Big christmas beer

[DonRikkles]

I'd like to brew my Christmas beer now to age what I plan to be a 12% beer. I've never brewed anything this big before and I'd like some help with the grainbill. This is a nondescript winter warmer brewed in a Belgian style, but not to any particular BJCP category.

Here's the grain bill:

9 lbs Vienna
9 lbs Munich
.5 lb Special B
2 lb clear candi syurp

I'm going for a slightly sweet sugar cookie. I'll ferment with lots and lots of healthy WLP500. I'm using Admiral and Styrian Goldings to approx 60 IBU - the Bitterness ratio is .53.

My belgians have bene coming out too sweet lately, almost a bit too fruity. Will this be ok?

 

[Build]

Looks pretty good. If you ferment WLP500 on the low side ~65F, you'll get some spice, unlike the fruitiness that it can produce on the high side. Are you going for a Belgian dark strong? If so you could get a little more roasted in there to help cut the sweet and without going too dark.

 

[jjeffers09]

Lower your boil sugar addition, and if you want to dry it out maybe add some corn syrup vs cane syrup. Any spice you plan in the boil? cinnamon sticks would not be a bad. Idk you could take this in any direction with the malt forward base, maybe add some gypsum to help bright out a bright citrus hoppyness from the admiral? you could dry hop, you could drop some nutmeg in the fermenter, cracked in a muslin bag... idk imagination is the key here.

 

[DonRikkles]

So I was planning on adding 1 lb sugar in the boil and then 1 lb sugar after about 75% attenuation. I usually treat my water with ~4g of gypsum and CaCl2. JJeffers09, I like where your head is at. I wasn't planning on using any spices, but I might treat lightly and see what might compliment the yeast.

Does corn syrup dry it out more than cane syurp? Perhaps that's why my Belgians are always too sweet, even with an FG <1.010.