Belgian Dark Strong Ale Westvleteren 12 Clone - Multiple Award Winner

[sikkingj]

This my first attempt at the Westy 12 recipe (thanks all for your hard work). I decided to go with all pilsner malt and I should be pitching a lot of yeast tomorrow morning (4L starter for a 5 gallon batch) that I am decanting over night.

My question is this, should I use a blow off tube or can I trust a bubbler. I'm using a 7 gallon metal fermenter (chapman homebrewing - first use). I figure the extra head space should help, but I recall reading that this is a violent fermenter.

Advice/opinions welcomed.

 

[Kee]

This my first attempt at the Westy 12 recipe (thanks all for your hard work). I decided to go with all pilsner malt and I should be pitching a lot of yeast tomorrow morning (4L starter for a 5 gallon batch) that I am decanting over night.

My question is this, should I use a blow off tube or can I trust a bubbler. I'm using a 7 gallon metal fermenter (chapman homebrewing - first use). I figure the extra head space should help, but I recall reading that this is a violent fermenter.

Advice/opinions welcomed.

I can only say that I've needed a blow off for all of my batches in a 6 1/2 gallon carboy.

 

[ultravista]

Blow off tube - hell yeah. 530 is a beast when warm. I met this monster once with a bubbler and it's greeting was a sticky frothy mess splattered all around the carboy/floor/wall/.

 

[Bottoms_Up]

This my first attempt at the Westy 12 recipe (thanks all for your hard work). I decided to go with all pilsner malt and I should be pitching a lot of yeast tomorrow morning (4L starter for a 5 gallon batch) that I am decanting over night.

My question is this, should I use a blow off tube or can I trust a bubbler. I'm using a 7 gallon metal fermenter (chapman homebrewing - first use). I figure the extra head space should help, but I recall reading that this is a violent fermenter.

Advice/opinions welcomed.

See post #456. You definitely need a very wide diameter blow-off tube. I provided a picture of my solution, which worked.

 

[CSI - CandiSyrup]

This my first attempt at the Westy 12 recipe (thanks all for your hard work). I decided to go with all pilsner malt and I should be pitching a lot of yeast tomorrow morning (4L starter for a 5 gallon batch) that I am decanting over night.

My question is this, should I use a blow off tube or can I trust a bubbler. I'm using a 7 gallon metal fermenter (chapman homebrewing - first use). I figure the extra head space should help, but I recall reading that this is a violent fermenter.

Advice/opinions welcomed.

Yes, concur. Always use a blowoff tube and a sterile capture container as well to re-introduce the lost krausen.

 

[sikkingj]

Thank you all. My wort began bubbling less than two hours after the pitch and my fermentation chamber (wine fridge) is struggling to keep the temperature at 63!

Can't wait to try this beer!

 

[Bottoms_Up]

Thank you all. My wort began bubbling less than two hours after the pitch and my fermentation chamber (wine fridge) is struggling to keep the temperature at 63!

Can't wait to try this beer!

You'll have to be patient as it takes a long time before the flavours are matured. I just tried mine just over a year after having made it. It turned out much better than I ever hoped it would!

 

[RussPDX]

I would love to make this recipe, but I use a biab system so I dont have first running the same way. Do you think I can just boil a gallon down the same way? Anyone else try it this way?

 

[orangehero]

I think that would work fine but even so the boiling is not necessary and makes a subtle difference.

 

[brew_darrymore]

I would love to make this recipe, but I use a biab system so I dont have first running the same way. Do you think I can just boil a gallon down the same way? Anyone else try it this way?

I also do BIAB and skipped that step. Go for it. The beer will turn out fine even without it. Bottle conditioning though is what matters. I'm having a beer as we speak, after 6 months in the bottle. It's a wonderful quad, but not quite yet a Westy XII. Very tasty, though.

Thank you, CSI, for starting this thread, and for producing the D-180 syrup!

To my amazement, I had a bottle after three months of bottle conditioning, and this is the second bottle I opened, after 6 months. The improvement is quite significant and it's getting close to the original!! Next bottle will be opened around Christmas, ie after 9 months of bottle conditioning. Will post tasting notes in December!

 

[Nico93]

syrup arrived, @CSI the package is a little bit different from the one that i saw on your website, is a new (or old) package or this isn't your candi syrup?

if it's the correct one tomorrow i'm starting with the starter

if it the real CSI candi and someone need to buy the CSI's syrup in Europe can find it at:
http://www.hobbybrauerversand.de/
very friendly, for shipping outside Germany, Belgium and Holland you can send a mail.

