Belgian Blond Ale Revvy's Belgian Blonde (Leffe Clone)

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Well I have been wanting to brew this recipe for a while now, just bought the ingredients so I will be brewing it this weekend. I will be using Wyeast 3787 (High Gravity Trappist). I can't wait!!!
 
I bought a six-pack of Leffe today, to see if this recipe is worth making.

Let's just say it's going to be my next batch... :)
 
After 75 days in bottles, the flavors are really starting to round out. Head retention is the best of any beer I've made so far and the flavor is fruity, bready and dry. I carbed a little higher and it really helps with the mouthfeel. Great brew!
 
Has anyone tried using safbrew abbaye with this recipe? I would love to be able to make this recipe with dry yeast
 
flokason said:
Has anyone tried using safbrew abbaye with this recipe?
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I haven't, but I'm thinking about it. I have recently brewed a dark strong belgian using the abbaye yeast, and although it didn't quite come out as the Chimay-esque beer intended the rather phenolic yeast character reminded me a little of a Leffe (perhaps the Brune rather than the Blond given my beer, but anyway).
 
Revvy said:
Note #1 (fEdited from an answer given earlier in the thread)
The reason for mashing at 158 came from doing research into the style from somewhere that I can't even recall.

It may seem high, but the reason for doing so is that Beta Amylase enzymes denature at 158. This leaves more unfermentable long chain dextrins, you will have more "weight" and more mouthfeel with the 158f mash temp but about the same starting gravity, and the final gravity will be higher as well.

You get more mouthfeel this way so that when you add the table sugar to the boil, you get the gravity boost but it's not "thin and cidery" like happens with many beers when you boost with a simple sugar. With this higher temp mash there still is decent mouthfeel and even great lacing on the glass from the proteins.
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What would I get if I used 5% rolled oats for mouthfeel instead of mashing high, replaced the table sugar with amber Belgian candi and pitched Belle Saison yeast (because I have the candi and Belle Saison on hand))?

Granted, it wouldn't be a Leffe Blonde clone anymore - but it might be pretty good. Thoughts?
 
troy2000 said:
What would I get if I used 5% rolled oats for mouthfeel instead of mashing high, replaced the table sugar with amber Belgian candi and pitched Belle Saison yeast (because I have the candi and Belle Saison on hand))?

Granted, it wouldn't be a Leffe Blonde clone anymore - but it might be pretty good. Thoughts?
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I would think it would still turn out to be a good beer but I would expect the Belle Saison yeast to ferment very low. I got 90% attenuation with Belle Saison on the last batch I used.

When I brewed this recipe, I used some Belgian Ardennes 3522 slurry and let it ferment warm, around 80 degrees. It fermented down to 1.006, which was 90% attenuation. I carbonated the beer to 3.3 volumes and it still had great body and spiciness. Just drank my last bottle last night. It was a little over 6 months old and tasted fantastic.

IMG_4223.jpg
 
NTexBrewer said:
I would think it would still turn out to be a good beer but I would expect the Belle Saison yeast to ferment very low. I got 90% attenuation with Belle Saison on the last batch I used.

When I brewed this recipe, I used some Belgian Ardennes 3522 slurry and let it ferment warm, around 80 degrees. It fermented down to 1.006, which was 90% attenuation. I carbonated the beer to 3.3 volumes and it still had great body and spiciness. Just drank my last bottle last night. It was a little over 6 months old and tasted fantastic.
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Nice pic. That looks a lot like what I'm drinking now, both color and head. But your glass is a lot cooler... :)

I over-carbed a touch, and have to let the head settle before I finish pouring. I finally figured out one reason that keeps happening to me: I've been calculating priming sugar for 5 gallon batches, but bottling more like 4 1/2 gallons.
 
I brewed this as a PM back in July. OG 1.062, FG 1.011
Did a 4-week primary, and I had a very violent fermentation which is typical of this yeast. I fermented at the ambient temp of my apartment, which ranged from 72-80 (Tennessee summertime).

The flavor has evolved over the last 4 months in the bottle to an outstanding beer. I have a 6-pack left that I plan on guarding with my life until I rebrew this beauty. I was unsure of this yeast choice even after 2 months in the bottle. Currently this beer exhibits huge notes of apricot, dried peaches, other various dried fruits and a tiny hint of cinnamon, nutmeg and clove. When I rebrew this I will forget about the bottles until the 4 month mark when they really hit their stride. What a beautiful beer!
 
I plan on brewing a version of Revvy's recipe this weekend. In anticipation of brewing this I ran out and bought a six pack of Leffe. After drinking several I couldn't help but think that I might actually like Leffe more if it was a little dryer and had a little less abv. I love tripels and duvel and have been on the hunt for a session beer that at least comes close to the flavors from said beers. While I think Leffe is really close to being that beer, I wonder if I couldn't tweak the recipe to get it a little closer. Is this sacrilege? Should I just go with the recipe as is? I really want something with a little quicker turn around time. I know that the higher abv makes for a longer conditioning time. Is high alcohol the only way to get those wonderful yeast derived flavors?




