Who’s still brewing Belgian-style ales and what’s your favorite recipe?

[lumbergh]

I have a Belgian Pale Ale that's in the fermenter right now based on the brewing classic styles recipe.

 

[Halfakneecap]

I do a spelt saison every year that goes into champagne bottles. Just pils and malted spelt 25-30%, and really bitter, usually 1.040 and 40 IBU plus with noble hops. High carb and leave it a few months ( i try to anyway ).

 

[beren]

how long do you age it, is it less bitter when you drink it?

 

[Halfakneecap]

how long do you age it, is it less bitter when you drink it?

Usually 3 months before i start to drink it. It does smooth out, but its still on the bitter side.

I enjoy that its dry and bitter. I really like Dupont saison, its dry, bitter and earthy.

I use wyeast 3726. I find it has great flavour/character and is much less hassle than 3724.

 

[lumbergh]

I have a Belgian Pale Ale that's in the fermenter right now based on the brewing classic styles recipe.

The sample after carbing in the keg for 2 weeks is pretty good. Crisp, but not too dry.
My first time using M47 yeast

 

[Unicorn_Platypus]

I do like a good Witbier. Last one I brewed was this:

5.5 gallons

5 lbs Belgian pilsner
5 lbs. flaked wheat
1 lb. flaked oats
1/4 lb acid malt
1 tsp amylase enzyme in the mash (Belgian pilsner I used had a low diastatic power--lots of adjuncts). You could sub German pilsner for more DP.
Perle hops to about 20-25 IBU
2 oz. fresh orange peel last 10 minutes of boil
3/4 oz. crushed Indian coriander seed last 10 minutes of boil
Mangrove Jack's M21

Edit: adding pic
View attachment 744556

Never messed with amalyze enzyme. What kind of attenuation did you get and what was your mash temp?

 

[MaxStout]

Never messed with amalyze enzyme. What kind of attenuation did you get and what was your mash temp?

I just dug up my notes for that brew. I did a single infusion mash, BIAB, at 152F. I was spot-on for mash temp. OG was 1.056, FG was 1.007. AA was 87.5%, way beyond the 70-75% range stated by Mangrove Jacks for M21. Beersmith predicted OG to be 1.052, but beat that by 4 points. FG ended up 4 points UNDER Beersmith's prediction.

My notes state that there was a whiff of sulfur at bottling, but that it was gone by the time they conditioned. It turned out quite nice, albeit a little higher ABV than I had anticipated.

You could sub a higher DP Pilsner for the Belgian and you'd have enough overall DP to not need the amylase.

 

[Unicorn_Platypus]

I just dug up my notes for that brew. I did a single infusion mash, BIAB, at 152F. I was spot-on for mash temp. OG was 1.056, FG was 1.007. AA was 87.5%, way beyond the 70-75% range stated by Mangrove Jacks for M21. Beersmith predicted OG to be 1.052, but beat that by 4 points. FG ended up 4 points UNDER Beersmith's prediction.

My notes state that there was a whiff of sulfur at bottling, but that it was gone by the time they conditioned. It turned out quite nice, albeit a little higher ABV than I had anticipated.

You could sub a higher DP Pilsner for the Belgian and you'd have enough overall DP to not need the amylase.

thanks for sharing! Sounds like amalyze enzyme would best reserved for something dry (which can definitely work for a wit). Good to know! Maybe I'll use it in a tripel or an asahi type clone.

I use dingemans belgian pils malt pretty often wasn't aware it was lower DP than other Pils malts. What continental pils malts are highest in DP?

btw, I'll be visiting Bamberg in May and plan to visit Weyermann

 

[homebrudoc]

Belgian single in the keg to make a yeast cake. Tripel in the fermenter. Will probably make a Pinot Noir Tripel next
homebrudoc

 

[Brockness Monster]

This seems like my kind of thread. Love Belgians and any beer with yeast character. Currently fermenting a Tripel on WLP530. Started open ferment until high krausen started to die down then added the airlock. No temp control, high krausen reached 75F, currently 66F and still chugging along. Probably won't get the character I want with this yeast strain at these low temps, but I'm glad it hasn't crashed on me yet.

12# Dingemans Pils
3# Raw Cane Sugar

Magnum hops for bittering
Amarillo hops for flavor and aroma (interested to see how these change as they age in the beer)

 

[Brockness Monster]

Brewed my first Belgain Singel, necessity dictates a lower ABV beer for daily consumption. In the past, that would be a hefeweizen or Saison, but I want to see if I can craft a good Singel in the 5% range.

5# Pils
1# Vienna
1# Flaked Oat (Quick Cooking Quaker Oats)
1/2# Raw Cane Sugar

Magnum for Bittering
Amarillo for Flavor (I need to pick up some other hops, but Amarillo has always been a favorite)

I am convinced that Westmalle top crops their yeast. This is the second time WLP530 has made a mess of my fermentation area despite, or maybe because of, open fermentation. I use to only use WLP500 which seemed like a much tamer yeast, but I wanted the challenge of fermenting with the notoriously difficult Westy strain. I also use to add the Cane Sugar when fermentation slowed instead of in the boil. The idea was that the yeast would get used eating longer chain sugars before introducing the mass of simple sugars to eat. I might go back to doing that to just to prevent these yeast explosions.

