Tips for brewing a Belgian IPA

[Simonh82]

I'm about to brew my first Belgian IPA today and wondered if anyone has any tips. I've harvested yeast from Duvel bottles and have a decent sized starter ready to go. I don't want to lose the character of the yeast amongst all the hops. I also want the dry finish of a Belgian beer so I'm mashing low and adding some golden syrup to boost the ABV without adding extra sweetness.

I will start fermentation at 20oC and then raise it to 23.5oC.

Anything else I need to consider?

The recipe is below:
Tin Tin Hop Hop Belgian IPA

Brew Method: BIAB
Style Name: Specialty IPA: Belgian IPA
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 23 liters (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 29 liters
Boil Gravity: 1.053
Efficiency: 80% (brew house)


STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.067
Final Gravity: 1.015
ABV (alternate): 7.1%
IBU (tinseth): 76.1
SRM (ebcmorey): 18.89

FERMENTABLES:
4.5 kg - United Kingdom - Maris Otter Pale (76.9%)
0.2 kg - Belgian - Special B (3.4%)
0.45 kg - Invert Sugar (7.7%)
0.5 kg - Belgian - Pilsner (8.5%)
0.2 kg - Torrified Wheat (3.4%)

HOPS:
20 g - Chinook, Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 13.5, Use: Boil for 60 min, IBU: 26.41
20 g - Nugget, Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 13.9, Use: Boil for 60 min, IBU: 27.19
30 g - Cascade, Type: Pellet, AA: 9, Use: Boil for 10 min, IBU: 10.53
25 g - Chinook, Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 13.5, Use: Boil for 10 min, IBU: 11.97
20 g - Cascade, Type: Pellet, AA: 9, Use: Whirlpool for 20 min at 75 °C
25 g - Nugget , Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 13.9, Use: Whirlpool for 20 min at 75 °C
40 g - Styrian Cardinal, Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 6.1, Use: Whirlpool for 20 min at 75 °C
50 g - Cascade, Type: Pellet, AA: 9, Use: Dry Hop for 7 days
60 g - Styrian Cardinal, Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 6.1, Use: Dry Hop for 7 days


MASH GUIDELINES:
1) Infusion, Temp: 64 C, Time: 80 min, Amount: 24 L
2) Sparge, Temp: 75 C, Time: 10 min, Amount: 8 L

OTHER INGREDIENTS:
0.33 each - Protofloc table , Time: 15 min, Type: Fining, Use: Boil

YEAST:
Duvel strain
Attenuation (avg): 75.5%
Fermentation Temp: 20 C


TARGET WATER PROFILE:
Profile Name: Light colored and hoppy
Ca2: 150
Mg2: 15
Na: 23
Cl: 50
SO4: 150
HCO3: 0

 

[wrongcrowdbrewing]

for a belgian ipa, you are gonna wany some belgian hops. which in turn will have less abrasive characteristics and not take away from the yeast flavor, chinook and nugget both can be dominant flavors if not careful

 

[Adaman05]

for a belgian ipa, you are gonna wany some belgian hops. which in turn will have less abrasive characteristics and not take away from the yeast flavor, chinook and nugget both can be dominant flavors if not careful

Nonsense. The Belgian yeast will come through no matter what. The best Belgian IPAs I've had had dominant hops, the best of which was a Citra bomb.

 

[mrdauber64]

Those hops may not complement the Belgian yeast. Like Adaman05 the best examples I've had have been heavy with Citra. Dank or piney hops like chinook may not blend well. I'd stick with the fruity hops like Citra, mosaic, Galaxy, and Nelson may be good as well.

 

[Simonh82]

I'm definitely not going for something with Belgian/European hops flavours. I've only tried one example of a Belgian IPA by Stewart Brewing and it was delicious.

Lots of fruity hops but also a bit of dankness. They say they use a combo of 6 new world hops but don't give any clues. It is 80 IBU so pretty bitter.

I want the Chinnook to give it a real bite. Most of the flavour/aroma should come from the Cascade and Styrian Cardinal (new Slovakian hop with a tropical fruity new world flavour apparently).

I've used nugget late in the boil in another IPA and it works well with cascade. If it is a success I'll let you know how it turns out.

 

[Simonh82]

Just thought I would update to say the brewday went well, although I ended up quite a bit over volume and under OG. I could have boiled for longer but it was already midnight when I was 60 minutes in to the boil and I wanted to get to bed before 3 in the morning. Also the golden syrup (inverted sugar) didn't add as much to the gravity as I was expecting.

The Special B added a lot more colour than I was expecting. I think it will be quite a rich deep gold/light amber rather than a pale ale.

In the end I got 25.5L of 1.057 wort. It is happily fermenting away and after a couple of days at about 20oC, I am ramping it up to 22 and then 23.5oC.

 

[didinho]

do you confirm the yeast from Duvel is the fermentation one? somewhere I read they centrifugate and bottle with new one.
does it smell like pear?

 

[Simonh82]

do you confirm the yeast from Duvel is the fermentation one? somewhere I read they centrifugate and bottle with new one.
does it smell like pear?

I tasted the starter a couple of times during the process of building it up from the bottle dregs. It is definitely the same yeast. Very distinctive and exactly what I think of as the Duvel flavour.

Actually the the unhopped starter was really quite nice to drink and I had about half a glass of it that I had poured off the yeast. At about 2% it would make a pleasantly refreshing summer drink when you didn't want to get drunk.

 

[didinho]

I tasted the starter a couple of times during the process of building it up from the bottle dregs. It is definitely the same yeast. Very distinctive and exactly what I think of as the Duvel flavour.

thanks!

