Belgian Dark Strong Ale Leffe Radieuse Clone

[Akavango]

I had one in the pub yesterday and it made me miss it. So i will be brewing this in the next few weeks.
It's one of my favorite leffe with the vieille cuvee.

 

[clinton69]

Just finished brewing this one again and got spot on gravity of 1074. This gets better with practice.
Fortunately I have started building a pipeline so that I can be patient enough when i bottle it.
This hobby is worst than crack. Hello My name is Clinton and I'm a homebrewer addict.

 

[jsegnier]

This hobby is worst than crack. Hello My name is Clinton and I'm a homebrewer addict.

Lol but so true...

 

[jsegnier]

After Almost 5 weeks in the bottle, it is really coming along. It will make great christmas gifts.
Merry Christmas!

 

[Akavango]

Joyeux noel a toi aussi.
Since this is an american forum.
I will translate as well.
Merry christmas to you to. So glad you enjoyed that recipe.

 

[jsegnier]

The more I drink it the better i like it. I'm saving a few bottles to enter it in a homebrewing contest next month. I'll let you know how i did.

 

[Akavango]

If you are talking about the National Homebrew club competition. I will enter a few beers myself but not the radieuse as I haven't brew it yet again. I'll brew it next week end. I'm trying to get to the result party if my work let me.
If I do we should get a beer.
Good luck.

 

[jsegnier]

Yes that is the one. Looking forward to have a beer with you.

 

[lupulos]

I brewed this recipe Sunday (two days ago), except I added another ounce of hallertauer and used turbinado instead of belgian candy sugar.

I was a little confused about the volumes- mash with 17 quarts for roughly 13 lbs of grain, and sparge with another 17 quarts was a bit more than I'm used to doing, and I ended up with more volume than I'm accustomed to.

And, that Abbey Ale yeast is ferocious! Fermentation had begun before I went to bed (<6hrs) and this morning about 4am KABLOOEY, my airlock popped and yeast sprayed all over our coat closet/fermentation chamber. I think it was a combination of volume (it made probably 6gallons) and that yeast. I pitched it at 70 and it came up and stayed around 72...anyways, I rigged a blowoff hose and am hopeful this one will still turn out.

 

[Akavango]

That yeast is savage indeed. Knowing this full well this time I brewed only 24 liters and fermented in a 33l bucket, yet the airlock still blew up and the yeast painted some of the walls.

As for the water volumes, as I mentioned in the original post, it is not my recipe and I copied it onto this forum. The first time I brewed it I followed the instructions to the letter and the beer was a match for the original one. This time I used my regular water rules 3 Liters per Kilo ( sorry I use the metric) then top off as needed in the sparge. Will see how that change the beer in a couple months.

Keep me posted on your result. Thanks.

 

[lupulos]

Yes, it is! It's the first time I've blown an airlock on my 6.5 gallon glass primary- bad combination of high volume and a crazy voracious yeast...oh well I got the opportunity to rig my first blowoff (at 4am) and it works pretty well. Rigging might be an exaggeration- my siphon hose fit nicely in the plug for my airlock.
I was pretty excited about this beer until the incident, but I'm cautiously optimistic at this point. I will definitely report back. Thanks for posting the recipe.

 

[Akavango]

After 3 1/2 weeks the krauzen is still there albeit much thinner than before. I was hoping to bottle it this week end and possibly have some for St patrick. I guess that is now out of the question.

 

[lupulos]

Yeah, as of this morning (day 11) the blow-off hose was bubbling away...krausen intact. Geez this yeast is something else!

 

[jsegnier]

Hey Alain,

It was nice to finally meet you. Congrats on your gold medal. You will have to share that recipe now. See you next year at the competition.

 

[Akavango]

Thanks Jacques. It was nice to meet you too. Sorry that your beer didn't place so well. I somehow feel responsible.
It was a thrill to win the gold in the Belgian category.
The recipe can be found here https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/kwak-beer-252114/

 

[lupulos]

Day 14- I replaced the blowoff tube with an airlock yesterday, the bubbling has slowed to once every 7 seconds. the Krausen still looks pretty beefy.


edit: Day 18 racked to a secondary and took a sample- FG 1.009
Tastes good, is the right color.

 

[Akavango]

Bad news, the beer is infected. Bummer. It's the second time I lose this one to an infection.

 

[lupulos]

Uggh that sucks! Does it have something growing on it? Picture?

I'm going to leave mine in the secondary for another 3 weeks- I'll probably put it in the garage in one week, where the temperature is about 45 f. (think roughly 7* C)

 

[jsegnier]

oh crap I'm sorry man. Better luck next time.
Try it again because it is a great beer.

 

[Akavango]

Lupulos,
No there wasn't any growth on it just a very sour taste with no beer flavor at all.
You can leave it in the fermenter as long as you see fit. This is a beer that will improve with age.
I did an experiment last year and bottle some beer and kept the rest in the fermenter for about 6 months.
I tasted them side by side and the one that stayed longer in the fermenter was marginally better according the assembled panel.
I'm not saying that you should keep it that long in the fermenter, just that it will get better the longer you wait.