 

[Kee]

I am convinced that Westmalle top crops their yeast. This is the second time WLP530 has made a mess of my fermentation area despite, or maybe because of, open fermentation. I use to only use WLP500 which seemed like a much tamer yeast, but I wanted the challenge of fermenting with the notoriously difficult Westy strain. I also use to add the Cane Sugar when fermentation slowed instead of in the boil. The idea was that the yeast would get used eating longer chain sugars before introducing the mass of simple sugars to eat. I might go back to doing that to just to prevent these yeast explosions.

The Westmalle yeast is a top cropping yeast and needs extra headspace in the fermenter. (You could use Fermcap, although I never have any on hand). To prevent any problems with fermentation, I make a starter and pitch the whole thing at high krausen and don't hold the temperature down. (I brew a lot at ambient temperature, but I'm not suggesting that's the preferred method, just something that works for me).

CSI's Westvleteren 12 clone thread has a lot of info on brewing with that yeast, if you have the time.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/westvleteren-12-clone-multiple-award-winner.500037/

 

[Brockness Monster]

Both times have had a full gallon of headspace, but now I know what to expect. I don't use temperature control either, I find that most problems with yeast happen because people try to control them. Having worked in breweries I can tell you that they also have issues with yeast not always doing what they want. I have read some of the thread you linked, I'll go ahead and do a deeper dive though.

 

[RyPA]

Looking to do my first Belgian recipe in the next 1 or 2 brew days. Still deciding on Dubbel vs Tripel.

 

[BrewZer]

I still have a few bottles of my Piraat clone left -- darn tasty if somewhat undercarbonated, but that's my fault. I broke tradition and used carb drops instead of adding a dose to the bottling bucket. I'd have to call it my favorite.

 

[Brockness Monster]

Looking to do my first Belgian recipe in the next 1 or 2 brew days. Still deciding on Dubbel vs Tripel.

Tripel is the harder of the two, only because you can't hide the flaws behind a dark sugar. But, if you have hazies under control, which it looks like you do, you shouldn't have a problem with a tripel

 

[BrewerofBeers]

I have a MASSIVE Belgian farmhouse ale brewing with WY3711, the famous French Saison yeast. After 33 days, it was still not quite ready to bottle. The OG? 1.108! I added some concentrated wort after fermentation peaked so as to not shock the yeast with such a syrup-like wort (OG includes this later addition).

I'm anticipating a FG at or below 1.010, which is more than 90% attenuation, resulting in a 13% ABV beer!
Last year I made a similar version but this one is a little stronger and has special roast and aromatic instead of special B.

I definitely recommend brewing it! Bottles of this are good to keep around for special circumstances and they last a while because you don't drink them quickly, and they age well.

(4.2 gallons fermenter volume)

6 lbs Briess Pale Ale Malt
1 lb (16 oz) Briess Victory Malt
1+ lb (16.18 oz) Briess Special Roast
1+ lb (16.18 oz) Briess Aromatic Malt
1+ lb (16.25 oz) Briess Caramel 60L
3 oz Flaked Barley
(6 lbs liquid malt extract in the boil)

70 mins 2.5 oz El Dorado (15% AA)
40 mins 3 oz Mandarina Bavaria (8.5% AA)
10 mins 1/2 tab Whirlfloc clarifier
5 mins 0.5 oz Idaho 7 Cryo Hop
*Pull hops*
Flameout ~42.5 oz Pale Ale LME (Save the other 53.5 oz for fermentation addition)

French Saison WY3711

 

[Brewer dad]

I’ve got my first single on deck for my next ale:
5 gal
9lb pils
8oz aromatic
8oz wheat
8oz sugar

.5oz magnum 60min
.5oz Tettnang 30min
.5oz Tettnang 15min

1.047og
1.007fg
31ibu

Lallemand Abbaye

Have played with idea of using honey at flameout instead of sugar, but think I’ll try it as is first.

 

[Brockness Monster]

One of the things that I love about belgian ales is that you can get creative with the sugar. So far Jaggery has been my favorite, but you have to get the right stuff. Twice I have been burned by getting jaggery that had a small amount of wax in it, I can't remember what exactly was wrong with the beer, but it wasn't good.

My single is starting slow down, going to grab a gravity reading this weekend.

 

[Brockness Monster]

Gravity Readings today.

Single: 1.005. OG was 1.044. Estimated FG was 1.006 so it shouldn't drop much lower. Bottle next weekend
Tripel: 1.006. OG was 1.080. Estimated FG was 1.002 for some reason, but I don't trust that. Bottle next weekend.

Both beers are tasting dry and bready with the tripel tasting super hot right now. Not getting a whole lot of phenols or esters on the nose, just a general belgiany aroma. I think the single is going to be an excellent warm weather beer.