Help with a Belgian session IPA

I'm working on a Belgian session IPA. I'm not sure what yeast to use, saison or an abbey/Trappist. I leaning toward the abbey yeast.

5.5 gallon

5.5# Pilsen
8oz flaked oats
8 oz biscuit
4oz special b
4oz caramunich I
4oz acidulated

Galaxy, Amarillo possibly Citra hops to ~50-55 ibu
Og 1044
Fg 1008
7srm
4.5%

How does it look? Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

I like the WLP 550 or 510 for hoppier Belgians.

550 will be fruity and the 510 will be pretty clean.
I did a Belgian IPA w/ the 550 recently (or 3522 Belgian Ardennes ) ,very fruity !

I'd lose the special B for starters.
Unless you are adjusting your water I'd consider losing the Acidulated also.

The difficulty w/ session IPA's is getting enough body for the hops to stand on.

Maybe change the pils to pale for body and use some crystal malt.
You'll also want to mash at a higher temp which means you won't (and probably don't want to ) get your beer under 1.012,You're going to have a thin beer w/ the pils at a F.G. of 1.008.
I like to use some vienna and some cara pils in my pale Belgians for character and body.

My 2 cents ,
If I were doing a "belgian seesion IPA"
maybe something like

Blegian Pale malt 75%
Vienna 10%
C- 20 10%
Cara-pils 5 %
Mash at 154

Keep it simple and let the yeast and hops do their thing.

Thank you for your feedback. When you say the wlp 510 is a pretty clean yeast, that's compared to other Belgian yeasts, correct? It still has that Belgian yeast character to it, right?

Also, I am thinking of doing a 1 gallon test batch of the recipe, once it get it ironed out. Is there a dry yeast equivalent to the 510? Or should I not worry about it and use the liquid.

Thanks again.

The WLP 510 is the "Orval" strain,as far as I know there aren't any yeast companies (other than White Labs) banking this strain other than some commercial companies.
Yes,the 510 is clean in comparison to other Belgian strains.
I guess I didn't pick up on you are looking to use a dry yeast (?) , I can't comment on any dry yeasts as I've never used any.
As far as a 1 gallon batch I'd encourage you to just do the full batch if you're going to brew anything.
For starters your pitch rate is going to contribute to the results as much as anything else w/ a Belgian ale.
My thinking is if you're going to spend the same amount of time to brew a beer you might as well brew a decent amount. Also ,you can adjust and re-brew the same beer w/ another yeast next time around .

Belgians are a learning curve but in the end worth any amount of effort you put into them !


Cheers