Belgian Quad (Chimay Blue Style)

My favorite beer. Will be good to see what people think.

All SI units.
Batch Size = 27L.
Brew house Efficiency= 75%
OG = 1.079
FG = 1.010
IBU = 24
Colour = 35 EBC
ABV = 9.0%

Grainbill:
7.50kg Pilsner Malt = 73%
0.75kg Aromatic Malt = 7.3%
0.75kg Caramunich Malt = 7.3
0.25kg Special B Malt = 2.4%
1.00kg Candi Sugar (Amberish? I make it myself, holding 1kg of brown cane sugar with 1 tbs of cream of tartar at 130-degreees for 20 minutes. It starts to smell like green apples and when that smell goes it's done. Then quickly raise to 150-degrees then immediately cooling.)

Mash Schedule fits in 36Litre Mash Tun:
Mash In - 27.00L at 64-Degrees for 75minutes (72-degree water temp to add)

Fly Sparge with 25L at 76-Degrees

Boil:
90-Minutes Total Boil
20g Magnum at 60minute addition (14% AAU)
15g Hallertauer at 30minute addition (4.8% AAU)
30g Hallertauer at 15minute addtion (4.8% AAU)
Whirlfloc at 15minutes.
Cool then whirlpool.

Yeast
Wyeast Belgian Strong Ale #1388 - 1.50 Litre Starter (275 Billion Cells - This is "severely" under pitching by some peoples judgement. However I feel that this style of beer requires under pitching by a significant amount.)

Fermentation Profile
Pitch at 18-Degrees
Rise from 18-Degrees to 29-Degrees over 8-Days (just allow the yeast to increase the temperature. Don't let it run away from you and rise too fast)
Drop to 20-Degrees over 7-Days
Drop to 4-Degrees and age for 14-days (I do this in keg)

Let me know what people think of this one. I like it.

First thing that come to mind is that you are using the wrong yeast. 1214 is the Chimay yeast. Yeast plays a big part in the flavor of Belgian brews, so I would use 1214. Second I would spring for some candi syrup from CSI. I have tried home made and the flavor is no where as good as this stuff is.

Here is a recipe for the clone of that brew.

http://www.candisyrup.com/recipes.html

Definitely WY1214. Even though I have read about the yeasts changing since they were originally cultured for commercial production, 1214 will still be closer than 1388.

Offhand, it seems like your homemade candi sugar doesn't get hot enough to develop the different flavors that you would want. Of course, you'll want to let your own nose and taste guide you. I used the method from the following link. I found it hard to control and ended with four different flavor profiles from four batches. I ended up blending the best tasting three (creme brulee, plums/dark fruits/toffee and rum raisin).

http://ryanbrews.blogspot.com/2012/02/candy-syrup-right-way-hint-weve-been.html

I used CSI's D-90 in my Christmas Saison. I tasted a couple of drops from the bag after pouring the rest into my kettle and I didn't notice much flavor. I was very surprised. Obviously nothing conclusive, but wanted to share my one experience. I plan to try D-45 and/or D-90 again in the future in order to verify if it was the product or me.

So, after all that said, I re-read your post and it sounds like this isn't a plan, but a recipe that you have already made. What did you think of it? Were you shooting for a clone or a brew of a similar style? What flavors did you get out of your candi sugar?

Great feedback guys thanks. Didn't have a clue it was the wrong yeast!


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

No, this wasn't a plan I have made it. I was after some feedback of the recipe which I've made as I'm always seeking to perfect this recipe as this is my favorite style of beer.

While I haven't tasted it side by side to a bottle of Chimay there are a few things that are off:

1: The mouth-feel is too 'heavy', next batch i'll try upping the sugar contribution. It may also be because I never seem to get the carbonation from the keg high enough to match the bottle without it 'gushing' out of the tap.
2: The fig and raisin flavours are not strong enough. I think this is due to the incorrect yeast that I was using. I'll change this next time.
3: It tastes alittle too 'boozey', which i love but isn't true to the real thing. I'm probably just not aging it long enough.
4: The finish isn't as 'dry'. Not sure what to do about this, I don't want to mash it at any lower temperatures so hopefully the change in yeast strain will help.

On the plus side the colour is spot on, the smell seems about right and the malt flavours seem right.

As for the link about the candi sugar. I don't know, while informative I wouldn't trust a person who dosn't take temperature readings of the candi, which is the most critical parameter. I think what I produce is pretty good. I probably don't have a good enough palate to taste the difference between the candi sugar used in the final beer. To me It's turning out OK. If you taste the candi I make it tastes like toffee/caramel with quite a complicated flavour. I'm also a bit against buying something I can be making, But I'll give the CSI stuff ago.


I'm convinced that under pitching and having high progressively rising fermentation temps are key to this style of beer.

1. Have you tried bottling? Real chimay is bottled and bottle aged, maybe that is key to this brew.

2. I made my Chimay Blue clone with D90 as many suggested. I did make an error in mashing incorrectly, but which made my FG 1.017, a little sweet, but really brought out the raisin and fig flavors I love in the beer. As another note, WLP500 might have given up there as it was approaching

3. I bulk aged 2 months and then bottle aged 2 weeks before trying it and still had very slight alcohol taste. Try bulk aging in secondary for 1-2 months next time. I feel that is key.

4. With a FG of 1.01 I would think this is quite dry already. I never felt Chimay was a very dry beer. I think if you add d90 and age longer, the raisin and fig flavors will be enhanced with a recipe that has an FG of 1.015 or so.

Also want to add that I used WLP500 and it seems to have worked perfectly. I do not have any experience with Wyeast to compare to. And as another note, I have a perfectly good bottle of Chimay Blue in my fridge and prefer my flat clone to the real thing.