 

[Kharnynb]

for finland and sweden, you can get it at www.brewcat.fi

 

[ArkotRamathorn]

Tried digging through the thread to see if this has been asked but I just couldn't find it so I appologize if its already been spoken about (I assume it hasnt since there definitely wasnt pages and pages discussing it).

How important is the split of using some pilsner and some pale malt in the grist? Another way to ask what would I be missing if I did all pilsner and omittted the pale malt but kept everything else the same?

I have a BDSA going and wanted this to be a serious attempt at a simple base malt/dark candi sugar BDSA. I finished grinding the grain and then suddenly remembered this thread I looked at awhile back and remembered the split using pilsner and pale malt at the same time. I have Briess Pilsner and Briess Pale Ale malts on hand and the beer is already fermenting so that is sort fo already going to be the way its going to be (I figured the Briess Pale Ale malt would've been weird and wouldn't be anywhere near a Castle Pale malt anyway so I'm trying to make sure I can sleep at night).

TLDR: My BDSA is only Pilsner malt (with a little acidulated malt to adjust my mash pH) and dark candi sugar (homemade between 180L and 225L range, smelled delicious like plum/prune reduction). What am I missing by using only pilsner without the addition of pale malt?

 

[gotbags-10]

Not sure about the all Pilsner but if I remember correctly CSI said he had done some all pale malt versions and said he really liked it

 

[Kee]

Tried digging through the thread to see if this has been asked but I just couldn't find it so I appologize if its already been spoken about (I assume it hasnt since there definitely wasnt pages and pages discussing it).

How important is the split of using some pilsner and some pale malt in the grist? Another way to ask what would I be missing if I did all pilsner and omittted the pale malt but kept everything else the same?

I have a BDSA going and wanted this to be a serious attempt at a simple base malt/dark candi sugar BDSA. I finished grinding the grain and then suddenly remembered this thread I looked at awhile back and remembered the split using pilsner and pale malt at the same time. I have Briess Pilsner and Briess Pale Ale malts on hand and the beer is already fermenting so that is sort fo already going to be the way its going to be (I figured the Briess Pale Ale malt would've been weird and wouldn't be anywhere near a Castle Pale malt anyway so I'm trying to make sure I can sleep at night).

TLDR: My BDSA is only Pilsner malt (with a little acidulated malt to adjust my mash pH) and dark candi sugar (homemade between 180L and 225L range, smelled delicious like plum/prune reduction). What am I missing by using only pilsner without the addition of pale malt?

All Pilsner is fine. In fact, that is the recipe I have done the last half dozen times I have brewed this. Candisyrup.com has a single malt recipe on their website: http://www.candisyrup.com/uploads/6/0/3/5/6035776/westvleteren_12_clone_-_single_malt_040.pdf

 

[CSI - CandiSyrup]

syrup arrived, @CSI the package is a little bit different from the one that i saw on your website, is a new (or old) package or this isn't your candi syrup?

if it's the correct one tomorrow i'm starting with the starter

if it the real CSI candi and someone need to buy the CSI's syrup in Europe can find it at:
http://www.hobbybrauerversand.de/
very friendly, for shipping outside Germany, Belgium and Holland you can send a mail.

Yes, this is the correct EU export packaging. It is our product.

 

[ArkotRamathorn]

All Pilsner is fine. In fact, that is the recipe I have done the last half dozen times I have brewed this. Candisyrup.com has a single malt recipe on their website: http://www.candisyrup.com/uploads/6/0/3/5/6035776/westvleteren_12_clone_-_single_malt_040.pdf

Thank you for talking me back from the cliff. I just pulled the 72 hour gravity sample and I am super excited for this. I've been wrestling for weeks with simple Pilsner/candi syrup vs. Pilsner+specialty malts+sugar to make a good Belgian dark strong. I had bad luck in the past on a BDSA using specialty malts, it was still good and had some of the qualities of a BDSA but it wasn't quite what I expected.

This thread has restored my faith in the simplicity approach to Trappist styles.

 

[mjcoss]

I'm planning on giving this a try. The plan is to try and combine this with doing a parti-gyle brewing. Second beer is going to be something along the lines of a black IPA. In any event, I'm planning on simple mash in, batch sparge and was wondering what the temps should be for the mash and sparge. Seems like there are a number of different recommendations for this beer.

