Belgian Honey Wheat Ale 8.3%

[Halapeenyo]

ive been playing around with this recipe and wanted to post it for feedback. anybody brew something similar? any suggestions?


Style: Belgian Golden Strong Ale
Batch size: 5.0 gal
OG: 1.084
FG: 1.021
Bitterness (IBU): 17.1
Color (SRM): 6.5
ABV: 8.3%

Grain/Sugars:

7.50 lb Two-row (US), 48.4%
4.50 lb Wheat (US), 29.0%
1.00 lb Candi Sugar, Clear (Belgian), 6.5%
1.00 lb Honey, 6.5%
0.75 lb CaraPils, 4.8%
0.75 lb CaraVienne, 4.8%

Hops:

2.00 oz Hallertauer (AA 3.2%, Pellet) 60 min, 16.3 IBU
1.00 oz Styrian Golding (AA 4.0%, Pellet) 2 min, 0.9 IBU

Yeast/Misc:

Corriander Seed, 1.0 unit(s), Spice 1 tbsp
Orange Peel, Bitter, 1.0 unit(s), Spice 1 oz
Orange Peel, Sweet, 1.0 unit(s), Spice 1 oz

Recipe Notes:

Protein rest 122 for 20 minutes
Mash at 152 for 60 minutes

Boil times:

Hallertau 60 mins
Honey 30 mins
Candi sugar 10 mins
Orange peel 5 mins
Coriander 5 mins
Styrian hop 2 mins

 

[RonPopeil]

not sure if it's to style or not but that's a high finish for a Belgian beer. I would think almost any Belgian strain would attenuate well. Especially with 2# of simple sugars.

 

[chickypad]

I agree with Ron, this likely won't finish that high nor would you want it to. I worry about the amount of crystal in there though - you are at almost 10%. The sugar is in there to dry and thin it out but seems like you are counteracting that using that much crystal. There's plenty of wheat so you shouldn't need it for head retention. If you want some additional flavor maybe swap it out for vienna. What yeast are you using by the way?

 

[TNGabe]

I agree with the other two responses. If you're wanting a sweeter beer with belgian yeast, WY3942 doesn't attenuate as well as most, but it's got some odd flavors and needs to be lagered or at least sit at cellar temps for several weeks to smooth out IMO. Honey, particularly added in the boil rather than at flameout won't give you much honey flavor in the finished beer. Think about using some honey malt instead. I also like Castle's crystal malts for beers like this and would use CaraBlond instead of the carapils. Personally, I think that much orange peel will dominate the flavor. Lastly, I would use table sugar rather than the clear syrup. I know the syrup is supposedly more fermentable, but I've never had any problems with table sugar and it costs a lot less.

 

[Halapeenyo]

I'm using white labs Belgian ale yeast #550, the honey boil is a mistake I plan on adding it at flameout, I haven't brewed much Belgian beers I just kind of adopted this recipe and changed it up a bit. I'm expecting a thin dry be3r that will require some aging.... I think I will be cutting down on some of the simple sugar or maybe just replacing the crystal with some honey malt

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[Halapeenyo]

I'm expecting a thin dry beer but what I want is a sweeter beer with descent body and balanced flavors of honey wheat and orange. And high alcohol!! Lol

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[chickypad]

I'm expecting a thin dry beer but what I want is a sweeter beer with descent body and balanced flavors of honey wheat and orange. And high alcohol!! Lol

Got it, so you want to take a typical Belgian golden strong (which would be thinner bodied and dry) and make it into a beer that is sweeter and fuller bodied. In that case you probably are on the right track with cutting or eliminating the simple sugars and including crystal (or honey malt). The 550 will attenuate pretty well, you might also want to mash higher.

 

[RonPopeil]

I'm expecting a thin dry beer but what I want is a sweeter beer with descent body and balanced flavors of honey wheat and orange. And high alcohol!! Lol

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sweeter beer with honey flavor is honey malt for sure. honey will add alcohol and and give texture but most of the flavor will ferment out. honey malt is a cara malt that tastes similar to honey. if you use it don't add crystal to it. they do the same thing and will be super sweet if you mix them.

i would step mash this one. mash in at 150ish for 30 minutes and then add boiling water to bring it up around 155 for another 45-60 minutes. i would use up to 1# of honey malt.

10# two row or pils
5# wheat
1# honey malt
1# table sugar.
0.5# aromatic malt

2oz hallertauer @ 60 for 22 IBU
1oz styrian goldings @ 20 for 7 IBU

3L starter

assuming a step mash and a huge starter you should get attenuation around 90%. so if all goes according to plan:

OG: 1.083
FG: 1.010 (88% attenuation)
IBU: 28
ABV: 9.3

you'll need rice hulls or something similar with that much wheat.