Belgian Dark Strong Ale Leffe Radieuse Clone

11 Lbs Pilsner Malt
.85lbs Munich Light (12L)
.44lbs CaraMunich (60L)
.44lbs Aromatic (18L)
.44lbs Special B (120L)

.70 lbs Dark Candi Syrup
.57lbs White Sugar

1.27 Oz Hallertau Mittelfruh 5.2% 60min - 15 IBU (Tinseth)

Yeast WLP530

1.075 OG estimated – 1.015 FG estimated
7.9% ABV + .3% priming (160g Dextrose) = 8.2%

mashed for 90' at 151 F with 17.5 quarts.
Sparge 10' at 170 with 17 quarts


Ps this is not my recipe, I have found it on another forum and tried it. I brewed it for a friend birthday who love the original leffe radieuse and he was very impressed. Since I never found this recipe here I though I would share it.
Hope you enjoy it.

This is the colour of the beer before bottling it.

After 4 months in the bottle it is fantastic and even closer to the original than before. I just made a new batch of it.

After 6 months in the bottle, did a blind test with the original Leffe Radieuse.
I asked my friend 2 questions. Which is the real one and which one is best.

3 out 4 friends thought that mine was the original and all four of them liked mine better.

Unfortunately got a infection on my second batch of it, so will have to make it again as I have very little left.

A friend of mine brought some home. I really liked it. I have been thinking about starting to homebrew. Would this be a good recipe to start with?

It is not a difficult brew to make but if this is your first one, make sure you understand the process of brewing. If you have any question feel free to ask on this thread or by pm. It is a very good home brew.

Since you are from Ireland. Check www.homebrewcompany.ie. It is the best homebrewing supply shop in Ireland. They have good deals on starter kit, a great grain selection, yeast, hops and anything else you need to make beer.

Good luck

Thanks for the advice. I have checked them out. I'm still sitting on the fence but should make a decision soon.

Just do it, If you like beer there is nothing as far as satisfaction as drinking a beer your made your self especially if it is a good one. And if initially stick to true and tried recipes you can hardly go wrong. Spend some time on this forum and look at what people are brewing and I garantie you you will get the bug. It is a wonderful hobby.

I have a friend that brew. I will purchase the ingredients and I'll do it at his house to see if this is something I might want to do more. Hoping to do it this week end.

If we want to do a larger batch than 5 gallons, how do we increase the ingredients, is it proportional. He has a 33l bucket. How much should I plan to make in such a bucket?

I'm using 33l bucket to. You can go up to 27 liters but not more as you will soon see the fermentation is very active and require some space between the top of the wort (unfermented beer) and the lid of the bucket. If you exceed this you will probably see the lid blow up and a nice spillage of yeast on the ground. make sure you put a protection under the bucket if you are storing it on a nice surface.

As for the ingredients divide everything by 5 then multiply by 7 and you will have the right amount.

With 27 liters you should probably make a starter as a flask of WLP530 is supposed to be good up to 5 gallons. I have brewed such a big beer before without a starter but better be safe. This should be prepared a couple days in advance of the brew. Just type how to make a starter on this site and you will find details instructions. It is not complicated.

The key is to clean and sterilise everything that come into contact with the wort.
Good luck and let me know how it goes. Maybe next time I come do Dublin we can compares our brews.

Thanks busy with the calculator and converting everything to metrics. Might be harder than i thought to brew.

Thanks for the info will check with my friend on the correct procedure. I hope he will be fine, he only does irish beers.

All set to go this week end. I have been checking some recipes on this site and most of them have several hops addition. Your recipes only has one is that normal or a typo?

No it is not a typo. As I said it is not my recipe but it works fine as is.
Good luck for your first brew.

My friends says that most of his beer ferment in 2 to 3 weeks. Why is this one staying in the fermenter 30 days? Should I move it to another bucket after a while?

You can probably bottle it sooner but you get a better result if you wait longer in the fermenter. Personaly I never put a beer in a secondary unless I intent to age it more than 2 months. The beer will be fine if you don't move it to a secondary and it will clear by itself if you wait long enough. You can test eventually for the gravity. When it stop dropping you can bottle but I maintain that longer in the fermenter will provide a better beer. I waited 5 weeks before bottling this one.

After that, wait at least 3 weeks in the bottle before drinking it, longer if possible. I drunk my first one after 7 weeks and recently I opened one that was about 4 to 5 months in the bottle and it was even better than at 7 weeks.

I hope you are a patient man because you will need it as a brewer.

Patience is not one of my virtue. I guess this will put it to the test.

Mine is not my greatest strength either. That is why I brew so many beer so that now I always have something ready to drink while the other mature in the back ground.

