Quad recipe and procedure advice

[OkieTrappist]

Brewing my 3rd batch this weekend. A 5-gal LEX take on The Sixth Glass "A brown colored, full bodied beer with a complex fruity, estery aroma, a rich, sweet, caramel malt flavor containing notes of dark fruit and a low to medium hop bitterness and flavor." 10-11% abv.


Here is what the shop sent me home with after they looked on here at a previous recipe thread:


.5 CaraVienna


.5 Special B


10lb Golden Light LME + 1 lb Light Wheat pre-mixed.


1 pkg D-45 syrup (they sold me dark candi sugar but I changed to D-45)


1 lb brown sugar


.75 Magnum (60min)


1.00 Saphir (10 min)

1 pkg wyeast3787
Will also be pouring wort over yeast bed from double-pitched Westy clone that used same yeast, a few moments after it is racked from primary.
LHBS folks suggested it - is that a good idea or should I just use 2-3 packages in a clean bucket? I don't do starters.


Does this sound like a good recipe for what I'm going for?


Would you change anything?

I don't have instructions, so...


Steep grains 30 min at about 150?
Bring to boil, then what schedule for adding syrup/sugar? One previous kit I put all lex/sugar in at beginning of boil. One kit had 1/4 lex early, then 3/4 lex and syrup last 5 min.


Thanks a million!


#1 Belgium Dark Strong (LEX kit)- 10 days in primary, day 8/10 in secondary.


#2 Westvleteren Clone (LEX kit)- Day 3 in primary, chugging away. Planning 7 days in primary, 14 in secondary.

 

[bransona]

I can't speak to much of this as an AG fella, but I would advise against pitching on the whole cake. It's gonna be dramatically overpitched. Try removing half of your cake from the fermenter, scooping up some to throw into your wort, or simply washing the yeast and pitching as calculated.

 

[KyleWolf]

+1 to bransona. If you are wanting lots of esters and a belgian yeast profile, you need to under pitch.

 

[beergolf]

I agree, Just grab a couple of cups of the slurry and pitch that. I usually just scoop some out and then I can clean the bucket and then use it for the brew adding the slurry I grabbed.

I would also get rid of the Brown sugar. It gives a flavor that is not authentic in a Belgian, that I do not like. If you are close to your LHBS then grab another pack of D-45 or even D-90 if you want a darker brew. If not you can use just plain table sugar. You are getting some color and flavor from the Special B and the syrup, so you should be good.

If you like Belgians, I would suggest getting a copy of Brew Like a Monk. There is a lot of very good info in there about brewing Belgians. My copy is almost worn out from referring to it often.

 

[OkieTrappist]

Thank you so much. I was unsure about the brown sugar. Glad to know about over-pitching on the cake. I just ordered BLAM and JOHB too. Thanks!!