Anyone with a BYO Subscription

I'm looking for the New Belgium clones published in the December 2010 issue of BYO. I think the article spans pages 42 - 50. Specifically I'd like the recipe they published for the Abbey. I've recently fallen in love with this beer and would like to brew it as my 2nd ever homebrew. The first I brewed was EdWort's Bavarian Hefe. Thanks in advance!

Also, if you happen to have a way to convert the recipe from extract to all grain I'd prefer that!

 

here you go, they listed an all grain version:

7.5 lb pale malt
2 lb cane sugar (15 min)
1.5 lb Munich
0.25 lb carapils
0.5 lb crystal 80
3 oz chocolate
.45 oz Target 60 min (5 AAU)
0.25 oz Willamette 10 min (1.3 AAU)
0.25 oz Liberty 5 min (1.1 AAU)
Wyeast 1214 or WL500

Mash 150
Ferment 70*

 

Awesome, thanks for finding this! Any thoughts on the what/when of the chocolate? Would a gourmet dark chocolate work? I was thinking about adding it near the end of the boil. They don't mean baker's chocolate do they?

Since I'm new to homebrew, how would I know how long this needs to ferment? Just until the gravity reading remains constant?

 

That's chocolate malt. At that amount it's usually just for color.

For fermentation, yes the only way to know for sure is gravity readings. For this I probably wouldn't check a gravity until at least 2-3 wks. I'm not as familiar with that yeast as I tend to use 3787/WL530 as my go-to for these kinds of styles. The wyeast site does mention it may be slow to start. Some people intentionally underpitch with Belgian yeasts to increase the ester production but I don't like to do that. I think it's hard to control and you run the risk of causing other fermentation problems. If it were me I would make an appropriate starter (OG is listed as 1.065). Another common technique for Belgian beers where you want good attenuation is to pitch on the lower end of the temp range then let it slowly rise or slowly warm it as the fermentation goes on. So for this I might use the WL500 reported range, start it around 65* and slow rise to 72* at the end.

 

Well, that makes more sense that its a chocolate malt rather than actual chocolate, i feel kinda silly for asking now. Some other questions that may make me feel silly later:

I assume this would be for a 5 gallon batch?

When should the sugar be added? During the boil?

 

The 15 min means to add the sugar with 15 means left in your 60 min boil.

 

Right, 15 min left or you can just add it at flameout. It is indeed for a 5 gallon batch.

 

Sounds good, I plan to brew this next week once the fermenter is free. Thanks for the help!

 

Well, we're in the fermenter. I can't wait to see how it turns out.

 

And we have activity:

 

It has been a month. It smells just about right. I took a refractometer reading and it's 7.5% alcohol (I didn't have a refractometer at the time I made the wort, so I used the theoretical 70% efficiency value as my O.G.). Time to bottle.

 

Nice! what was your FG?

 

I estimated 1.072 OG based on calculations, and i got a reading of 1.007 (8 Brix) 8.5% alcohol.

 

Well it came out really well. The taste is nearly identical with the homebrew finishing slightly drier than NB's Abbey Ale. As you can see in the photo the homebrew poured a slightly thicker head.