Belgian Strong Ale Dubbel

Before anyone gives me a hard time for posting, keep in mind ive been crawling threads on here for a few hours looking.

Im currently trying to formulate a recipe for a Belgian Dubbel and im hitting a roadblock. Even with only 1 pound of Dark Belgian Candy Sugar for a 5.5 gal batch Promash calculates my SRM at around 22. The window for a Dubbel is 10-14. Therein lies my problem. I want a starting gravity of around 1.075 and according to what im finding, Candy Sugar is supposed to make up around 20% of my recipe. I plan on using Belgian Pilsner, Special B and Caramunich however im having much difficulty finding an appropriate configuration. My intent is to have this aged for a year or so and therefor need to be on the high end of the gravity scale...any thoughts

Heres my rough sketch in my head- not final by any means.

A ProMash Recipe Report

Recipe Specifics
----------------

Batch Size (Gal): 5.50 Wort Size (Gal): 5.50
Total Grain (Lbs): 15.50
Anticipated OG: 1.076 Plato: 18.35
Anticipated SRM: 29.8
Anticipated IBU: 0.0
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70 %
Wort Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Formulas Used
-------------

Brewhouse Efficiency and Predicted Gravity based on Method #1, Potential Used.
Final Gravity Calculation Based on Points.
Hard Value of Sucrose applied. Value for recipe: 46.2100 ppppg
% Yield Type used in Gravity Prediction: Fine Grind Dry Basis.

Color Formula Used: Morey
Hop IBU Formula Used: Rager


Grain/Extract/Sugar

% Amount Name Origin Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
83.9 13.00 lbs. Pilsener Belgium 1.037 2
6.5 1.00 lbs. Candi Sugar (dark) Generic 1.046 275
6.5 1.00 lbs. CaraMunich Malt Belgium 1.033 75
3.2 0.50 lbs. Special B Malt Belgian 1.030 120

Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.


Yeast
-----
WLP 500

Maybe drop the S-B and just go with Dark Candi and white sugar 50/50. Seems to work for me. Still working on the fermentation though.

Give this site a crawl.The Burgundian Babble Belt -- Pushing the Homebrew Envelope

Also if you are using the Dark Candi brand the SRM is about 80 I think. Change the 275 and you might have better luck.

http://www.darkcandi.com/d.html

Orfy posted a thread about making your own awhile ago.

You could try giving this a read and maybe making some yourself at a lower SRM.

I've never tried it myself, but could be fun.

as far as ive been finding online:
Belgian Candi Sugar

Imported from Belgium, this sugar is refined from sugar beets, and is 100% fermentable. Clear has a Lovibond rating of 0°L, Amber is 75°L, and Dark is 275°L.

When it first came out the label did say 275L. Now it reflects the corrected 80L.

http://www.darkcandi.com/specs_dark.pdf

We are talking about the imported Dark Candi right? Not the rocks.

i was referring to the rocks but this looks like it would work perfectly. I cant buy that at my LHBS though...maybe ill have to look offline

scinerd3000 said:

as far as ive been finding online:
Belgian Candi Sugar

Imported from Belgium, this sugar is refined from sugar beets, and is 100% fermentable. Clear has a Lovibond rating of 0°L, Amber is 75°L, and Dark is 275°L.

Click to expand...

Yeah it seems Northern Brewer might be a good bet in finding different colored candi sugar. Their website has lsited clear, amber, and dark.

For what it's worth I would go with the syrup. It's what I've always used and I've heard off putting things about the hard candi.

FYI - I know More Beer and a few other sites should be getting a very small amount of the D and D2 soon. Be on the look out for that and get it ASAP when you see it....it will not last long.

It is worth seeking out.

Im deffinitly going with the Syrup. AHB sells it so im going that route. Here whats i have. Very similar to some other recipes but i deffinitly wanted the plum flavor from the special B so im leaving it be. Its still gonna come in at above range for color but i dont care- this is for my drinking pleasure and not for competition.
----------------

Batch Size (Gal): 5.50 Wort Size (Gal): 5.50
Total Grain (Lbs): 15.50
Anticipated OG: 1.073 Plato: 17.84
Anticipated SRM: 22.0
Anticipated IBU: 22.9
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70 %
Wort Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Grain/Extract/Sugar

% Amount Name Origin Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
80.6 12.50 lbs. Pilsener Belgium 1.037 2
6.5 1.00 lbs. CaraMunich Malt Belgium 1.033 75
9.7 1.50 lbs. Candi Syrup D2 1.031 80
3.2 0.50 lbs. Special B Malt Belgian 1.030 120

Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.

Hops

Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.00 oz. Styrian Goldings Pellet 5.25 21.0 60 min.
0.50 oz. Czech Saaz Pellet 3.50 1.9 15 min.

Yeast
-----
WLP500

Just curious, is there any reason you want to go with the D2 candi sugar, and not say the amber or maybe even the clear?

If they're 100% fermentable, the only difference between them will be the color, and you'd probably be able to make the style guideline.

heinz57 said:

Just curious, is there any reason you want to go with the D2 candi sugar, and not say the amber or maybe even the clear?

If they're 100% fermentable, the only difference between them will be the color, and you'd probably be able to make the style guideline.

Click to expand...

according to their website, more flavors come out with the d2 otherwise i would have gone with the amber. They list of specifically a bunch of flavors (mix of burnt sugar, figs, ripe fruit, toffee and dark chocolate) which i think will make for a nice beer. Aparently the syrups are a little different than the hard sugars. However im new at the Dubbel concept so im open to hearing opinions

Amber Syrup- Made using the same process as the dark syrup. Lighter in color with a less intense candi syrup flavor

I was just thinking out loud. I made a Belgian Dark Strong in January with the Dark syrup and I agree about the complex flavor profile. I've been sampling it every month or so to watch it evolve. Quite a lot of fun.

I say go for it, it looks like it'll be a good beer to me.

Pierre Rajotte, in the Classic Beer Style book Belgian Ale, unequivocally states that Belgian brewers use a grist of base malt and make up color with different grades of Candisuiker. I.e., no Special B, no Caramunich, nada; just Pils or Pale malt and sugar. You might want to give that a go.

I don't know if I agree with that stance. I think specialty grains are worth using, and I've never tasted a Dubbel that used Rajotte's method.

Bob

BobNQ3X said:

Pierre Rajotte, in the Classic Beer Style book Belgian Ale, unequivocally states that Belgian brewers use a grist of base malt and make up color with different grades of Candisuiker. I.e., no Special B, no Caramunich, nada; just Pils or Pale malt and sugar. You might want to give that a go.

I don't know if I agree with that stance. I think specialty grains are worth using, and I've never tasted a Dubbel that used Rajotte's method.

Bob

Click to expand...

It would certainly be an interesting simple recipe. The yest supposedly gives it alot of spicy fruit flavor so i can see how that method would work. I want the raisin flavor and a bit of carmel from the caramunich which is why im going that route. I also could have gone with crystal 60 or so to give it that extra sweetness but i wanted the malty backnotes from the munch.