste of this recipe would be to make a shake starter for your yeast. One vial is far too little. Do a search on ways to make a starter. Very easy and a big improvement on taste.
I just read "Brew Like a Monk". I've done a few Belgians with varying success. My best one was the Papazian extract recipe called "Double your Pleasure" with Wyeast 3787.
SHAL

I believe a starter was the way to go. So I made a stir plate 1.4 liter starter (mrmalty.com) for this batch (as per Palmer, I decanted most of the starter "beer"). BLAM is quite nice, I agree (although the text refers to Chimay Blue scantily).