Westvleteren Blonde clone

[brewmeister69]

I've looked around this site and haven't found a clone recipe for the

Westvleteren Blonde


I'd appreciate if someone could post a clone recipe of this great beer or point me in the right direction..

I've duckduckgo searched ( my google alternative) for a recipe but so far been unsuccessful..

 

[Sleepyemt]

Check out http://www.candisyrup.com they've contributed to the westy 12 thread. And have many recipes on their site.

 

[beergolf]

http://www.candisyrup.com/uploads/6/0/3/5/6035776/westvleteren_6_blond_-_040.pdf

Here you go.

 

[brewmeister69]

Thank you for the links, Looking @ the recipe it seems a rather simple brew to make with not much ingredients which I find surprising.. I'll give this recipe a bash and compare it to an actual bottle of Westvleteren and post up my findings.

 

[ruger988]

Thank you for the links, Looking @ the recipe it seems a rather simple brew to make with not much ingredients which I find surprising.. I'll give this recipe a bash and compare it to an actual bottle of Westvleteren and post up my findings.

I find it odd that so many people think you need 30+ specialty malts to make an amazing beer. Simple recipe with good quality ingredients done with great attention to detail is a much better alternative (imho) to throwing as many different things as possible at a pot of wort to hide off flavors and hoping for the best.

Good luck with the clone.

 

[brewmeister69]

I find it odd that so many people think you need 30+ specialty malts to make an amazing beer. Simple recipe with good quality ingredients done with great attention to detail is a much better alternative (imho) to throwing as many different things as possible at a pot of wort to hide off flavors and hoping for the best.

Good luck with the clone.

Thanks mate, yes I think you're spot on with that assertion...When you come across other clones they usually do have a myriad of ingredients..

Keep it simple will be my new motto

Edit to add, this is the recipe beergolf kindly provided for those who cannot open pdf..

Westvleteren 6 Blond style
TITLE:
CATEGORY: 18A
SPECS: OG:1.051
FG:1.008
SRM:4
IBU:40
VOL:5.00 gal

FERMENTABLES (Assumed 75% efficiency):
Weight (lbs) Description
8.75 Belgian Pale (Dingeman’s)
0.50 Blanc Soft Candi Sugar (Candi Syrup, Inc.)
HOPS:
Description Form Weight (oz) a/a % Duration (min)
Northern Brewer Pellet 0.75 9.0 60
Hallertau Mittelfrueh Pellet 0.75 5.0 20
Styrian Goldings Pellet 0.75 5.0 12
YEAST:

WLP530 – For starter details and pitching rates see doc at: http://www.candisyrup.com/help-docs.html
MASH:
Mash Temp Duration
Saccharification (Raise via Decoction) 147F 50 minutes
Mash out 170F 15 minutes

NARRATIVE:
Saccharification temp to 147F for 50 minutes. 60 minute boil. Add soft sugar at boil initiation. Chill to 64F. Pitch yeast.
Pure O2 via 0.5 micron diffusion for 30 seconds. Ramp primary up to 76F over 6 days. At 1.010 dump primary yeast. At
1.008 bottle prime in heavy bottles with Simplicity Candi Syrup at 34g/gallon. Hold bottles at 72F for 2 weeks for initial
carbonation. Ready in 6 weeks.

 

[Dirty25]

I would have guessed it was strait pils with candy syrup fermented with WLP530 and some sort of scaled down hop bill of the 12. Westy 6/8/12 are pretty simple beers.

 

[brewmeister69]

I would have guessed it was strait pils with candy syrup fermented with WLP530 and some sort of scaled down hop bill of the 12. Westy 6/8/12 are pretty simple beers.

When you think about it, most genuine Trappist beers of old would have been made with minimum ingredients due to costs,plus they would have only used what was available to them at that time..So keeping in line with tradition most original trappist ales should all have very few ingredients.

Belgian beers have always been a fav of mine especially the Westvleteren blonde,Achel blonde and the magnificent La Trappe blonde..Now I'm living out in New Zealand it's very hard to source these out here and if you do, you have to pay a premium price.. So making your own trappist styles is the next best thing I suppose..

