2nd All Grain Batch, building recipe...

[lostfish]

Hello everyone,

I am building a recipe for a Belgian type specialty beer, and was hoping for some honest feedback. I am brand new to recipe formulation, and this is my second all grain batch, ever. I am shooting for a beer similar in character to the 10 Commandments from Lost Abbey. Hoping for a beer with deep complex flavors that I can age for a long while. Doing 11 gallons, split into 2 5 gallon carboys fermented with 2 different strains. What do you think of the adjunct and specialty proportions? Thanks in advance!


15 lbs US 2 row Pale Malt
15 lbs Belgain Pilsner
1 lb Carafa Special II
1 lb Carawheat
1/2 lb Special B
2 lb Dark Candi Sugar
2 lb Honey
1 lb Dextrose
1 oz Magnum (60 mins)
1 oz Tettnang (15 mins)

Per Beersmith:
Est OG 1.087
Est ABV 10.1
Est SRM 34
Est IBU 24

First fermenter is getting a dose of WLP-565 Belgian Saison I, Second fermenter is getting a dose of WLP-530 Abbey Ale, with a vial of WLP-650 Brett in secondary.

 

[pericles]

Nothing looks obviously wrong about the recipe (i.e. you're not trying to brew a beer entirely with Crystal 10 and no base grains.) And since you're looking for a Belgian "specialty," there's no real style profile to hit or miss. So, in other words, if brewed, this will create alcohol - do it and let us know how it tastes!

One thing to consider in your process -- as opposed to your recipe -- is that you've got a LOT of simple sugars. If you dump them in at the same time, it's been my experience that the yeast will consume them first, and then lose the ability to ferment maltose, leaving you with an underattenuated beer.

My strategy, when adding more than a half-pound of simple sugars, is to wait until about a day into high kruesen before adding them. Then, once kruesen looks like it's almost done, I boil the sugars into a simple syrup, cool the syrup, and add them to the fermenter. This ensures that the yeast consume the maltose first, and only then move on to the simpler fermentables.

 

[lostfish]

Thank you, I will definitely take the simple sugars into consideration, and maybe even cut back and add more malt as well.