 

[Aristotelian]

Sorry I missed this thread when originally posted. I have done a lot of research on the Duvel yeast and could not find a solid consensus that the bottling yeast is in fact the same yeast.

I would suggest searching for De Ranke XX Bitter clones if you are really going for a "Belgian" IPA. To me, you have made an American IPA with a yeast that may or may not be a Belgian yeast.

http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/de-ranke-xx-bitter-clone.134798/

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=527362

 

[Simonh82]

Sorry I missed this thread when originally posted. I have done a lot of research on the Duvel yeast and could not find a solid consensus that the bottling yeast is in fact the same yeast.

I would suggest searching for De Ranke XX Bitter clones if you are really going for a "Belgian" IPA. To me, you have made an American IPA with a yeast that may or may not be a Belgian yeast.

http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/de-ranke-xx-bitter-clone.134798/

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=527362

I can't guarantee that the bottling strain is the same but to my taste they are identical. Either way, it doesn't matter to me as it has given me the flavour that I was after.

Apart from the flavour the yeast shows other similarities such as very high attenuation ~84% and low flocculation.

 

[wrongcrowdbrewing]

Nonsense. The Belgian yeast will come through no matter what. The best Belgian IPAs I've had had dominant hops, the best of which was a Citra bomb.

thats not a belgian IPA....its a bastardized thing that probably WAS great. Sounds really good actually, but not belgian.

 

[wrongcrowdbrewing]

not every IPA needs to be citrusy. there are many other flavors in the world, some of which would surprise you. i will be so glad when this fad is over...

 

[crusader1612]

My Advise, is go fruity, somethingto compliment the yeast, avoid yeasts that are overly banana-fied. (WLP500)
Keep it dry, but have some nice malt background available.

I brewed the LKips of faith by new belgium awhile back, and Its been evolving as a recipe ever since.
Citra and amarillo make great late hops for these yeasts.

the go to yeast for me would be WLP550 or WY3522.

I've recnelty steered away from this style, as I've been playign with other funky yeastsd and hops.
WLP670 with a nice primary and big dryhopping is nice.
A wit yeast goes down well also.

something like simcoe, might clash in a beer like this, as its overly piney and bold, against a spicy fruity yeast. (Pine/Banana doesn't sound good to me)

 

[jjeffers09]

There is always a fad, the juicy ipa's is what is under my skin already. I am not sure I understand Belgian and IPA in the same bottle. But that is just me, all of the Belgians I know hate, and make fun of people who drink IPAs. They usually call it puss-beer or India Puke Beer. I for one think that the hops should be primary but the bready yeast should still shine. Nelson Sauvin, Mandarina Bavaria, Saaz, Sterling, if you wanted a hybrid mixture maybe some New Zealand hops like motueka - 1/3 cascade 2/3 saaz. It is a hybrid style all around but I would be damn sure to keep the yeasty aromas around if I planned on calling it Belgian.

 

[Aristotelian]

There is always a fad, the juicy ipa's is what is under my skin already. I am not sure I understand Belgian and IPA in the same bottle. But that is just me, all of the Belgians I know hate, and make fun of people who drink IPAs. They usually call it puss-beer or India Puke Beer. I for one think that the hops should be primary but the bready yeast should still shine. Nelson Sauvin, Mandarina Bavaria, Saaz, Sterling, if you wanted a hybrid mixture maybe some New Zealand hops like motueka - 1/3 cascade 2/3 saaz. It is a hybrid style all around but I would be damn sure to keep the yeasty aromas around if I planned on calling it Belgian.

Forget the label. Get yourself a bottle of De Ranke XX Bitter. To me that is a true Belgian pale ale with extreme hop flavor (but not American/citrus hops). Very different from what OP brewed.

 

[Simonh82]

Forget the label. Get yourself a bottle of De Ranke XX Bitter. To me that is a true Belgian pale ale with extreme hop flavor (but not American/citrus hops). Very different from what OP brewed.

I have not tried this but I recently had a De Ranke Saision De Dottignies. It was fantastic. Really nice crisp bitterness and a surprising amount of hop flavour/aroma. I really enjoyed it.

 

[Simonh82]

There is always a fad, the juicy ipa's is what is under my skin already. I am not sure I understand Belgian and IPA in the same bottle. But that is just me, all of the Belgians I know hate, and make fun of people who drink IPAs. They usually call it puss-beer or India Puke Beer. I for one think that the hops should be primary but the bready yeast should still shine. Nelson Sauvin, Mandarina Bavaria, Saaz, Sterling, if you wanted a hybrid mixture maybe some New Zealand hops like motueka - 1/3 cascade 2/3 saaz. It is a hybrid style all around but I would be damn sure to keep the yeasty aromas around if I planned on calling it Belgian.

I bottled this yesterday and had a little sample from the trial jar. It was very nice with plenty of hop aroma/flavour and a prominent Belgian yeast flavour too. It is a little more heavily weighted to the yeast side than I was aiming for but I did let it ferment fairly warm. I think if I make it again, I will keep it at 21-22oC or cooler to tame this slightly.

The Styrian Cardinal hops that I used worked well with the Cascade and really did add a tropical/pineapple fruit aroma, I couldn't pick this up as clearly in the flavour, perhaps due to the yeast. I was pleasantly surprised by this as they didn't smell that pungent before I put them in the beer.

The other surprise was the amount of colour that 200g of Special B added. The beer came out a deep, rich gold.

It is certainly different to the Belgian IPA that I tried but I will definitely enjoy it.