another "help me decide what to brew" thread

I've been brewing a lot of APAs lately- in fact I'm on a mission to craft my perfect pale ale. However, the three batches of pale ale in my pantry (and a fourth fermenting) are leaving me wanting a short detour into something totally different. I want the funk. I have been drinking a lot of Belgians lately- Duvel, Delirium, Unibroue, Goose Island Matilda and Sofie, Chimay, etc. I've also seen some recipes on HBT for some Belgian saisons that look pretty awesome.

Any suggestions for a tried and true recipe to venture into this realm of brewing? I bought Brew Like a Monk, but I've found that the best advice is to be found right here in these forums. I'm willing to age whatever I go with for a long time... since I've built up quite a stock of homebrew.

I don't have any experience using bugs, but I noticed you mentioned Chimay...which happens to be one of my favorite beers. You may want to try a nice Belgian Dark Strong. Jamil Zainasheff has an excellent recipe HERE

My only suggestion would be to swap out the cane sugar for D2 Belgian candi syrup and switch WLP570 for the WLP500 Trappist Ale. I believe I read somewhere on here that it's the Chimay yeast strain. Regardless of it's origin, I have some bottle aging as we speak. It turned out better than I could have ever imagined :rockin:

Good luck!

I have had good luck with the WLP500 as well. And would also recommend using Belgian Candi Sugar. I personally use the dark. Maybe something in this direction would work for you:

2 row - 12 lb
Belgian Special B - 8 oz
Crystal 60 - 8 oz
Belgian aromatic - 4 oz
Candi Sugar - 1 lb
Fuggles @ 4.5%AA - 1.5 oz @ 45 min
WLP500 Ferment at ~72F

@70% Efficiency
OG 1.067
FG 1.016
ABV 6.6%
IBU 17.4
Color 13 SRM

This recipe could get you in the ball park. If you want more of an Orval vibe, go with the WLP 530. Uping the Special B will only give you good results in my eyes. And a 6.6% it shouldn't have to age for too long. I have also substituted Turbinado Sugar for the candi sugar and have had good results at 1/2-1/3 the price. Best of luck to you.

DrinkinSurfer said:

If you want more of an Orval vibe, go with the WLP 530.

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Orval also adds Brett during conditioning... if you really want to try something funky :fro:

Awesome- thanks guys! My LHBS doesn't carry White Labs products, so I would have to order the WLP500. I've only used Wyeast and Safale in my brews.

Both the recipes above give me good places to start.

For the Orval vibe- I've only had Orval once and I wasn't a HUGE fan. I thought the yeastiness was just a little too much after awhile. However, I frickin' love Matilda, which I've read is a tribute to Orval and uses some brett. To my untrained palate, Matilda seems to have the brett funk, just toned down a bit from the way Orval has it.

If you want to go funky crazy why not brew up a pomegranate lemonade saison with a nice selection of bugs.

earthboundagain said:

If you want to go funky crazy why not brew up a pomegranate lemonade saison with a nice selection of bugs.

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That does sound funky crazy... have you done something like that??? Not what I'm going after right now, but sounds wild.

nah just tossing you an idea, but I will try that one down the road.