Gouden Carolus Classic clone

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Remos112

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 15, 2016
Messages
478
Reaction score
110
Location
Apeldoorn, Netherlands
Recipe Type
All Grain
Yeast
Het Anker
Yeast Starter
Yes
Additional Yeast or Yeast Starter
no
Batch Size (Gallons)
5.3
Original Gravity
1.076
Final Gravity
1.014
Boiling Time (Minutes)
90
IBU
20.1 Tinseth
Color
53.3 EBC
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
21 days 21-25C
Tasting Notes
Really close to the original Gouden Carolus Classic
So a while back I have discovered this amazing beer called Gouden Carolus Classic and since I have been obsessed with it. I have literally spend days searching for information do's and don'ts and I finally came up with a recipe which I want to share with you guys today.

The yeast was harvested from bottles Hopsinjoor, and I really think it makes a difference in this brew, if you don't have access to this yeast, the Chimay , La Chouffe or Forbidden fruits yeast strains are supposedly good alternatives.

This recipe is for a 20Liter batch:
Fermentables:
4.7KG Belgian Pilsener Malt
0.7KG Carared Malt
0.4KG Flaked wheat
0.2KG Belgian Special B Malt
0.453KG D-240 Candi Syrup added the last minute of the boil

Mashing Schedule:
Mash in with18.5 L of 55.9C Water
Step 1 20 minutes@52C
Raise the temperature in 10 minutes to:
Step 2 20 minutes@62C
Raise the temperature in 10 minutes to:
Step 3 30 minutes@72C
Raise the temperature in 5 minutes to:
Step 4 15 minutes@77C
Drain the mash tun and sparge 2 times with 77C 5,95L water

Boil for 90 minutes and add:
Hops and spices:
15 grams Challengers flowers@ 60 minutes
15 grams Styrian Goldings flowers @ 30 minutes
7 grams of ground Coriander seeds @15 minutes
7 grams of bitter orange peel @ 15 minutes
1 whole star anise @5 minutes

Cool to 18 degrees and pitch yeast and let it rise to 21C
after 48 hours raise the temperature gradually to 25C (this yeast likes it warm)
OG:1.076
FG:1.014
 
IMG_5856.jpg

2 weeks in the bottle now, absolutely delicious, but I think it might be even better with some more time in the bottle!
 
Visited the Het Anker brewer and it was quite the eye opener.
The guide told me they used 10% dark crystal malt and 90% pale base malt. He also said they buy it right from Dingemans in Belgium, I order my grains there as well so shouldn't be hard to find the "real" grains. I commented to the guide, if you only add in 10% of this dark malt, how can it be as dark is it is, you must be using some kind of candy sugar to achieve this right? He reluctantly admitted that this was the case but he could tell no more as those were the "secret ingredients"

The real eye opener for me was the actual tasting at the brewery.

The beer is turned around from grain to glass in 5 weeks and boy is this a totally different beer then the ones I have ever tried from a bottle. This beer has a very distinct burned taste to it and not much else. The guide told me there are no spices in the classic, so must be yeast character I guess or some flavours given by the candy. Anyway I have decided that this beer and an aged bottle are so hugely different I have given up op cloning this beer further. My clone above tasted a lot more likethe Classic I know then the real one fresh from the draft. I like the aged bottles much better though. Far more charachter, and not just a mouthfull of burned malts.
For your amusement I've added a couple of pictures:
DSC_7325.jpg

The ingredients used at Het Anker
DSC_7327.jpg

The dark malt used in the Classic and other dark beers.
I'm pretty sure it is Dingemans Special B hard to believe they use 10% of this stuff, until you taste one fresh. Also hard to believe how different the beer tastes when it is in the bottle longer
 
Ps in case anybody is interrested in the Tripel
It contains pale base malt, wheat malt, camomile
,cumin, coriander and curacao peels. The star anise and licorice is said to be reserved for the "special" versions of the Classic like Cuvee Van de Keizer, but I'm not entirely convinced, I definetely taste a hint of star anise in an aged bottle of Carolus Classic
 
Good work on tracking down that much info. Always awesome to make a beer just as good or better than a favorite brewery. I’ve not had the patience to wait the proper time for most Belgians.
 
Good morning Remos112,

I can’t explain how glad I am to have found your detailed clone recipe. Only recently found the Gouden Carolus and found it to be amazing. However, unfortunately it’s very hard to come by in South Africa.

Since then I’ve been trying to combine different online recipes to brew my own.

I just had a few questions and was wondering if I could ask for your guidance:
1. How much Yeast did you gather from the Hopsinjoor bottles?
2. Since the Het Anker guide indicated there were no added spices, would you recommend removing them from your recipe?
3. Any recommendations on optimal time to age in the bottles?

Thanks
Werner
 
Good morning Remos112,

I can’t explain how glad I am to have found your detailed clone recipe. Only recently found the Gouden Carolus and found it to be amazing. However, unfortunately it’s very hard to come by in South Africa.

Since then I’ve been trying to combine different online recipes to brew my own.

I just had a few questions and was wondering if I could ask for your guidance:
1. How much Yeast did you gather from the Hopsinjoor bottles?
2. Since the Het Anker guide indicated there were no added spices, would you recommend removing them from your recipe?
3. Any recommendations on optimal time to age in the bottles?

