St. Bernardus Prior 8 Clone [Clone Brews]

[MT_Keg]

I would like to attempt the St. Bernardus Prior 8 Clone in the Clone Brews book as outlined below.

According to St. Bernardus, the Prior 8 has the following stats:
ABV = 8%
OG = 18 Plato (1.074)
Color = 50 EBC
Bitterness = 20 EBU

The recipe below has differing stats when plugged into brewing software.

1. Do I scale the recipe such that the OG is 1.074 and a bitterness is 20 EBU?
2. The color in the recipe is a lot darker. I am not sure if it truly matters but is there a way to remedy the color?
3. Can the Pilsner be German?
4. Is there a suitable substitute for the 55L British Crystal?

St. Bernardus Prior 8

Batch Size 5.000 gal
Boil Size 7.250 gal
Boil Time 1.500 hr
Efficiency 70%
OG 1.079 sg
FG 1.019 sg
ABV 8.4%
Bitterness 31.8 IBU (Rager)
Color 66.9 ebc (Morey)

12.750 lb Belgian Pllsner (2-row)
0.375 lb 55L British Crystal Malt
0.375 lb Belgian Special B Malt
0.250 lb Belgian Biscuit Malt
0.125 lb British Chocolate Malt
1.250 lb Belgian Dark Candi Sugar

0.73 oz @ 90 min Target (8.8%)
0.25 oz @ 15 min Styrian Goldings (4.5%)
0.25 oz @ 5 min Styrian Goldings (4.5%)

Wyeast 1762 - Belgian Abbey II Ale


Thanks for your help!

MT

 

[brownni5]

1. If you want to make a clone, yes.
2. When dealing with Candi sugars, a lot of your color will depend on the sugar you pick (which will also change the flavor). Otherwise, you can adjust the boil - a big roller could make the wort darker.
3. Yes, you can use German Pils. In my opinion, German Pils typically has more flavor than Belgian, but being this dark, you might not notice it.
4. I'm not familiar with this beer or where the clone recipe came from, but I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't British crystal, but Caramunich. Either way, it's probably pretty close.

In my opinion, I think Abbey brews are the hardest to clone. Not like making Sierra Nevada Pale - so much of the flavor depends on how the yeast is treated. Pitch size. Pitch temp. Fermenter geometry. Temp control. Conditioning time. Not to say you won't make a fantastic beer, but rather that should be the goal, not necessarily to recreate St. B 8. So go ahead, make the changes and see how it turns out!

One more thing that will make this a bit different - Wyeast 1762 is regarded as the Rochefort yeast. St. Bernadus reportedly has their own strain, which, to my knowledge, is not available from any yeast coompany.