Belgian Strong Dark recipie, complete, or is it?

Just wanted to get some input on a strong dark (my first big beer and first AG to boot) that I've been working on. Thanks Nateo for your advice.

Wolfgang's Black Heart - Dark Strong Ale
18-E Belgian Dark Strong Ale

Size: 5.04 gal
Efficiency: 75.0%
Attenuation: 85%
Calories: 279.12 kcal per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.084 (1.075 - 1.110)
Terminal Gravity: 1.013 (1.010 - 1.024)
Color: 19.23 (12.0 - 22.0)
Alcohol: 9.5% (8.0% - 11.0%)
Bitterness: 25.9 (20.0 - 30.0)

Ingredients:

Mash
6 lb Belgian Pils
6.5 lb Belgian Pale
1.25 lb Torrified Wheat
.5 lb Special B - Caramel malt
.5 lb Belgian Aromatic
.5 lb Caramunich
.5 lb Melanoidin Malt

Boil
1 oz Hallertau (4.3%) - added during boil, boiled 60 min
1 oz Styrian Goldings (3.5%) - added during boil, boiled 35 min
.75 lb Belgian Candi Syrup - added during boil, boiled 20 min
1 tsp Whirlfloc Tablets (Irish moss) - added during boil, boiled 15 min
2.5 tsp Yeast Nutrient (AKA Fermax) - added during boil, boiled 15 min

Yeast
2 ea White Labs WLP500 Trappist Ale in 3 Liter Starter

Schedule:
Ambient Air: 70.0 °F
Source Water: 60.0 °F
Elevation: 0.0 m

Mash In - Liquor: 5.0 gal; Strike: 166.39 °F; Target: 154.0 °F

Sacc Rest - Rest: 60.0 min; Final: 149.4 °F

Single Infusion Batch Sparge -
First Running Plus Vorlauf: 20 min
Sparge: 3.89 gal sparge @ 168.0 °F
10 min Rest
Second Runnings Plus Vorlauf: 20 min
Total Runoff: 7.02 gal

Looks pretty good to me. Just a few things concern me.

First, it seems like this beer is going to be quite sweet and rich in the end. The mash temp may be slightly high, and with the addition of Melanoidin malt (more useful for lighter beers needing a bit of body, IMHO) it may not be very, as the Belgians say, 'digestible.' High levels of attenuation are important for the syle.

Second, the second hop addition I think is a bit early. Boiled for 35 minutes, I doubt if you could much taste or smell anything from the Goldings. I would suggest 20-25 minutes, personally. Depends somewhat on what you're going for.

Overall, this is pretty spot-on for a small-brewery Belgian dark strong ale. If you want a distinct Belgian character, you'll need to allow the primary to get pretty warm; the belgians allow their ales to creep up into the 80's in some cases (don't recommend quite that high). They are then cold-conditioned for a period, generally at around freezing temp, right before bottle conditioning. I find that this is pretty important to get the proper flavors.

I agree with the above post. I would mash that at 150° and would probably mash it for at least 75 minutes with at least one stir during the mash.

thanks for the advice. I've been reading about the cold conditioning. Problem is, I don't have the gear to do it. The temps givin in How to Brew Like a Monk are sometimes 32 degrees. Wouldn't your beer ice over? If that's ok, well, I got a big freezer at the fire station I can put it in, but I seriously doubt freezing it is the intention.

Bonus of having a really hot computer room (upper 70's almost all the time) is that I can bring it in my office a few feet at a time and probably simulate a good slow temp rise

again, thanks for the critique. I'll take a look at bringing the mash temp down a few degrees and boiling the goldings for less time. (i was trying to get a mid range IBU level by boiling a few minutes longer)

Bump up the Hallertau to 35g

Move the Styrian Goldings to 20min

Mash at 148 -149 for 90min

Drop the Melanoidin, bump up the sugar to 1lbs, add at start of boil ( First wort )

You only need half a Whirlfloc Tab for 5gal.

Yes you really should lager for a few wks, it does wonders.

Kegging or bottling?

If bottling add 2-5g of dry yeast at bottling time.

I cold-condition mine in a garage/shed during the winter, but I don't suppose it gets cold enough in Texas to do that. Really, even keeping it a 50*F for a few weeks will help though. But ideally you want below 40*F. You can also go down as low as about 25*F before freezing, as the alcohol and sugar lower the freezing temp of the liquid. And if it does freeze (happened to me before), it's not ideal but doesn't really seem to hurt much.

A word about temps: it's great you have the flexibility to bring up the temp if necessary. But work with the internal temperature of the beer; with Belgian strains, this can be a fair amount higher than ambient temp. Generally, an ambient temp of 72*F is sufficient to bring the beer temp up into the high 70's, but use a thermometer probe/take a temp occasionally to see where you're at. Oh, at pitch cooler than that - about 65 would be ideal. That's what the Trappists do (though you likely knew that if you've been reading Heironymous, just making sure).

much appreciate the advice. I'll check the temp on the big freezer at the fire station. I'm guessing its probably around 28 or 29. gotta check with the captain to see if he's ok with it first :S

Houblon, i was being cheap and trying not to buy another pack of hops Considering the cost of the batch its minimal, and I was being stingy. I'll buy another pack and boil the goldings for less time.

i really appreciate all the help!

skyforger, quick question tho. Is keeping it an even higher temp around 70 better than the possibility for swinging temps between day and night 50-70. I wish this batch was done now, cause its cold, but i bet when its ready for the cold it'll be warm again. go figure

How does this look>>


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

Batch Size (Gal): 5.00
Total Grain (Lbs): 15.00
Anticipated OG: 1.086
Anticipated SRM: 14.7
Anticipated IBU: 24.4
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75 %
Wort Boil Time: 90 Minutes



Grain/Extract/Sugar
--------------------------------------
6.50 lbs. Pale Malt(2-row)
6.00 lbs. Pilsener
1.00 lbs. Beet Sugar
0.50 lbs. Aromatic Malt
0.50 lbs. CaraMunich Malt
0.50 lbs. Special B Malt

Hops

28g. Hallertauer 90 min.
28g. Styrian Goldings 20 min.


Yeast
-----
White Labs WLP500 Trappist Ale




Mash Schedule
-------------
Qts Water Per Lbs Grain: 1.3
Saccharification Rest Temp : 148 Time: 90

I'm not a fan of hoppy beers but personally you have good hops to add some complimentary flavors and you could shift them around to get more of that flavor and balance the malt. I might put the hallertau at 60 or 30 and the styrian at 15 and add a small amount of hops at 90 to get around 25 IBUs but bring some of the flavor out. It depends on how much hop presence you want in the beer. As I said, I don't like hoppy beers, but balance is important.

One other thing you could consider is a decoction mash. It's considerably more complicated, especially for your first AG, but I really like the flavors and body it contributes. You're going to get a lot of that from the caramunich but you could drop the caramunich for pale malt and decoct if you wanted to.

Hum, well, if you have a temperature swing of 20* in a certain spot I certainly wouldn't use it. A constant temp in the mid-70's will be fine, though you should make sure the internal temps don't get much above 80*F. Try to have it a bit cooler for the first 12 hours or so of actual fermentation; doing so seems to cut back on a lot of off-flavors.