Belgian Quad Mini-Mash

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DeadYetiBrew

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So, I'm working on the best beer recipe in the world, and not really knowing a whole lot about Belgian Quads, I thought I would get some input from the vast pool of knowledge here. I developed this recipe from a blend of the Westvleteren Abt 12 and the Rochefort 10 recipes found in the Beer Captured book. I'm figuring in about 10 days for primary, with plenty of time to clear, and bottle condition. Let me know if any ingredients (or amounts) seem a little off.

16 oz Belgian Cara-Munich Malt
8 oz Belgian Aromatic Malt
4 oz Belgian Biscuit Malt
4 oz British Chocolate Malt
4 oz Belgian Special B Malt
11 lbs Muntons Extra Light Dry Malt Extract
1 lb Belgian Dark Candy Sugar
4 oz Malto Dextrin
1 oz. Styrian Goldings 5% AA bittering hop @60 mins
1 oz. German Hallertau Hersbrucker 3.3% AA bittering hop @60 mins
¼ oz. German Hallertau Hersbrucker flavor hop @15 mins
¼ oz. Styrian Goldings flavor hop @15 mins
1 tsp. Irish Moss
¼ oz. German Hallertau Hersbrucker aroma hop @2 mins
¼ oz. Styrian Goldings aroma hop @2 mins
1 pkg. Wyeast 3787 Trappist High Gravity
1¼ cup M&F Extra Light Dry Malt Extract to prime

Est. OG - 1.122
Est. FG - 1.012
Est. IBU - 25.8
EST. SRM - 37.7

It's a big beer but should be very tasty and drinkable. I doubt it will hit the Est. FG just due to yeast limitations. Any comments from anyone that has done a Quad or Belgian Dark Strong Ale are appreciated. :mug:
 
i'd say it'll take more than 10 days in the primary...i'd probably leave it a month.

make a HUGE starter and make sure the gravity is down before you transfer or you'll have to repitch.

you may want to check your IBUs against other belgian strong ale recipes...they tend to be more malty than hoppy and it looks like you may have too much hops in there for the style. i'm not at home or i'd check for you.

other than that, it looks fantastic :mug:
 
Brewing a Westy 12 clone is my new obsession. Tasting my first attempt at bottling time I was shocked at how good it tasted. Its probably carbed by now, and I'm going to bring it to my homebrew club meeting on the 14th. We're small but generous, 2 meetings ago one guy brought a bottle($100 for a six-pack) for everyone to try. So everyone has tasted the real thing, if they think my beer even comes close(green as it will be) I'll post the recipe. Mine is AG though, you'd have to convert it.
BTW, Westy is clearly the better beer. Not even close. Have you had both?
Good luck, great beer to shoot for.
edit> With that OG/FG you're looking at 12.8%ABV, I agree it won't probably go that low FG, but still the SG may be too high. Westy 12 is ~10.2% ABV according to beeradvocate.com.
 
landhoney said:
Brewing a Westy 12 clone is my new obsession. Tasting my first attempt at bottling time I was shocked at how good it tasted. Its probably carbed by now, and I'm going to bring it to my homebrew club meeting on the 14th. We're small but generous, 2 meetings ago one guy brought a bottle($100 for a six-pack) for everyone to try. So everyone has tasted the real thing, if they think my beer even comes close(green as it will be) I'll post the recipe. Mine is AG though, you'd have to convert it.
BTW, Westy is clearly the better beer. Not even close. Have you had both?
Good luck, great beer to shoot for.
edit> With that OG/FG you're looking at 12.8%ABV, I agree it won't probably go that low FG, but still the SG may be too high. Westy 12 is ~10.2% ABV according to beeradvocate.com.

Yeah i saw that thread, it made me so jealous. I am actually suprised someone responded to this so long after my brewing partner posted it. We actually went to AG so i'd be interested in seeing your recipe. Unfortunately haven't had West 12 yet. I have had Rochefort 6 and 10. 10 is one of the best beers i've ever experienced. I'm waiting till i can somehow get a taste of a westy. We never got a chance to brew this so :(.
 
DeadYetiBrew said:
Yeah i saw that thread, it made me so jealous. I am actually suprised someone responded to this so long after my brewing partner posted it. We actually went to AG so i'd be interested in seeing your recipe. Unfortunately haven't had West 12 yet. I have had Rochefort 6 and 10. 10 is one of the best beers i've ever experienced. I'm waiting till i can somehow get a taste of a westy. We never got a chance to brew this so :(.

