Turning down the volume on a Rochefort 10 clone

Hey all,

Rochefort 8 is maybe the best bottled beer I've ever had. Rochefort 10 is up there too, but at 11.2% ABV, it's just a kick in the head. I can taste the alcohol, and it interferes with the taste of the beer IMHO.

I saw that Austin Homebrew has a Rochefort 10 clone that (for the mini-mash version) includes 12 lbs. of malt. Since there seems to be a pretty strong correlation between the amount of malt and the OG (I'm a newbie -- can you tell?), do you think it would be an OK idea to order that kit and just use 8 or 10 lbs. of the malt, instead of 12? How much would you estimate that would drop the OG (and final ABV)? How else will this impact the beer?

Thanks so much for your help!


[edit -- link to AHS kit:http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?cPath=178_452_43_261&products_id=1931&osCsid=55f55b58eb61b849490be404630daf4a

IIRC the only difference between the 8 and the 10 is the amount of sugar added (both malt and sugar provide sugar which is fermented into alcohol). That said I don't know how accurate their clone recipe is and how much sugar it contains. Reducing the sugar and malt (or just making a slightly larger batch) will reduce the alcohol and give you a mellower beer.