Jacques thanks man, that's the way it goes some times.

 

[lupulos]

Hrm, good to know; I figured it would improve with some longer conditioning, but if the improvement is merely marginal after 6 months I might go ahead and bottle it earlier! cheers

 

[felipefranco]

what would be a bry yeast substitute for the WLP 530?
Can't get any liquid yeast where I live and I'd love to try this recipe!

 

[Akavango]

I don't know. I did a quick search on here and google but didn't come up with a viable option.
Sorry.

 

[crusader1612]

I love this beer. It's going on my list of brews.

 

[jsegnier]

Hey man,

Running out of it again, I will have to brew it pretty soon. My family is coming this summer and my dad asked for that specific beer. Have no choice The other recipe, the one from the contest will be bottled soon.

 

[Akavango]

I'm sure you will like the kwak. I bottled mine the day after the contest and it is not readay yet. My dad is coming also but he asked for an ipa.

Have fun brewing.

 

[felipefranco]

I'm gonna try this recipe!
I just have two doubts:
-Why is that a 90min boil if you just boil the hops for 60mins?
-When should I add the candi sugar? 15mins before end the boil?

Hope this works well and I have the same result as you guys.
Cheers!

 

[Akavango]

A pilsen base recipe usually need to boil longer than a marris otter or other base malt based recipe.
You can add the sugar anytime you want.
Good luck let us know how it works for you.

 

[Akavango]

Did you find a substitute for wlp 530?

 

[felipefranco]

Did you find a substitute for wlp 530?

I'll try the Safbrew T-58.
Let's see what happens...

 

[crusader1612]

I'll try the Safbrew T-58.
Let's see what happens...

Definitely interested to see how the dry yeast works out. Post results. You using 2 packs?

 

[Akavango]

You can't get WLP yeast in New Zealand?

 

[crusader1612]

You can't get WLP yeast in New Zealand?

We can it just super expensive..... $20NZD a vial plus shipping. Works out at 30 odd US I think. Wyeast is about the same. Sucks to be at the ass end of the world sometimes. Lol

 

[willamettevalleyamature]

Just finished brewing this one again and got spot on gravity of 1074. This gets better with practice.
Fortunately I have started building a pipeline so that I can be patient enough when i bottle it.
This hobby is worst than crack. Hello My name is Clinton and I'm a homebrewer addict.

Me too...and yes its Awsome ...Oregon..issue..good day.

 

[willamettevalleyamature]

We can it just super expensive..... $20NZD a vial plus shipping. Works out at 30 odd US I think. Wyeast is about the same. Sucks to be at the ass end of the world sometimes. Lol

I will get it to you cheaper. Just favor for home brew..I live in Oregon 8.$ a vile...plus shipping.

 

[Akavango]

We can it just super expensive..... $20NZD a vial plus shipping. Works out at 30 odd US I think. Wyeast is about the same. Sucks to be at the ass end of the world sometimes. Lol

Man that is expensive. Sounds like a good opportunity to start being a distributor of liquid yeast in your neck of the woods.

I have to say that the T58 sounds like a good choice for that beer.

 

[felipefranco]

Definitely interested to see how the dry yeast works out. Post results. You using 2 packs?

I'll use just one and add another if needed.
Gonna brew this sunday, let's see what happens!
I'll post the results

 

[crusader1612]

I'll use just one and add another if needed.
Gonna brew this sunday, let's see what happens!
I'll post the results

For a high gravity like that, I'd pitch 2 straight off the bat, to make sure it fully attenuates. just my recommendation.
Please update after your done, as I'm very very tempted.

 

[jsegnier]

Brewed it again today. Was distracted during the boil so it boiled 20' longer than it should have. As a result the OG was 1083. Hope it doesn't affect the beer too much.
All ready for the yeast explosion, got a blow off tube this time so hopefully no big mess in my living room this time.

None of the beer i brewed with other yeast ever had such a vigourous fermentation just the one i do with wlp 530.

Looking forward to taste it. Shame it takes so damned long.

 

[Shenanigans]

Hi All,

I am just about to bottle my first all-grain beer and am planning my next brew for sometime next month.
This is one of my fave beers so I did a search and found this site and thread.
As I'm new to this the mashing schedule is not fully clear to me.
The one brew I have done I did a ramped mash at three different temperatures then filtered the grains from the wort and then did the 90 min boil and adding the hops.

From looking at the original receipt for this beer it looks like the following:

All grains at 155oF for 90 mins in 7.5 quarts water.
Add hops for last 60 mins.
Ramp to 170oF with 7 quarts spagre water for 10 mins (add sugar here too)

I presume the grain is filtered out before cooling the wort with your cooler?
Or do you use a grain bag?

Sorry for all the newbie questions but I really like this beer and want to do it exactly like you so I can get a good result.
Maybe you have a link to an overview of the general process or the name of the typr of mashing so I can do a search myself.


Thanks for your input.