That's funny, I never looked at the date of the orignal post, guess 'ericd' revived it. Just saw it as new post today and thought I'd chime in. Its definitely worth trying at least once, like I said, but at ~$100 bucks a sixer, a little pricey. I'd go in w/2 other guys, $33 bucks for two is worthwhile. Its just hard to justify $100 when you can make sooo much homebrew for that price.
 
My only question is why the maltodextrin?
Belgian Trappist styles usually finish fairly dry and with a beer that big you are going to have trouble getting it dry any ways. Malto adds unfermentable sugars and body to the beer. That souldn't be a problem given your starting gravity. Maybe some dextrose is what you meant to add?

Craig
 
CBBaron said:
My only question is why the maltodextrin?
Belgian Trappist styles usually finish fairly dry and with a beer that big you are going to have trouble getting it dry any ways. Malto adds unfermentable sugars and body to the beer. That souldn't be a problem given your starting gravity. Maybe some dextrose is what you meant to add?

Craig

I have no idea... Like i said my brewing partner posted this so i didn't see it before he added it... It's possible he wanted it a little sweet but like you said their dry not sweet. It's possible he was looking at different recipes and that slipped in there... He could have meant Dextrine Malt for body, but that small amount would do very little... Plus Belgian Candi sugar adds a fair amount of body (so i've heard). Your guess is as good as mine...


I'm definitely wanting to do a quad or just a dub but i'm kind of short on brew cash right now lol...

Land, you're right that is a lot of homebrew but i think i'd still pay for the whole 6 if i could just find it someone that could get it...

I've also had Duvel, Chimay, and Orval. I liked the Orval and Duvel but the Chimay (blue) tasted a bit too much like raisins or dates for me. For the price i'd rather buy more Rochefort 10 rather than Chimay Blue
 
landhoney said:
BTW, Westy is clearly the better beer. Not even close. Have you had both?

I dunno if I can agree with you on that. I've had both and the Rochefort is my favorite of the two. The westy is damn good, but something about the rochefort just takes to my tastebuds better. To each his own, thouhg :mug:
 
Holy monkey!!!!!!! That's a whole lot of DME!

I see that someone else posted this way back on your account. Did you ever try this? I'd think that it would be a bit cheaper (and result in a better tasting brew in the end) to replace most of not all of the DME with some Belgian pale ale, but I'm sure that it would turn out just fine with the DME as well.

The 2 best high ABV brews that I've done to date both had 4+ lbs. of DME each.
 
DeadYetiBrew said:
Land, you're right that is a lot of homebrew but i think i'd still pay for the whole 6 if i could just find it someone that could get it...

Here you go:
http://shop.belgianshop.com/cgi-bin...&SHOP= &PN=_W_.html#a2_21BB22003#a2_21BB22003

$18.00 per bottle / ~$30 minimum / ~$30 shipping. I have not ordered from them, someone on this site I think actually mentioned the site. Apparently now Westy won't sell you bottles if you just show up, you have to reserve them before your visit. AFAIK they are only sold from the brewery. But people I guess resell them, like this site.
 
landhoney said:
Here you go:
http://shop.belgianshop.com/cgi-bin...&SHOP= &PN=_W_.html#a2_21BB22003#a2_21BB22003

$18.00 per bottle / ~$30 minimum / ~$30 shipping. I have not ordered from them, someone on this site I think actually mentioned the site. Apparently now Westy won't sell you bottles if you just show up, you have to reserve them before your visit. AFAIK they are only sold from the brewery. But people I guess resell them, like this site.

WOW, thank you...


No, i never tried the recipe but a quad will probably be the first Belgian I try... I'm AG now so it should be a lot better plus I can add a bit more Specialty Grains to it....
 
Giving this one a shot with some modifications:
60 minute mash at about 160
swapped dry extract for golden syrup

meant to sparge out the grain but didnt because I was up until 4 with this puppy (forgot)

last night the OG at around 80 degrees was 1.18, added east this morning at 72 degrees and praying to my heathen gods the trappist yeast doesn't explode. moving to 68 in the basement when I get home from work. wort tasted intense btw.

probably going for 10 days in primary, 45 in second, and making some spent grain baked goods in the mean time :)

will post progress and results, and comments or suggestions would be helpful, especially as to how I'm going to deal with an OG that high...
 
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