"Orval" Clone/ Belgian recipe help......

[smokinghole]

Today I'm brewing a turbid mash lambic with another member of this site. So I broke out a bottle of this "clone" I brewed. It's been a week or two since I last had a bottle and the brett is already starting to show up. The carbonation is coming up nicely.

 

[DrinkNoH2O]

How's this tasting now? Have any left?

 

[smokinghole]

It's tasting eerily like Orval. It's a little darker but I can't complain one bit. The brett funk is coming out strong and the carbonation is getting up there. It did HORRIBLE at NHC because I didn't specify anything but "belgian amber bottle conditioned with brett". In retrospect I would have been better served saying it was an Orval clone.

I have TONS left too. Thank god because I really like this beer. I like it so much I'm hesitant to give it to friends.

 

[DrinkNoH2O]

Very cool, I've been wanting to do a Brett beer and what better way to start than with an Orval clone. One of my favorite beers ever.

 

[smokinghole]

Here we are in October and I'm drinking another of my brews from last fall/winter. It's getting more and more like Orval. It's not a spot on clone but it keeps me from wanting to buy it except to get a "direct from the source" yeast supply. I've bought two Orval bottles this year I think compared to many more from last year. I like my version slightly better because it still has a fruity ester aspect that Orval doesn't have.

 

[smokinghole]

Another update on my beer. The bottles are brilliant clear at this point now. The color of the beer is a beautiful amber/copper decently more color than Orval. It has a decent head on it and nice high carb. I did a gravity measurement since I popped a 750ml of this and its sitting at 1.005 in the bottle. I bottled at 1.009 so it attenuated 4 more gravity points since bottling. That puts my nearer to 4 than 5 volumes. I hope to brew the recipe again with slight tweaks soon. I want to decrease the color, add a bit more sulfate to my brew water, and add a bit more bitterness. My recipe that is posted on page 3 will change up a bit and I will post up the tweaks when I finally brew the beer.

 

[PoorInRain]

I am planning on brewing this on 5/18/13. I like the brettier older tastes and plan to add Orval dregs in secondary, then let it sit for quite a while. Would any of you mind discussing your fermentation schedule?

 

[smokinghole]

Primary twoish weeks with wlp510 then I dry hopped and cold conditioned for a week or two. I forget specifically. Then two days before bottling I dropped in some straight up Orval bottle yeast. Then i bottled in champagne bottles and other heavy bottles, primed for about 3vol and let the Brett build the rest of the carb.

 

[PoorInRain]

I brewed it today. My LHBS doesn't carry White Labs yeasts, so I two packages of Wyeast 3787 Trappist HG. My efficiency has been around 60%, so I added a pound each of the base malts. I also switched out the Belgian candy syrup for beet sugar due to availability. Other than that, I stayed right on recipe. My OG is 10.80 which means I hit 72%. I plan to leave in primary fermentation for 2 weeks, then switch to secondary and add the dregs of two bottles of Orval that I've been saving. From there I plan to leave it in the cellar (55 degrees) for at least 10 months. Does this sound reasonable? When should I dry hop? Is 10 months long enough for the brett to become funky?

 

[smokinghole]

What type of bottles do you plan on using? If heavy champagne/Belgian glass there is no need to wait even 3months to bottle. Let the Brett build your carb with residual extract in the bottle. I feel its the easiest way, the most authentic way, and might even produce different flavors. The pressure in the bottle has to have an effect on flavor produced by the brett vs. bulk aging. If you don't like that idea then 8 months is probably more than enough.

 

[PoorInRain]

I was planning on kegging, but after reading your advice on the importance of bottle conditioning, decided to wait until I had enough strong bottles to do the trick. Bottling in heavy champagne bottles tomorrow.

 

[iduncant]

Is there any more news on this? I've just moved from Toronto, Canada to London, UK and am enjoying a steady supply of Orval here in Europe. However, I'm itching to brew up a clone batch since the dregs are readily available.

Did you tweak this recipe at all?