 

[Kee]

You can't go wrong with CSI's recipe on page 1, mash at 149 degrees, sparge at 168.

 

[gotbags-10]

Can't remember but has anyone done this with the Chimay yeast strand ? Wondering how it compares with the wlp530 yeast? Was going to the Monastic yeast from Imperial Organic Yeast. I called and they said it was Chimay.

 

[sikkingj]

Yes, concur. Always use a blowoff tube and a sterile capture container as well to re-introduce the lost krausen.

When should I reintroduce the yeas collected from my sterile blow-off container? I have it on the stir plate now - I'm shocked by the amount of yeast that I gathered. When I reintroduce, should I also except additional blow-off activity? I'm at the end of the first week of fermentation activity (i.e., hitting 80 degrees today) - I will be ramping temperatures down next week from 78-60 (secondary fermentation).

Thanks for all of the help.

 

[Kee]

When should I reintroduce the yeas collected from my sterile blow-off container? I have it on the stir plate now - I'm shocked by the amount of yeast that I gathered. When I reintroduce, should I also except additional blow-off activity? I'm at the end of the first week of fermentation activity (i.e., hitting 80 degrees today) - I will be ramping temperatures down next week from 78-60 (secondary fermentation).

Thanks for all of the help.

What is the SG? You may not need the yeast.

 

[CSI - CandiSyrup]

When should I reintroduce the yeas collected from my sterile blow-off container? I have it on the stir plate now - I'm shocked by the amount of yeast that I gathered. When I reintroduce, should I also except additional blow-off activity? I'm at the end of the first week of fermentation activity (i.e., hitting 80 degrees today) - I will be ramping temperatures down next week from 78-60 (secondary fermentation).

Thanks for all of the help.

Yes, as Kee mentioned above. If you're below 1.015 after 1 week you can save the krausen for another pitch.

 

[Jcpilot]

So I racked this recipe to a keg yesterday and I'm going to try force carbinating it. I could always bottle and prime if it doesn't work. I'm impressed with Wyeast 3787. I put six gallons in a fourteen gallon conical an the krausen still blew out the top with eight gallons of head space.

I picked up two SS Brewtech cronicals recently because better bottle pissed me off so much that I will never do business with them again. In search of better temperature control, I had the idea of using heat tape on the fermenter with a PID controller. The chamber is a chest freezer with an STC 1000 set to 20 degrees below fermentation temp. The krausen is darker in the conical in relation to the heat tape. It wasn't burnt, it cleaned up readily and the sample tasted great. Just an interesting observation. Can't wait to try this in a few months.

Next project is a tig welded krausen capture lid for a mason jar. I'll post pictures when I get it right.

 

[Mobstar]

Short of going to the Abbey yourself you are doing absolutely ZERO to suport the monastery. They never have and never will approve of the distribution of their beer outside the Abbey, especially to America, so anyone selling it over here (or sites like Belgium in a Box) for outrageous money are pocketing 100% of the profits and doing so against the wishes of the Monastery.

Not that its a big deal or most people care, but figured I'd make that point clear.

I didn't read further in this thread but they actually made it available here in Canada through the LCBO. We ended up buying a 6pack for $75. We opened 2 bottles so far. We open one bottle per year comparing it to similar beers available locally. To be honest. I'm not sure what all the fuss is about. I actually prefer Rochefort or a Quebec version called L'assoiffé from Brasseur du Monde.
I really don't see why people are so keen on getting their hands on this stuff.

 

[ahariton]

Won a silver medal in our annual Abbaye Normal Belgian beer competition with a score of 40.5. [emoji482] View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1444525732.274332.jpg

 

[orangemen5]

Won a silver medal in our annual Abbaye Normal Belgian beer competition with a score of 40.5. [emoji482] View attachment 308768

Nice job. Just curious how long your entry was aged from brew day to comp.

 

[ahariton]

Thanks

Aged 4 months. Definitely keeps getting better the longer it sits.

Planning on hanging onto a few bottles and entering again next year

 

[CSI - CandiSyrup]

Won a silver medal in our annual Abbaye Normal Belgian beer competition with a score of 40.5. [emoji482] View attachment 308768

Nicely done.

 

[catdaddy66]

Silver is the shizzle!