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Derek1985

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What are some of the things you are doing to brew authentic Belgian or Belgian style beers?

Share them here. What Malts? How do you pitch? What yeast do you like? Do you use Syrup? How do you mash? How do you ferment?

Share! Share! Share!
 
I use Belgian Pilsener and other Belgian malts as available @ my LHBS. Other grains as a recipe might suggest. I mash in a 10 gal tun & use candi syrup as per the recipe. I've used 3711, 3724, Belle Saison, Belgian Abbey, Leuven, & Belgian Ardennes. 3724 can be the most challenging.
As for fermenting, I prefer to pitch around 66°F-68°F and then let it ride a degree or so a day. I've finished as high as the 90's but usually end up in the low 80's.
 
On the high gravity beers pitch enough yeast, use pure oxygen if you've got it, don't try to hold back the fermentation temps too much after the first 48 hours. Keep mash temps on the low side. And let them age for a while.
 
I like to mix base malts in my originals. I usually stick to the recipe for clones. I use the whole range of syrups from CSI. I Dingeman and Weyermann malts almost exclusively. I like to use Weyermann light and Dark munichs in my base mix and love Dingeman CaraVienna/CaraMunich. I'm a fan of 3787 but trying to culture some of the Trappist yeasts from the bottle.
 
I like to keep it simple..No need for complicated recipes. A good base for a tripel recipe is 80% pils, 20% sugar. Noble hops. Let the yeast shine. You can change it up slightly by subbing out 10% of the pils for something like Munich.

For darker styles you can pretty much do the same thing and get the color and flavor wih the Darker syrups. The syrups from CSI are the best. If you want a little more complexity, then you can use some special B. and caramunich.

Use noble hops.

mash on the low side for good attenuation. The Belgians like a drier brew. It makes them "digestable" as they refer to it.

Make a good healthy starter. Aerate with oxygen, pitch the yeast in the mid 60's, hold it there for a day or two and then ramp up the temp to get it to attenuate and finish up. Give them enough time to finish up. A couple of the Belgian yeasts van fool you into thinking they are done, but can drop a few points later. So give them enough time to finish.

Give them time to carb up and age out properly. Think months not weeks. Don't rush them.

enjoy
 
Make my own Candi sugar- get it super dark, almost burnt- delicious in the darker beers.

Ferment starting cool, but ramp it into the 80s, get super dry beers.

Age. Every Belgian, when I finish the last bottle, it's the best one! Sigh.
 
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