 

[beergolf]

The beauty of Belgian beers is their simplicity. They rarely have complicated grain bills and rely on the yeast for most of the flavor.

Learning how to control the yeast is a big part of the taste.

 

[Dirty25]

The beauty of Belgian beers is their simplicity. They rarely have complicated grain bills and rely on the yeast for most of the flavor.

Learning how to control the yeast is a big part of the taste.

Belgium beers are not the only beers that are simple. Czech and Deutsch beers are very minimal as well. Some of my favorite beers Czech pilz and Bavarian helles are smash beers.

 

[JKaranka]

The only complicated thing in 19th century British brewing records were the mashing schedules! To be fair, the grists became much more complex once gravities dropped but you can still make a good pint of bitter with just pale malt.

 

[ericbw]

It's also interesting that you can also make some changes with yeast temperature. Same ingredients, but different amounts. Same yeast but diff temperature. Same hops, but different schedule. You could make dozens of different versions with those ingredients and changing the variables.

 

[hobbybob]

Well brewed a 10 gallon batch off this recipe from candy sirup.

OG became 1054 and FG went all the way too 1004.

Tasted on bottling suprisingly good

About the fermantatation temp.

Pitched at 69F went all the way to 77F in 4 days completely done on day 6 (1004) cooled down to 57F for 8 days and bottled on day 14.
Cleared out pretty good

 

[hobbybob]

Something went wrong here's the picture

 

[ericbw]

What candi syrup did you use?

 

[rockdemon]

Something went wrong here's the picture

What is wrong?

 

[hobbybob]

Upload off the picture went wrong

I used the golden candysyrup


After brewing I noticed that I had misread the recipe it states 0,5 (250gr )candysyrup for 5 gallon batch.
I thought 1 pound so for my 10 gallon batch I have used 2 packages it should have been 1 ( if you want to follow the recipe )
Botteled last saterday (09-04-2016) I had a peak yesterday and it's crystal clear in the bottle already ( it's sitting on 69F ).
I will cooldown a bottle tomorrow to see how it is, how clear it and what the taste is like

 

[rockdemon]

Upload off the picture went wrong

I used the golden candysyrup


After brewing I noticed that I had misread the recipe it states 0,5 (250gr )candysyrup for 5 gallon batch.
I thought 1 pound so for my 10 gallon batch I have used 2 packages it should have been 1 ( if you want to follow the recipe )
Botteled last saterday (09-04-2016) I had a peak yesterday and it's crystal clear in the bottle already ( it's sitting on 69F ).
I will cooldown a bottle tomorrow to see how it is, how clear it and what the taste is like

Did you use candisyrup.com candisyrup? did you taste it? I wonder what else is in there except sugar... cant buy it here in sweden.

 

[ericbw]

It's just sugar. The different numbers are how much it's carmelized. As it cooks, the flavor changes. At first it's nothing, but as it gets darker, it develops raisin, fruity, toffee, and (I think) a little woody flavors.

You can make your own at home if you can't buy it.

I used the amber in a patersbier, and it's great.

 

[hobbybob]

I used candysyrup version

It's not just sugar for instance the D-180 contains date sugar.
I made it my own on many occasions but the candysyrup ones taste different ( fruit and much more )

raisin, fruity, toffee, and (You're wright) a little woody flavors.

Also I brewed many belgiaqn dark recipes with multi grain ( like chocolate,black and B350 ) it always had a difference compared to the original (sr Bernardus f.i).

6 weeks ago I brewed a dark recipe with only pilsener malt and D-180 and it's perfect dark ( almost black ) and taste is super.

Next week I will try the Westvleteren 12 recipe from candysyrup

 

[mbbransc]

Pretty timely resurrection, @oldsock just posted a blog entry about this beer.

http://www.themadfermentationist.com/2016/04/westvleteren-belgian-blond-clone-recipe.html

 

[hobbybob]

Couldn't resist last night with european soccer game on tv.
Never had the original but this one is delicious.

Fruity,spicy and bitternis kicks in at the end, still a bit yeasty but thats no wunder botteled last saterday.
Head will come, now it's rather thin but it stays so in a couple off weeks it's alright.