First Belgian Dark Strong - Please help!

[CarbonTom]

Hey guys,

I am venturing out of my lovely world of lagers, IPAs and Saisons and trying to make a delicious winter beer. Also I have a homebrew club meeting at the end of January to help force me to do a Belgian dark! I will be brewing this on Saturday, and plan on putting this in a fresh whiskey barrel (from Sons of Liberty, it held their single malt made with a Belgian whit base, very tasty). This will be the first beer in the barrel, so I plan on aging it for no more than 1 week to give a subtle oak and spirit depth.



Mars

Belgian Dark Strong Ale (26 D)
Batch Size: 10.50 gal
Efficiency: 73.00 %

Ingredients
26 lbs Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 86.7 %
8.0 oz Aromatic Malt (26.0 SRM) Grain 2 1.7 %
8.0 oz Special B Malt (180.0 SRM) Grain 3 1.7 %
2 lbs Candi Sugar, Clear (0.5 SRM) Sugar 4 6.7 %
1 lbs Candi Sugar, Dark (275.0 SRM) Sugar 5 3.3 %
2.00 oz Brewer's Gold [8.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 6 23.5 IBUs
1.00 oz Hallertauer Mittelfrueh [4.00 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 7 4.5 IBUs
1.00 oz Styrian Goldings [5.40 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 8 1.6 IBUs
2.0 pkg Trappist High Gravity (Wyeast Labs #3787) [124.21 ml] Yeast


Gravity, Alcohol Content and Color

Est Original Gravity: 1.080 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.011 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 9.1 %
Bitterness: 29.6 IBUs
Est Color: 17.9 SRM

Mash:
Single infusion 150 degrees F for 60 min grist thickness 1.15

Fermentation:
Pitch at 65, ferm chamber set to 65, let free rise. Let ride for at least 40 days. Dump in barrel for 7ish days at cellar temps.

This will be a turn around in roughly 50 days for the kegged portion, and then bottles for the 2nd half shortly thereafter.

Questions:
Should I pitch a second yeast mid fermentation?
More sugar into the carboy?
Should I only do aromatic or Special B?
Am I crazy for trying to make a beer this big grain to glass in 50ish days?

Thanks!

 

[m00ps]

Dont add any more yeast. There's no need

You cna do both aromatic and special B if you want. I usually only use special B but the restrained amounts youve got of both will be fine

50 days isnt at all unreasonable grain to glass. It may not be at its prime by then, but itll certianly be tasty. I would be sure to bottle it 2 weeks or so before your meeting. I usually let BSDAs go 3-4 weeks to ferment then bottle

 

[m00ps]

also, westmalles yeast is notorious for needing a blowoff tube. Combine that with a high OG and you are basically guaranteeed ot have a mess on your hands if you dont take the right precautions. So....yeah

 

[CarbonTom]

Dont add any more yeast. There's no need

You cna do both aromatic and special B if you want. I usually only use special B but the restrained amounts youve got of both will be fine

50 days isnt at all unreasonable grain to glass. It may not be at its prime by then, but itll certianly be tasty. I would be sure to bottle it 2 weeks or so before your meeting. I usually let BSDAs go 3-4 weeks to ferment then bottle

Thanks! I am actually kegging half and Bottling half. The kegged will be for the meeting, and the bottles will be for a bit later/maybe next years meeting!

I will definitely get some blow off tubing set up for these bad boys. The carboys will have more or less 1.5 gallons of head space, but I am usually over cautious.

 

[daksin]

Recipe looks good, although save yourself some money on the clear syrup- you won't be able to taste the difference if you just sub out regular table sugar. However, a beer this big, I would get off the yeast after a few weeks once fermentation is totally done. That'll prevent any yeasty flavors from mucking up this nice Belgian, especially one you plan on putting into a barrel.

 

[philosofool]

For what it is worth, I would use Rochefort (wyeast 1762/WLP540) for an Oaked belgian. It gives a nice dried fruit, but not too much banana, without the peppery phenol you get from the Westmalle strain (3787). I love Westmalle, but I am not sure that all that yeast would complement oak.

 

[CarbonTom]

For what it is worth, I would use Rochefort (wyeast 1762/WLP540) for an Oaked belgian. It gives a nice dried fruit, but not too much banana, without the peppery phenol you get from the Westmalle strain (3787). I love Westmalle, but I am not sure that all that yeast would complement oak.

Thank you, I haven't any experience with either strain. I definitely want the fruit characteristic. I will see if my LHBS has it.

 

[secondbase]

Recipe looks good. Personally, I would go 2lbs of dark candi syrup. For the clear stuff, like another poster recommended, I would just use table sugar. I guarantee you won't notice a difference.