A Nice Belgian

[Ó Flannagáin]

I'm falling in love with belgians. Ok, I'll admit it, I'm already head over heels. I've decided to go for a Beglian Specialty ale today. Branching out of the trappist clone and tripel/dubbel area for a batch. I got some interesting hops in th email today and I thought they might go well with this style of beer. On to the recipe, here's my first go at it. Ideas?


BeerSmith Recipe Printout - www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Nice
Brewer: Christopher John Flannagan
Asst Brewer:
Style: Belgian Specialty Ale
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (35.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 6.41 gal
Estimated OG: 1.070 SG
Estimated Color: 7.6 SRM
Estimated IBU: 38.8 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
10.00 lb Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (2.0 SRM) Grain 80.00 %
1.50 lb Wheat Malt, Ger (2.0 SRM) Grain 12.00 %
0.75 lb Caravienne Malt (22.0 SRM) Grain 6.00 %
0.25 lb Caramunich Malt (56.0 SRM) Grain 2.00 %
1.25 oz Marynka [6.50 %] (60 min) Hops 25.6 IBU
0.50 oz Strisslespalt [4.00 %] (Dry Hop 3 days) Hops -
0.50 oz Marynka [6.50 %] (30 min) Hops 7.9 IBU
0.50 oz Marynka [6.50 %] (10 min) Hops 3.7 IBU
1.00 oz Strisslespalt [2.50 %] (5 min) Hops 1.6 IBU
1 Pkgs Trappist Ale (White Labs #WLP500) [StarterYeast-Ale

 

[jdoiv]

Sounds tasty! Where'd ya pick up those hops?

 

[Ó Flannagáin]

Norhernbrewer.com, and they were cheap. Got a couple pounds of some other hops as well for around 10-12 bucks.

 

[landhoney]

I like wlp500 a lot. Have you used it before? I would be careful not to let it get too warm unless you want huge plum/fruit character. Optimum temp is 64-72F so be careful - not a belgian strain that benefits from a higher temp. Remember that air temp does not equal ferment temp. Grain bill looks good, no sugar? And I know nothing about those hops so I can't comment.

 

[Ó Flannagáin]

I keep my brewroom at 62, usually gets my actually ferment temp around 68-69. So should good on that end. I might cut back on the pils and use some candi sugar (since I know how to make it now ) But I"m not sure, I might just mash really really low, like 148ish.

 

[Iordz]

148F is a good number for a Belgian style ale. I would boil for 90min, the huge portion of pilsener malt might give the beer a little DMS. One question, wher's the sugar?

 

[Ó Flannagáin]

Does it have to have sugar to fit in the belgian category? Seriously?

 

[Iordz]

No it doesn't, but you run the risk of getting a sweeter beer. Most Belgian style ales reach attenuations of around 80%. This can be done with all malt if you mash low and pitch lots of yeast.

 

[Ryanh1801]

sounds good, your making me jealous with all these Belgians, I need to get moving. Whats the deal with these hops? What made you decide to go with them?

 

[Ó Flannagáin]

sounds good, your making me jealous with all these Belgians, I need to get moving. Whats the deal with these hops? What made you decide to go with them?

I was doing a bulk order of hops I'd like to have in storage. Then I saw these ones with the flashy red "NEW" next to them and really sexy sounding descriptions. Decided to try them. Got 3 ounces of a few different kinds.

 

[Steve973]

Yes, I'd definitely swap some of your pils malt with some sugar. You don't have to use so-called "candi sugar" and you don't even have to attempt to invert sucrose on your stove. Since this is a lighter beer, you can simply use dextrose (corn sugar). It's very pure and it won't lend any off-flavor to your beer. With using sucrose, you run the small risk of getting some cidery flavor in the beer. You could drop your pils malt by a pound and a half and substitute that with a pound and a half of corn sugar that you steal from your priming sugar stash.

On another note, I don't know what you're aiming for with this beer, but it looks like it would benefit quite nicely from some brettanomyces!

 

[Iordz]

I have made strong Belgian ales with up to 20% sugar, without getting a cidery after taste. It's all about a good fermentation, that's where the magic happens. Granted, I did use inverted sugar and would not try it with cane sugar. I see sugar as an important ingredient in Belgian Abby style brewing. There is one Belgian brewery, Brasserie de Rocs, that prides itself on being probably the only brewery to make its Abby beers without any sugar additions.

 

[Ó Flannagáin]

I guess I'll add some sugar, I do know how to invert it myself. I also bought one of those spiffy silicon mats, so I want to try it out. Here's the updated version:


BeerSmith Recipe Printout - www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Nice
Brewer: Christopher John Flannagan
Asst Brewer:
Style: Belgian Specialty Ale
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (35.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 6.41 gal
Estimated OG: 1.069 SG
Estimated Color: 7.3 SRM
Estimated IBU: 38.9 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
8.00 lb Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (2.0 SRM) Grain 66.67 %
1.50 lb Wheat Malt, Ger (2.0 SRM) Grain 12.50 %
0.75 lb Caravienne Malt (22.0 SRM) Grain 6.25 %
0.25 lb Caramunich Malt (56.0 SRM) Grain 2.08 %
1.25 oz Marynka [6.50 %] (60 min) Hops 25.7 IBU
0.50 oz Strisslespalt [4.00 %] (Dry Hop 3 days) Hops -
0.50 oz Marynka [6.50 %] (30 min) Hops 7.9 IBU
0.50 oz Marynka [6.50 %] (10 min) Hops 3.7 IBU
1.00 oz Strisslespalt [2.50 %] (5 min) Hops 1.6 IBU
1.50 lb Candi Sugar, Clear (0.5 SRM) Sugar 12.50 %
1 Pkgs Trappist Ale (White Labs #WLP500) [StarterYeast-Ale


Mash Schedule: My Mash
Total Grain Weight: 10.50 lb
----------------------------
ERROR - All Grain/Partial Mash recipe contains no mash steps

Notes:
------


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[jdoiv]

Looks like a good recipe!

Not to thread drift, but does anybody know the difference between the WLP500 and Wyeast 3787? I just used the 3787 on a tripple and the ferment temps got rather high on the 3rd day (close to 85*). All the samples I've tasted have been very good with a little spicy (peppery) flavor. Can't wait to see how it finishes up. It's been in the primary almost 2 weeks and I'll leave it there for another before I bottle it.

 

[DeathBrewer]

jdoiv, here's a yeast chart. They say the 500 is possibly from Westmalle and the 3787(WLP530) is from Chimay:

http://kotmf.com/articles/yeastcomp.php

Here you can see the difference between the 500 and 530 from white labs descriptions:

http://whitelabs.com/beer/homebrew_strains.html

 

[jdoiv]

Thanks Death! (never thought I would say thanks to death) That is a nice site with the yeast chart.