Dubbel Weekend

Hey gents, I'm going to brew a dubbel this weekend and looking for advise. I put together a recipe based on various ones I found on the web.

Any advise/suggestions with my recipe? I've never used carafoam before, but I haven't have good luck with a nice sustainable head on my beer, and I read this might help... is there enough there (1/4lb)? Any other suggestions on my grains?

http://hopville.com/recipe/1675532

I made a belgian dubbel about a year ago, your recipe looks similar and sounds good. I have never used carafoam, .25 lb should do the trick though from what I understand. Flaked barley works well for increasing head retention as well. I let my dubbel age 6 months in the bottle before trying, it was great then and it just keeps getting better with time, you will love it.

If I remember correctly, based on input from HBT, I let the fermentation temp slowly ramp up a bit, I even added a bit of heat to it get to 78F, I think it depends on the yeast you are using though.

Makushr1 said:

Hey gents, I'm going to brew a dubbel this weekend and looking for advise. I put together a recipe based on various ones I found on the web.

Any advise/suggestions with my recipe? I've never used carafoam before, but I haven't have good luck with a nice sustainable head on my beer, and I read this might help... is there enough there (1/4lb)? Any other suggestions on my grains?

http://hopville.com/recipe/1675532

Click to expand...

I was gonna make a dubbel this weekend and ended up going with a marzen for the spring. I like your recipe except for the biscuit. I don't think you have enough specialty malts with special b, aromatic and caravienne, but that's just my opinion. You want this puppy to attenuate well so limiting specialty malts will help. It's not that biscuit is bad, I just don't think it's necessary to make a fine dubbel.

Oh and you could also cut the caramunich and caravienne back to 8 oz. 1.018 as a final gravity seems a bit high and reducing specialty grains will help a little. Again just my opinion.

That is a lot of cara-malts in there! I made a dubbel last weekend and for 5.5 gallons it only has 6 oz special B, 6 oz Aromatic, 7oz Caramunich, 1lb of munich, 1.5 lbs candy sugar (I substituted honey) and the rest is Pilsner malt for an OG of around 1.067.

Also at 1.080 OG that is a Belgian Tripel.

I also used the Trappist HG yeast. That stuff is beast! You absolutely MUST use a blow off tube or you'll have a mess! Be sure to make the proper sized starter as one smack pack is NOT enough for a beer this big! This yeast takes forever to finish...I started fermenting at 63F and slowly raised the temp 1 degree per day, now on day 6 it's still bubbling heavy and churning up the wort! Going to increase temp to 70F slowly and let it finish for another 21 days.

here's my recipe: http://hopville.com/recipe/1667392

- J

Thanks guys. This is only my 4th brew, so I really appreciate the input. Mixing the right grains comes with time I guess, so you're helping mucho!
Here is the updated recipe, knocking back the caramunich/vien from 12oz each to 8oz each, as well as getting rid of the biscuit.
http://hopville.com/recipe/1675532

Also, one more thing... What hops should I be using? I never know which to put in, unless I'm following a specific recipe. Well, I guess what I mean is, what hops are used in Belgian brewing?

Makushr1 said:

Thanks guys. This is only my 4th brew, so I really appreciate the input. Mixing the right grains comes with time I guess, so you're helping mucho!
Here is the updated recipe, knocking back the caramunich/vien from 12oz each to 8oz each, as well as getting rid of the biscuit.
http://hopville.com/recipe/1675532

Also, one more thing... What hops should I be using? I never know which to put in, unless I'm following a specific recipe. Well, I guess what I mean is, what hops are used in Belgian brewing?

Click to expand...

Looks good. Oh I forgot to comment on your original question. Carafoam is great for head retention and I use it in most of my beers. In your case however, Caramunich also contributes to head retention, so you probably don't need it.

As for hops, Hallertauer is fine for bittering (really any hop is). As for flavor hops, you don't really need them as long as you get your ibu's in the 20's range. This is a malt forward beer. If I add flavoring hops, I personally am a big fan of Styrian Goldings. They're great in Belgian beers.

Jayhem said:

Be sure to make the proper sized starter as one smack pack is NOT enough for a beer this big!

- J

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I've never made a starter, always just pitched the wyeast straight. So, let me just make sure I got this right.
I boil 1gm of DME for every 10ml water for about 10 minutes. Cool. Pitch yeast in cooled mini wort and let sit for about 24 hour. Then pitch in the wort. Correct?

How much water should I use for the starter? Also, what temp should I let the yeast sit for those 24 hours?

unless you're making your own, most candi syrup comes by the lb so you may as well use the full amount. no need for carafoam with all the other crystal and flaked wheat on top of it.

you should pitch in the 60s and let it ramp up into the 70s over a few days to increase the esters without letting it get harsh or super banana

use http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html or http://yeastcalc.com/ to figure out the size of your starter

and heres some info on them since its your first:
http://www.mrmalty.com/pitching.php
http://www.mrmalty.com/starter_faq.php

Makushr1 said:

I've never made a starter, always just pitched the wyeast straight. So, let me just make sure I got this right.
I boil 1gm of DME for every 10ml water for about 10 minutes. Cool. Pitch yeast in cooled mini wort and let sit for about 24 hour. Then pitch in the wort. Correct?

How much water should I use for the starter? Also, what temp should I let the yeast sit for those 24 hours?

Click to expand...

You should use this calculator to determine starter size based on your beer batch volume and Original Gravity (OG). http://yeastcalc.com/

For 5 gal batches your starter size will need to be 1-2 liters (depending on gravity of recipe).

You need to aerate the starter wort well (just like your beer) once it has been cooled to yeast pitching temp. Also it is recommended that you aerate the starter frequently by at least shaking the starter vessel every time you get the chance to (at least 4 times a day).

Also you want to use just a piece of sanitized aluminum foil over your starter as you do not want to block oxygen exchange! You don't care about oxidizing your starter wort because you are going to only use the yeast!

It usually takes at least 24 hours for your starter to finish, sometimes 48 hours. Once it starts to clear a bit you should cold crash it (put in the fridge for about 12-24 hours). This will settle out most of the yeast. in a nice white layer on the bottom. Once it has settled like this, carefully pour off the liquid (decant) leaving only a little liquid and the yeast layer on the bottom. Swirl it around and cover with sanitized lid and let it warm up to room temp before pitching to your beer.

You can pitch the entire starter but you will be adding 1-2 liters are oxidized beer to your batch. Your call on that, people do it either way. I just prefer decanting and pitching.