Thanks
Werner

1
I harvested dregs from 2 bottles and I build it up to a small starter. I brewed a low abv beer with it and then washed it and pitched a calculated amount in the Carolus clone

2
The amount of spices in my clone is very subtle and it is almost spot on with an aged Carolus Classic
3
I bottles and drank the first bottle as soon as it was carbonated, and it was great, it became slightly better with more age though.
 
Good morning Remos112,

I can’t explain how glad I am to have found your detailed clone recipe. Only recently found the Gouden Carolus and found it to be amazing. However, unfortunately it’s very hard to come by in South Africa.

Since then I’ve been trying to combine different online recipes to brew my own.

I just had a few questions and was wondering if I could ask for your guidance:
1. How much Yeast did you gather from the Hopsinjoor bottles?

Does my harvested yeast starter make any chance at all?
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/...yeast-starter-make-any-chance-at-all?.638983/
Here’s the topic about the harvested Hopsinjeur yeast
 
Coming back here to say a thankyou to Remos112 for the detailed input from the site visit to the brewery.

I had a go at the Carolus Christmas beer...

Liquorice, star-anis, clove, orange, coriander, green cardamon.
pxfxP6g.jpg


Four months later...

OHTc76o.jpg



Their beer is complex, balanced. It has a pronounced sweet liquorice flavour and notes of molasses, anis. I didn't have a recipe - I just tried to get close using my own senses and the flavours I could taste.

I made a really good beer but in a back-to-back tasting there were a few subtle differences...

Mine attenuated more. (my takeaway - a different yeast strain required and/ or mash schedule)
Star anise is more dominant than Reglisse ( I used a powdered liquorice root... and would certainly keep the anis but use a touch less next time).
Malts - very close flavour but the head colour on my beer shows I was wrong. (needs more debittered/carafa special and less Caramunich I think). I used a 6-row winter organic base malt - should have gone with a 2-row spring malt.
Mine has more bitterness. It's not out of balance but in comparing it to a 2017 Carolous theirs is softer. I will keep a 2018 Carolous to do a better comparison next year when I make it again. The carbonation should have equilibrated on mine by then as it's also quite lively and young right now.
Colour - theirs is more red. I would switch to Carafa I instead of III
Alcohol - I had less... there was an accident when I lost some valuable high gravity wort. I'd also boil a lot longer for some softer/rounder caramel notes. Despite being a big beer they still have a lot of residual sugar and body in their beer - it's key to the flavours.


Still, a good effort - I made a nice winter beer but I now know how to change it next time. Six or seven lessons learned from this one beer and this is the main value that I share today. This is not about the recipe but more an approach to brewing and a philosophy when examining flavours and looking hard at your own work.
 
Coming back here to say a thankyou to Remos112 for the detailed input from the site visit to the brewery.

I had a go at the Carolus Christmas beer...

Liquorice, star-anis, clove, orange, coriander, green cardamon.
pxfxP6g.jpg


Four months later...

OHTc76o.jpg



Their beer is complex, balanced. It has a pronounced sweet liquorice flavour and notes of molasses, anis. I didn't have a recipe - I just tried to get close using my own senses and the flavours I could taste.

I made a really good beer but in a back-to-back tasting there were a few subtle differences...

Mine attenuated more. (my takeaway - a different yeast strain required and/ or mash schedule)
Star anise is more dominant than Reglisse ( I used a powdered liquorice root... and would certainly keep the anis but use a touch less next time).
Malts - very close flavour but the head colour on my beer shows I was wrong. (needs more debittered/carafa special and less Caramunich I think). I used a 6-row winter organic base malt - should have gone with a 2-row spring malt.
Mine has more bitterness. It's not out of balance but in comparing it to a 2017 Carolous theirs is softer. I will keep a 2018 Carolous to do a better comparison next year when I make it again. The carbonation should have equilibrated on mine by then as it's also quite lively and young right now.
Colour - theirs is more red. I would switch to Carafa I instead of III
Alcohol - I had less... there was an accident when I lost some valuable high gravity wort. I'd also boil a lot longer for some softer/rounder caramel notes. Despite being a big beer they still have a lot of residual sugar and body in their beer - it's key to the flavours.


Still, a good effort - I made a nice winter beer but I now know how to change it next time. Six or seven lessons learned from this one beer and this is the main value that I share today. This is not about the recipe but more an approach to brewing and a philosophy when examining flavours and looking hard at your own work.
I know this post is from a while ago, but is there any possibility you would be willing to share your Carolus Christmas recipe?
One of my favourite Belgian beers, and I would love to have a go at brewing it and bottle for Xmas. Cheers, John
 
A follow up to my previous post (almost 10 months ago) in this thread. I never got a reply, so went with a recipe by Todd Dier on another forum; scaled up to my equipment. It came out pretty good, but lacked a bit of sweetness and liquorice/aniseed flavour compared to the commercial original. If I make it again, I will use more liquorice root and more star anise and probably buy some dark candi syrup instead of making my own. Brewsheet attached.
 

Attachments

  • xmas beer sheet.jpg
    xmas beer sheet.jpg
    92.7 KB · Views: 79
  • xmas beer.jpg
    xmas beer.jpg
    2.5 MB · Views: 66
Back
Top