NE IPA with Belgian Trappist yeast

[Wicked_ferment]

I recently embarked on an adventure to design a series of NE IPA recipes using different ale yeasts (e.g. English, Kviek, Saison, Hefe, Trappist..). I want to have each beer target a unique SRM and fruit flavor to match. In the case of Trappist, I want a darker beer, near black, color with lots of dark fruit flavor (plum, cherry, raisins, raspberries, blackberries..)

For the trappist I decided to go with WLP-530 Abbey Ale Yeast. I've heard you can get a lot of those dark stone fruit flavors from it but I was unsure how that correlates with ABV and I didn't want to make this beer more than 6-7%.

Hops planned are: Monroe, African Queen, Pacific Gem, and Barbe Rouge.

For Grains I was thinking ~37% Pale Malt, ~22.2 % light munich, 14.8% white wheat, 14.8% rolled oats, 7.4% Special B, 3.7% Carafa III

I'll post the exact recipe once brewed this weekend. Any thoughts on this? Anyone ever try making a hoppy, juciy, belgian ale?

 

[tennesseean_87]

if it's hazy, it will not be dark, but a very muddy-looking brown.

 

[dirty_martini]

if it's hazy, it will not be dark, but a very muddy-looking brown.

Agreed, unless you go full black IPA. Then you don’t see the lack of clarity. But if it’s amber/red/brown in color and it’s hazy, you will end up with what looks like pond water

 

[skibb]

Yeah I would cut the munich, the special B and the Carafa entirely. Hazy dark beers are especially unpleasant looking, and really I'm not sure what you goals are for adding those.