Belgian Dark Strong Ale

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iversenbeer

Active Member
Joined
Feb 16, 2012
Messages
34
Reaction score
3
Location
Denver
Recipe Type
Partial Mash
Yeast
WLP 545
Additional Yeast or Yeast Starter
Wyeast 1388
Batch Size (Gallons)
5
Original Gravity
1.091
Final Gravity
1.007
Boiling Time (Minutes)
60
IBU
23.8
Color
19 SRM
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
8 @ 72
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
10 @ 65
Tasting Notes
I think this is the first beer that I feel like is worthy of posting. Just bottled th
Malt & Fermentables
8LB Plain Light DME (added at flameout)
2LB Turbinado (added at flameout)
8OZ Caramunich III
8OZ Six-row Pale
8OZ Biscuit Malt
6OZ Belgian Special B
6OZ Crystal 60L
4OZ Flaked Wheat

Usage Time OZ AA » IBU
boil 60 min 1 US Golding ~ pellet 4.0 » 10.5
boil 10 min 1 Pacific Jade ~ pellet 14.0 » 13.3


Belgian Strong Ale Yeast (WLP545) for Primary
yeast in liquid form with medium flocculation and 78% attenuation

Pitched Wyeast 1388 at bottling (damn lhbs was outta WLP545)

I used the six row because it provides more diastatic power and since I heard WLP545 at ALLTHESUGARS I wanted it to help provide a little body and the pacific jade hops because I just can't not throw something weird in there to see how it goes. I pretty much always do the partial mash the DeathBrewer way. Look up the forum if you haven't read it, it is great!
 
Here are my notes on this one so far.

Mini mash specialty grains, dough in at 168, mashed at 156. Spent 15 minutes in sparge pot temp 170. Pitched yeast at 70. I know your supposed to pitch the belgian yeast cooler and let it warm up but I think this worked out well.

WLP545=Crazy awesome attenuation, 8 Day @ 72 and it was down from 1.091 to a solid 1.010. Moved to seconday on 12/9/12 1 week after initial fermentation. Like a boss. Bottled 12/20/2012. Looks like it fermented down a bit more , fg after I added bottling sugar is 1.007. I pitched a slap pack of wyeast 1388 belgian strong ale (LHBS was outta WLP545 and I didn't save any) used 4 oz bottling sugar. Drank the half pint leftover from bottling, it's slightly too warm alcohol wise right now, but very slight. Tasted of rummy plums and cherries. Looks like this is going to turn out amazing. Bottle room temp is holding steady @70f Cracked one open on 12/24/12 after 4 days in bottle. Already lightly carbed. Heavy banana esters.

It's going to be hard to not drink this one young.
 
It's been 8 days and the beer is fully carbonated. The banana esters have faded into the background. Has a very smooth mouth feel and isn't hot at all. Its already dangerous. Pours with a thick head that drops down a nice head that's about 1/8 inch thick. I attached a pic, it's slightly lighter than pictured and is pretty clear. I'm just a bad photographer

2012-12-28_17-53-12_46.jpg
 
I was thinking of doing a Belgian Dark Strong soon. How did that late hops addition work out for you? I love Belgian styles, but often do late hops additions in my Belgian styles also. I usually use Saaz in my Belgians, so I was curious if that Pacific Jade blends into the brew, or if it stands out noticeably?

Can you think of any reason not to brew this with Saaz instead of PJ?

Also, how much gravity are you getting from those grains? With only 1/2 pound of 6-row, do you get any real conversion? Pardon the noob-ish question, but I am an extract brewer and have not experimented with any AG, Partial Mash, or BIAB techniques yet (but this seems like a good recipe to learn on!)
 
Sorry it took me awhile to reply to this man, I'm a bit of a space cadet when it comes to updating things sometimes. I can't think of any reason swapping saaz is going to make this beer bad, if you like saaz go for it man. The pacific jade isn't totally noticeable, but I feel like it helps bring out a very slight fruitiness without coming close to dominating the aroma or taste, it's a nice subtle background. I would up it to a pound of base grain (I like six row, even though tons of people disagree with me and prefer 2 row) as I did miss my OG by a little on this one and that is probably why. I use 6 row in my partial mashes because it has a higher diastatic power than 2 row. The gravity in this is almost entirely coming from the extract and turbinado. I'm just hoping I can stop SWMBO from drinking this all without me looking, I was aiming for a Gulden Draak type of beer as that's her favorite beer and for being a blind shot in the dark guess this is pretty close to that type of a beer. :tank:
 
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