Am I pissing in the wind?
 
manisfive said:
I plan on brewing a version of Revvy's recipe this weekend. In anticipation of brewing this I ran out and bought a six pack of Leffe. After drinking several I couldn't help but think that I might actually like Leffe more if it was a little dryer and had a little less abv. I love tripels and duvel and have been on the hunt for a session beer that at least comes close to the flavors from said beers. While I think Leffe is really close to being that beer, I wonder if I couldn't tweak the recipe to get it a little closer. Is this sacrilege? Should I just go with the recipe as is? I really want something with a little quicker turn around time. I know that the higher abv makes for a longer conditioning time. Is high alcohol the only way to get those wonderful yeast derived flavors?

Am I pissing in the wind?
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I think dryer is a good shout, but i think lower abv is problematic. Leffe is about as low as a belgian should go, for me. Of course, you could always give it a go...
 
manisfive said:
I plan on brewing a version of Revvy's recipe this weekend. In anticipation of brewing this I ran out and bought a six pack of Leffe. After drinking several I couldn't help but think that I might actually like Leffe more if it was a little dryer and had a little less abv. I love tripels and duvel and have been on the hunt for a session beer that at least comes close to the flavors from said beers. While I think Leffe is really close to being that beer, I wonder if I couldn't tweak the recipe to get it a little closer. Is this sacrilege? Should I just go with the recipe as is? I really want something with a little quicker turn around time. I know that the higher abv makes for a longer conditioning time. Is high alcohol the only way to get those wonderful yeast derived flavors?
Am I pissing in the wind?
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I'd say you are not pissing in the wind.

I brewed this recipe a few months ago. And while it turned out great, the one thing I would change is the ABV. I was shooting for 6.6% which is what the commercial Leffe runs in at, but ended up at 7%.

I'm really happy with the flavour - it is a great beer with all the right Belgian notes, but personally I'd prefer it at 5.5% - 6.0%.

I don't think brewing it to a lower ABV will affect the yeast flavours.
 
I brewed this weekend. I inadvertently changed the recipe. I meant to up the recipe to 5 and a half gallons but I only changed the batch size, I didn't scale it in brewsmith. I had already bought my grains by the time I realized this. So this drove down my OG. The other inadvertent change was my mash temps. During my last brew I broke my glass thermometer. This is the tool I use to take temp of my grains when figuring my strike water temp. I guess that I didn't guess very well about my grains temp going in to this mash and lost more temperature than expected. I mashed at 155-154. So. . .

Even though I wanted to replicate this recipe before lowering the gravity and drying it up a bit. I ended up lowering the gravity and making a more fermentable wort by being ill prepared and in a hurry.

Maybe next time.

I will post back with updated on the out come.
 
I got home today from work and checked my carboy. This yeast is going to town. I'm a little nervous though. I pitched my yeast at 64°. I figured I would just let it go. When I checked the temp this evening (less then 24 hours after pitching) the temperature was up to 78°. I hope I don't have a huge amount of fusels. That's a pretty quick temperature jump.
 
I took a hydro sample earlier this week. No hot alcohol and a bit drier. I got a hint of sweeten kiwi. I am pumped to drink this.
 
As far as I understand the M-27 is a saison yeast, which wouldn't really be suitable for a Leffe type beer. I would suggest the Safbrew Abbaye instead, or perhaps T-58.
 
Yes, I have used M27 for this recipe, and it worked really well. It attenuated about as expected for a Belgian, and produced the flavor I was hoping for. It is on the spicy/peppery side of the Belgian spectrum. I like that yeast a lot and use it for most of my Belgian-style pales now. T-58 is also a good choice, and on the same side of the flavor profile, but I have had more difficulty getting good attenuation with it. Have not yet tried the Safbrew Abbaye.

The results I got from my one experiment with Belle Saison were quite different from the M27 flavor, for what that's worth.
 
Albionwood said:
Yes, I have used M27 for this recipe, and it worked really well. It attenuated about as expected for a Belgian, and produced the flavor I was hoping for. It is on the spicy/peppery side of the Belgian spectrum. I like that yeast a lot and use it for most of my Belgian-style pales now. T-58 is also a good choice, and on the same side of the flavor profile, but I have had more difficulty getting good attenuation with it. Have not yet tried the Safbrew Abbaye.

