First Extract and Grain Brew - Belgian Dubbel

[sputt]

Hey all,

If you could please give me some advice on this belgium dubbel that would be awesome. I am new to all of the grains and I read a couple that would go good in dubbel. I know I want Special B and Biscuit malt for a nice caramel and nutty taste and not too hoppy. I am not sure about using crystal malt vs. caramunich and caravienne malt and the amounts.

I was also thinking about adding a very small hint of vanilla for a twist but I wouldn't know the amount to use.

The following is from BeerSmith -

Type: Extract & Grain
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 2.50 gal
Boil Time: 60 min, Steep Grains 30 Mins.

7.00 lb Light Dry Extract (7.5 SRM) Dry Extract 80.00 %
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 5.71 %
0.25 lb Biscuit Malt (23.0 SRM) Grain 2.86 %
0.25 lb Caramunich Malt (56.0 SRM) Grain 2.86 %
0.25 lb Caravienne Malt (22.0 SRM) Grain 2.86 %
0.25 lb Special B Malt (180.0 SRM) Grain 2.86 %
1.00 oz Styrian Goldings [5.40 %] (60 min) Hops 9.1 IBU
1.00 oz Styrian Goldings [5.40 %] (20 min) Hops 5.5 IBU
2.00 oz Hallertauer [4.80 %] (2 min) Hops 1.4 IBU
0.25 lb Candi Sugar, Clear (0.5 SRM) Sugar 2.86 %

1 Pkgs Belgian Strong Ale (Wyeast Labs #1388) Yeast-Ale


Est Original Gravity: 1.064 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.015 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 6.41 %
Actual Alcohol by Vol: 0.65 %
Bitterness: 16.1 IBU
Est Color: 15.6 SRM

 

[michael.berta]

Jamil's recipe is really good.

http://hopville.com/recipe/36077/belgian-dubbel-recipes/jamil-belgian-dubbel

But I prefer Wyeast 1214 Belgian Abbey.

 

[usmclar1]

I second michael.berta's yeast choice, either that or Trappist High Grav.

Recipe looks pretty good though. I usually dial my hops in around 20 for belgian ales and it seems to turn out fairly well balanced.

 

[MathMan]

Admittedly, I'm fairly new to brewing, but I recently bottled my Belgian Trippel and in the research for that recipe I came under the impression that the Belgian Ales should have a strong gravity (more than 1.075 at least).

Again, just from research not experiance, I think it wouldn't hurt to add a bit more candi sugar, this should add some gravity and up the alcohol of the final beer. For my Trippel, I used 10# LME and 1# of candi sugar. Just a thought.

I like the idea of a bit of vanilla, but I haven't a clue how much to use. If you use vanilla extract, you could just start small and if it's not enough, add a bit more when racking to secondary or bottling. Good luck!

 

[sputt]

I ended up brewing on Saturday...

2.5gallons -

1. Steeping: 162/163 degrees for 30mins

1 lbs Caramunich Malt
4.0 oz Special B Malt

2. Removed grains, let drip, did not squeeze grain bags.

3. Brought close to a boil and added:

3lbs Breiss Light DME
2lbs Muntons Extra Light DME

4. 60 mins - Returned to a boil and added 3oz Halleratu

5. 30 mins - Lowered heat to add 2lbs Munich LME, stirred, brought back to boil

6. 10 mins - Added 1 tsp Irish Moss

7. 0 mins - Turned heat down, added 1lbs Dark Belgian Candi Syrup, stirred and let sit on heat 2/3 minutes, removed the wort to chill


The OG was about 1.061/1.062 @ 69 degrees after filling primary to the 5 gallon mark with filtered water.

Pitched WLP 500 Trappist Ale Yeast

A couple concerns:

1. When i first added the grains to the grain bags, i was worried about pieces of the shells/grains floating in the wort. I ended up double bagging the grains just in case but i could still see things floating around. I realize now that I should have boiled the grains in a separate pot of water and strained into the extract pot. I also read a couple of threads about steeping grains in a certain ratio of lbs of grain to gallons of water. I used the same 2.5gallons of water for everything.

Everything will still settle to the bottom in the primary anyways? I planned on leaving in the primary for 3 weeks then bottling or transferring to secondary.

2. My hydrometer sample looked pretty disgusting. I thought i did a good job not getting any trub into the primary...I can't remember if my first brew looked like this. I am worried that a lot of the pieces are from the grains. Granted I took the sample after mixing with the water and nothing settled before i took the sample out of the primary.

http://i53.tinypic.com/r7pr83.jpg