Belgian Golden Strong Help

I think this will be the style I'll make to use my T-58 yeast.

I have American hops such as Liberty, Willamette, Perle, Mt Hood, and Santiam. Would any of these work well (I've had them for 9-24 mo and would like to use up old hops first)?

So I see most Belgians use sugars. I also see many use pilsner grains/extracts. Is this necessary?

I'll be looking more closely at the recipes when I begin devising a recipe. I just want to understand what's necessary for the style. I'll be making a partial mash.

I want my beer to be in the lower spectrum of ABV and worked on a recipe, but it states my FG will be waaaaay too high. Ummm…can't take anything out or else it won't have a high enough alcohol content.

http://brewtoad.com/recipes/belgian-golden-strong-25

For a Belgian Golden Strong, I'd really, really recommend using WLP570. It's very attenuative and gives off the correct esters and phenols for the style. Typically a BGS would be something like 80% Belgian Pilsner malt and 20% table sugar. The table sugar usually is added in the form of a syrup later in the fermentation and not to the boil kettle. A very low final gravity is a key point to the style, as well as the yeast character.

Here is a really good podcast on the style - http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/The-Jamil-Show/Belgian-Golden-Strong-Ale-The-Jamil-Show-12-31-07

I want to use T-58 though. Is there a style better suited to the yeast?

I greatly dislike banana and bubblegum flavors. Spicy and peppery sounded great to me. I'm also looking for something similar with the hops.

What about a Belgian Pale Ale? http://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/style16.php#1b

The peppery/spicy character would fit in with the T-58 yeast. You could probably use your Willamette hops too since they're a little earthy and floral.

That recipe link wasn't working for me that you posted.

It may be because I was tweaking it. It became a blonde instead, and I was reducing the hops and malts.

Good luck with it! Let me know how it turns out.

Belgian Blonde:

http://brewtoad.com/recipes/belgian-blonde-66

I'm thinking it may ferment out further than the calculator figures. It's not too high over FG...

That link isn't working either.

Hmmmm…

I'm having a hard time finding malts to bring the SRM up to at least 4 that belong in a Belgian Blonde. I get my grains locally as they'll sell me just what I need, but their selection isn't the best.

http://homebrewparty.com/PriceSheets.pdf

I'm trying to cross reference stuff, but I'm also not finding many recipes that I know are a Blonde. Many aren't labeled with more than a title.

It may have been because I had it open again looking to see what they had that I could include. Sorry. I'm done jacking with it.

I found biscuit.

What about 1/2 lb of Dingeman Aromatic malt? That's probably what I'd go with and probably a 1/2 lb of wheat malt for a little complexity too. That's pretty close to Jamil's Belgian Blonde recipe.

I had aromatic on there, but couldn't find the recipe I got the idea from so I took it off. I figured I lost my mind for a moment!