The results I got from my one experiment with Belle Saison were quite different from the M27 flavor, for what that's worth.
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Well I went and ordered some M27 today after reading this reply..It's nice to know someone has made the recipe using this yeast with positive results. The "spicy/peppery " is exactly what I'm looking for also so a great big :mug: to you.. As much as I would have liked to,I just couldn't justify spending $20 NZD for the WLP 530.
 
Just be sure to mash high. I think I mashed at 154 the first time and the beer came out drier and thinner than I wanted; 156 is probably good, even 158 is not too high with M27 yeast.

Cheers! :mug:

brewmeister69 said:
Well I went and ordered some M27 today after reading this reply..It's nice to know someone has made the recipe using this yeast with positive results. The "spicy/peppery " is exactly what I'm looking for also so a great big :mug: to you.. As much as I would have liked to,I just couldn't justify spending $20 NZD for the WLP 530.
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OK, I've finally sourced all my ingredients for this recipe :ban:


The recipe says I add 14.2 quarts of water @ 178 f 14.2 Quarts = 3.55 gallons .It then it says mash @ 158 F

So do I add all the grains in @ 178 f and mix it all together till it gets to 158F then close the lid to hold @ 158f temp for 45 mins ?
 
178 seems quite high if you're aiming for 158. I'd drop at least 8 degrees off of the strike temp.
 
I guess I never realized 178 is what the original post says... I would not worry about hitting that temp... As long as you know your own system and make sure you can mash at 158 regardless of how you get there, you'll be fine.
 
So I just brewed this up today (with some modifications based on what I could get from my LHBS in Budapest, Hungary ;) ) and I hit my OG spot on at 1.068-aiming for 7.1% ABV, but I'm already looking ahead-I searched through the thread and couldn't find anything-does anyone have any advice on carb level for this beer? I know Belgians tend to be more carbonated, but I just wanted to know what everyone else had done and had any thoughts-I only started brewing over here a few weeks ago (originally from Washington, DC) and I always just kegged back home to my personal taste-fairly easy to just muck with the CO2 regulator, harder to settle on a Co2 volume up front and cross your fingers... Thanks in advance, all!
 
I have always used dry yeast and feel most comfortable with that so far. I have some safebrew S-33 on hand. Could I use that with good results?
 
omahabrew said:
I have always used dry yeast and feel most comfortable with that so far. I have some safebrew S-33 on hand. Could I use that with good results?
Click to expand...

Don't know about that one, though the Fermentis pdf says it can be used in Trappist type beers, so I don't see why not.

T-58 would work (I think I even did it with it years ago) and WB-06 might be interesting, though I'm assuming it would make for a cloudy beer.

Give it a try and report back, that way we add to the knowledge base, by having the guts to try something no one else has. :mug:
 
Slightly exceeded my usual efficiency (based off older 2-row at 70% and hit 1.070. Nice Kraussen forming after 12hrs. I didn't use a blowoff, but I did put it in the tub just in case :p Hopefully it hasn't exploded all over my bathroom when I get home!!

subbed willamette as bittering, but shouldn't matter at all.

I'll check back in, after 30 days!! Super excited for this one.

moophone said:
Making a 2L WLP530 starter now. Going to brew this on the weekend!
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moophone said:
Slightly exceeded my usual efficiency (based off older 2-row at 70% and hit 1.070. Nice Kraussen forming after 12hrs. I didn't use a blowoff, but I did put it in the tub just in case :p Hopefully it hasn't exploded all over my bathroom when I get home!!

subbed willamette as bittering, but shouldn't matter at all.

I'll check back in, after 30 days!! Super excited for this one.
Click to expand...


Good idea to keep it in the tub. I brewed this twice and had a blowoff twice. The WLP530 is a beast!
 
spoke too soon. asked my wife to look at it 2 hours ago, no sign of airlock activity, lid wasnt swelling, pushing on lid = nothing in airlock

2 hrs later, and I come home to a full airlock with a bit leaking out over the sides (!)

I opened the lid a bit on one side, will leave it like that for a while.

How long does this rigorous part of the fermentation usually last, where its safe again?
 
I'm brewing this recipe this weekend.

Are people generally doing this with 158 F mash? Is FG still going down to 1.010?
That is uncomfortably high. I might chicken down to about 155 F

I will be using the recipe (LHBS was out of styrian goldings) with Magnum instead of Styrian goldings, just to get clean bitterness and I will use Wyeast 3711, as I do have a really healthy yeast cake that I will use. Since I'm making a 20 gallon batch, it's really nice to have a direct pitch quantity of the yeast.

My plan is to make this recipe again later with WLP530

EDIT:
I will go out of my comfort zone and mash at 158 F
I trust you Revvy
 
20 gallon of this is now fermenting with wyeast 3711

I mashed at 158F

Will report how this turns out
 
So my batch is starting week 4 in primary this coming Sunday and is currently at 70 degrees. Should I ramp the temp up to 72 for the last week?
 

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