Belgian Inspired Ales

[iamwhatiseem]

We have a great brewery locally called Taxman Brewery that does a unique spin on their brews. They are all made with Belgian yeast. And some of their beers are downright awesome.
https://www.taxmanbrewing.com/
Right now I am enjoying their Belgian Blonde Ale. It's freaky good.

I would love to brew up some ales similar to this... but wondering of there is more to it than simply using a Belgian yeast. And iIam not that familiar with the different Belgian yeast.
Advice by those who have brewed Belgian style ales?


Thanks and cheers

 

[davidabcd]

I use dry yeasts, Mangrove Jack M-41 and Fermentis T-58. I've been quite pleased with their ability to add character and attenuate.
I start low at around 65°F and go higher in temp by the day up to around 80°F. The beer still has to be actively fermenting to get the benefit of the higher temp. I'll let it sit that way for the rest of the fermentation or bring it down to 70°F as I get closer to bottling.
My Belgian Tripels are loaded with fermentables: 8#s of DME and 3#s of sugar and those yeasts (2 packs at a time) handle it fine.
I don't think there's much more to it than getting the right temperatures during fermentation to bring out the yeast's best qualities. That's all the other basics aside, of course.

 

[davidabcd]

You should be getting far more responses--people here love commenting on yeast. Try reposting your question, as is, in "Fermentation & Yeast" and make clear that you are reposting and that you want further information; my response is in no way comprehensive.

 

[kestrelbrewing]

If you're interested in Belgian styles, you should get a copy of Stan Hieronymus' book Brew Like a Monk. But be warned: brewing Belgian styles is a slippery slope that can lead to the dark side … you may find yourself embracing Brettanomyces, ambient fermentation, and sour beers that take 2-3 years to make <shudder> … You have been warned

 

[MadLuke]

We have a great brewery locally called Taxman Brewery that does a unique spin on their brews. They are all made with Belgian yeast. And some of their beers are downright awesome.
https://www.taxmanbrewing.com/
Right now I am enjoying their Belgian Blonde Ale. It's freaky good.
View attachment 691048

I would love to brew up some ales similar to this... but wondering of there is more to it than simply using a Belgian yeast. And iIam not that familiar with the different Belgian yeast.
Advice by those who have brewed Belgian style ales?


Thanks and cheers

I have recently started playing with the idea of making my own Belgian, possibly dubbel (a qadruppel by North End Brewery recently completely blew my mind), and one thing I have heard a lot about is candi syrup / sugar. Still trying to get some objective information on whether its essential / can be substituted by insanely complex grain bill / is not neccesary at all.

 

[kestrelbrewing]

I have recently started playing with the idea of making my own Belgian, possibly dubbel (a qadruppel by North End Brewery recently completely blew my mind), and one thing I have heard a lot about is candi syrup / sugar. Still trying to get some objective information on whether its essential / can be substituted by insanely complex grain bill / is not neccesary at all.

Candi sugar is not "essential" per se, but adjuncts are a huge part of Belgian styles from coriander and orange peel in witbier and especially adjunct fermentables in almost every Belgian style including Blonde, Dubbel, Tripel, Quad, Strong golden, … . When it comes to beers, the Belgians are essentially the anti-Germans.

I have swapped out candi syrup for avocado honey in my dubbel recipe and gotten awesome results and a lot of quad recipes (including my own) actually use date syrup.

When substituting, a couple of things to remember:
Candi sugar is supposed to be beet sugar which is slightly different from cane sugar. I've taken to using Northern Brewer's priming sugar calculator as a very clumsy way of figuring out the equivalents when switching adjuncts.
If you are expecting to get any of the flavor profile of the adjunct in the beer (for instance the aforementioned avocado honey has a lot of non sugar, spicy flavonoids which is why I chose it), you will want to add them late, not more than 10 minutes from the end of boil. In re maple syrup: the sugars that give maple its distinct flavor will be consumed by yeast so do not expect to get a maple quad by adding maple syrup.

One other thing about higher ABV Belgian styles: They tend to keep really well and they benefit from short term cellaring. Add that to the fact that they tend to weigh in at 9%+ ABV (my quad frequently hits 13%) so not something you want to keg and keep on tap. I usually brew two batches each of quad, dubbel, tripel, and golden ale per year. Saison I brew every 3 weeks, Witbier every 6 weeks, blonde, every 6 weeks.
They are also expected to be more carbonated than most American beers (3.0-3.3 vols is pretty standard) so it's not a bad idea to use champagne bottles if you can get your hands on them. My personal favorite supplier of champagne style bottles is Brasserie Dupont. Whenever I am running low on empty bottles, I buy a six pack of 750ml bottles of Saison Dupont and my wife freaks out. Apparently it is possible to buy empty bottles without beer in them for refilling and empty bottle cost less than bottles of beer … who knew?

I highly recommend you start by following a recipe and see if you can detect the candi sugar. My guess is you won't.

 

[mashpaddled]

I have recently started playing with the idea of making my own Belgian, possibly dubbel (a qadruppel by North End Brewery recently completely blew my mind), and one thing I have heard a lot about is candi syrup / sugar. Still trying to get some objective information on whether its essential / can be substituted by insanely complex grain bill / is not neccesary at all.

When you're talking about darker Belgian styles with dark syrups they add flavor and thin out the beer. Although you could make comparable flavors with specialty malts you won't be able to dry out the beer in the same way. Some quads and dubbels are thicker and you could brew along that style without the use of syrups but most of the more well known beers in these styles are primarily pils malt plus syrup. You can alternatively use other sugar sources that retain more flavor like date syrup, palm sugar, piloncillo, etc. which will produce great beers but not always exactly the same flavor.

If you liked the beer you had maybe try asking the brewery what they do and follow suit.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

I have brewed Belgian beers, including a Triple that was very good.
I am interested in brewing a beer like the example I showed, a "regular" golden ale, or a brown ale...whatever... and using Belgian yeast. If I simply use the yeast...is that going to work, or do you need to change the grain bill also... etc.

 

[dchmela]

If you want a more muted character from Belgian yeast, ferment it a little cooler on the low range of what the manufacturer states. I did a nice Porter with WLP 550 and you really can't tell the belgian yeast is there at all. Ferment it like S-05 at like 65.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

If you want a more muted character from Belgian yeast, ferment it a little cooler on the low range of what the manufacturer states. I did a nice Porter with WLP 550 and you really can't tell the belgian yeast is there at all. Ferment it like S-05 at like 65.

Well that is the thing.... I want the Belgian character. That is what is so awesome about TaxMan's beers. They all have that Belgian characteristics in different beers.

 

[dchmela]

Then I think you could ferment them warmer, 75-78 and that would give you some character. A nice blonde recipe with some 550 or T-58 fermented at 75 would give it some character and be a nice session beer. Wish I could try the Taxman stuff, sounds good.

 

[PberBob]

I’ve been looking for a thread along these lines. I have been making Belgian/West Coast ales all summer. e.g. Belgian Pale IV.