Belgian suggestions?

I'm contemplating what to brew next and I was hoping to brew something belgian-y. I've done Saisons and a dubbel before and I'm leaning towards something in the blond/tripel/golden strong ale realm but I'm still pretty undecided. I have a bunch of pilsner malt I wanna use and have a good stock of candi syrup on hand(won 10lbs from candi syrup inc woohoo!) I also have some New Zealand hops on hand that I'd like to use Pacifica, Pacific Gem and Pacific Jade. I'm also up in the air on yeast as well but mainly have access to white labs. Any and all suggestions are appreciated

Make a Belgian IPA. I did one recently with Pacifica and Pacific Gem. The fruitiness of those hops fits pretty well with the esters that the yeast kicks off.

Although, mine was a bit off the beaten path. I used WLP090. Not exactly a typical Belgian strain, but if you stress it under the right conditions it kicks off some really good flavors.

EDIT: White Labs Saison III yeast is bad ass. I'm finishing up a batch with it right now and I'm very impressed.

Are there light candi syrups that could be used in a lighter Belgian? I have only seen the dark ones.

Usually simple is good when it comes to a grain bill for a Belgian. Pilsner malt with a little sugar to lighten it up and a handful of bittering hops to balance it out is a good recipe. Then get some WYeast 3787 and let it shine (I see you have White Labs at the LHBS, they have an equal but i dont know the number)

Hmm I've been thinking along those lines as well, I have a vial of Brett brux trois that I was contemplating doing a 100% brett beer with a bunch of fruity tropical hops. Bah so many options.

ICWiener said:

EDIT: White Labs Saison III yeast is bad ass. I'm finishing up a batch with it right now and I'm very impressed.

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Did you just do a saison with it or another Belgian IPA style? Any issues with it during fermentation like some of the other saison strains?

Did you just do a saison with it or another Belgian IPA style? Any issues with it during fermentation like some of the other saison strains?

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Just a saison. Although I spiked it with a vial of White Labs Brett C.

No fermentation issues at all. It's been in the carboy for about a month. I started it at 66F for the first 36 hours, added 1 lb of table sugar and let it free rise to ambient (72-74F or so) for a couple days, then I strapped a heating pad to it so that it would get up into the 80's. Checked gravity on Monday 11/12 and it was at 1.004 (OG was 1.062), tastes good, smells a little sour/funky. I'm very pleased with it. I could bottle it today, but I might let it go for another month so that the brett can really shine.