Roast my Belgian pale ale recipe

[Coontail]

Not actually looking to getting roasted but I do want an honest opinion.

So i made up this train wreck in preparation for a week long vacation in mid june and I honestly don't really know what I'm doing. I'm going mainly by descriptions of the style and thats it so..... Have at it

6.6# Pale LME
.5# Toasted Malt
.5# Dextrose
.4# Caramunich
.4# Biscuit Malt
1 oz Cascade 60 min
1 oz Galaxy 5 min

WLP410

I'm not a fan of bitter but I read Galaxy gives a nice fruity flavor if left at the end of the boil and I put Dextrose in there cause I read it dries it out a bit.

 

[mirthfuldragon]

My instinct is that the galaxy and cascade are going to get in the way of the Belgian yeast doing its thing. Check the recipe section here and there are a lot of ideas to crib from.

 

[Coontail]

My instinct is that the galaxy and cascade are going to get in the way of the Belgian yeast doing its thing. Check the recipe section here and there are a lot of ideas to crib from.

I'll take a look at other recipes for sure and by getting in the way of the yeast what do you mean? Does it throw off the flavor?

 

[mirthfuldragon]

I'll take a look at other recipes for sure and by getting in the way of the yeast what do you mean? Does it throw off the flavor?

Caveat: I fell into Belgians pretty hard over the last six months or so.
Belgian yeasts throw off lovely esters and phenols - a certain fruitiness, spice, clove, banana . . .lots of unique compounds that our sad human noses only have an inkling of. Letting those compounds get clouded by galaxy and cascade seems counter-intuitive. There's no reason that you cannot do it, and it might work, but when I think "Belgian", I do not think galaxy hops. One or the other should take center stage, and if you put both of them there, they both suffer from it.

My preference is largely personal, so take it as my two cents and leave it at that .

I would probably add a pound of pilsner to your steeping grains, just because, and pull back on the LME accordingly.

Also, while I'm thinking about it, if you are feeling adventerous, look up how to make candi syrup or invert sugar. A bit of acid (lemon juice), sugar, and water, and time, and you can make a passable golden syrup that works well in Belgians.

 

[Coontail]

Caveat: I fell into Belgians pretty hard over the last six months or so.
Belgian yeasts throw off lovely esters and phenols - a certain fruitiness, spice, clove, banana . . .lots of unique compounds that our sad human noses only have an inkling of. Letting those compounds get clouded by galaxy and cascade seems counter-intuitive. There's no reason that you cannot do it, and it might work, but when I think "Belgian", I do not think galaxy hops. One or the other should take center stage, and if you put both of them there, they both suffer from it.

My preference is largely personal, so take it as my two cents and leave it at that .

I would probably add a pound of pilsner to your steeping grains, just because, and pull back on the LME accordingly.

Also, while I'm thinking about it, if you are feeling adventerous, look up how to make candi syrup or invert sugar. A bit of acid (lemon juice), sugar, and water, and time, and you can make a passable golden syrup that works well in Belgians.

Thank you! I'll probably remove Galaxy then and let the yeasts character shine through more. I also have never used candi syrup so I'll definitely see about giving that a try. I've also never used base grains during steeping but I'll definitely do that, wouldn't that make this a partial mash?

 

[Coontail]

So I changed the recipe around a bit and it's now a partial mash

2# 2 Row Pils (Belgium)
3.3# Light LME
1# Amber Candi Sugar
.5# Toasted Malt
.4# Bisuit Malt
.4# Caramunich
1 oz Cascade 60 min

WLP500

Thoughts?

 

[Coontail]

Bump

 

[NTexBrewer]

https://beerandbrewing.com/make-your-best-belgian-pale-ale/

Here is a good article about the style.

https://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/style16.php#1b

And here is the style guideline. This beer is not your typical Belgian ester/phenol bomb. Esters and phenols should be restrained.

Also, have you used Galaxy Hops before? For some people and I’m one of them this hop is very offputting. I’ve been told it is the high oil content.

I plugged your second recipe into Brewers Friend and you are good with ABV, Color. You bittering hops may be a little high.

 

[Coontail]

https://beerandbrewing.com/make-your-best-belgian-pale-ale/

Here is a good article about the style.

https://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/style16.php#1b

And here is the style guideline. This beer is not your typical Belgian ester/phenol bomb. Esters and phenols should be restrained.

Also, have you used Galaxy Hops before? For some people and I’m one of them this hop is very offputting. I’ve been told it is the high oil content.

I plugged your second recipe into Brewers Friend and you are good with ABV, Color. You bittering hops may be a little high.

Thank you

I've never used galaxy hops before but I've gotten rid of them since and I'm now using east Kent and Fuggle. I'm also using WLP575 now so hopefully that will get me a good mix of fruity and spicy.

 

[NTexBrewer]

IBU’s should be around 24 or so. Maybe do a second Fuggle addition at 15 minutes, you could probably do a flame out addition of the East Kent Golding.

 

[Coontail]

I have the ibu's so low mainly for personal preference, I don't like bitter that much. But I'll see how much that'll change it, I suppose the later additions will keep it more of a soft bitterness?