I don't know if it is a sunny in Dublin than in cork but it will make for a great brew day if it is.

Brew is in the fermenter. It was easier than I thought it might be. It just take time. it took 6 hours from start to finish. I really like the taste of it once it was cooled down. But it is hard to get an idea of what it will taste when done.

Original gravity was 1076, a little lower than you specify but I won't complain. Can't wait to bottle it.

I might just have got the bug for it. I'm mightly tempted by the westvleteren recipes on this forum.

Congrat on your first brew. Don't worry about the lost 2 point of gravity. Your may finish 2 pt lower too.
Just be patient and let it rest for 4 weeks.

I had this when i was in Belgium definitely on my list. Just need to find a extract recipe for it. You wouldn't know how to convert it by any chances?

I'm sorry never brewed extracts but I believe that there are software that can convert it for you.
Good luck.

After more than 2 weeks, the bubble have just about stopped coming out of the bubbler. I did a gravity test and it is at 1013. Is it ready to go in the bottle?

It will be ready to be bottled when the gravity stop dropping, Altough you are getting very close to the bottom of it. Just take another reading in a day or so and then it is still 1013 go ahead and bottle.

Having said that that beer will improve in quality the longer you wait. I usually wait 5 weeks for that one before bottling it. I know how hard it is too wait when you doing your first beer.

How did it taste by the way?

It taste quiet nice but nothing like leffe radieuse. I guess that will come with time.

I'll wait till next week end before deciding about bottling or not.

I tasted it again to see if I wanted to bottle it this week end. I went down a little bit about 1011 but the taste has improved a lot in just 5 days. I guess I'll wait another week.

With such a beer, a little patience will provide some great rewards. I usually don't bottle it until the 5 weeks and then wait at least a month to taste it.
That beer became truly great after 4 months in the bottle.
May the patience be with you.

Couldn't wait anymore. I bottled it today. Tasted quiet nice, can start to recognise the leffe radieuse now. Can't wait to taste the finished product.
I managed to get 53 pints of it.

Thanks for the recipe.

Glad you like it. Good luck with the patience before you get to drink it. Try to wait at least 3 weeks. Let me know how it turns out.

Im going to brew this this weekend. I'll be converting it to partial mash. I'll post my progress later.

Good luck with it. I'll interested to find out the recipe for a partial mash. There was a chap that asked for it recently. But I had no clue.
Let me know how it turns out.

The only thing I changed was the base grains. I turned your 11lbs into 7.8 lbs of LME. The rest is the same accept my LBS didn't have wlp530 so I used wyeast 3787 which is the same strand. So I'll boil the malt grains about 40 minutes to make sure the sugar has broke then add LME in and boil for another 40 following your hop schedule. I'll keep you posted on my gravity readings.

speedster00 said:

The only thing I changed was the base grains. I turned your 11lbs into 7.8 lbs of LME. The rest is the same accept my LBS didn't have wlp530 so I used wyeast 3787 which is the same strand. So I'll boil the malt grains about 40 minutes to make sure the sugar has broke then add LME in and boil for another 40 following your hop schedule. I'll keep you posted on my gravity readings.

Click to expand...

I sure hope you meant steep the grains and not boil them. Boiling the grains for 40 minuties would not be good.

It wasn't a full boil but the flame stayed on. I nailed the starting gravity of 1.051. The morning after I pitched the yeast were so active it pushed my airlock off and made a mess

I always had very active gravity with this beer. I'm a bit confuse about your low gravity. I get 1078 OG why is yours so low? Is it because of the method you are using?

Anyway I'm sure you will like it. It is a great beer. Have you had the original?

I believe I've had the beer but it's been a while. I made a leffe blonde clone earlier this year which was fantastic. Wen I saw yours I had to try it. I'm not sure why my gravity was that low unless I took an inaccurate sample. I miss read your recipe and thought your OG was 1.051 thus my comment in my last post. My mistake. The beer looks and smells fantastic. I can't wait to try it.

I d'love to read what you think of it.

I couldn't wait anymore after 2 weeks in bottle, I cracked open one. Oh my it was delicious not fully carbonated yet but it was really good. Now I will open a bottle a week until it is ready just to see how it is coming along.
Thanks for the great recipe.

Speedster any updates on your extract version turned out? I'm really curious about that.

This beer gets better with age. 5 Weeks in the bottle and it is still improving. Already on my list of beer to brew again. Admittdely a short list but a list anyhow. If you come to Dublin let me know and we will drink together.
Thanks for this great recipe. For a first try it was a really good try.

You're very welcome, glad you like it. If you come to Cork I'll have you taste some of mine.