Will This Heavy Ale Recipe Fit a Style?

[Clint Yeastwood]

Last year, I made a heavy beer, my original recipe, with a lot of wheat, and I got the idea I should make a darker, stronger holiday version. I kind of like St. Bernardus Christmas ale, but I would like less funk. I looked around for ingredients I thought would get a meatier version of my own ale. Here is what I'm trying:

5 lbs. wheat 3 SRM
4 lbs. Pilsner 2 SRM
2 lbs. Pale Malt 2 SRM
1.5 lbs. Special B 180 SRM
1 lb. Munich
2 lbs. table sugar
~30 IBU Sabro
Lallemand Abbaye
OG 1.092
18 psi/3.32 volumes/35 degrees
CO2

Can this be jammed into any known style?

 

[Kickass]

My favorite style is the one that captures the flavor I’m going for. I frequently brew foster children that don’t have homes in the BJCP guidelines.

As for your recipe, a couple of things stand out as BJCP misfits. Sabro seems a little out of touch with abbey yeast. 1.5 pounds of special b also seems excessively cloying for a Belgian beer.

If you like it, brew it, drink it, name it what you want (sweet dark Belgian coconuts and plums in this case) and give the middle finger to BJCP guidelines.

 

[day_trippr]

Sabro is weird. When it was first released the character set put me right off, and I had avoided any contact with it - until recently, when it showed up in Stone Brewing's Hazy IPA included in a mixed 12 pack (which was dreadful). Confirmed: It's a mess, and I'm definitely not a fan...

Cheers!

 

[JohnDBrewer]

With the yeast you're using I think you'll be looking at the Belgian categories, but the level of sweetness and roast for Special B may drive it out of any specific category. That's a lot of special B. A little of that stuff seems to go a long way for me. Give it a shot and let us know. All that being said, never declare your beer until you taste it.

 

[MaxStout]

Concur with the others. That much Special B will take over the flavor profile, and not in a good way. Each sip will taste like a handful of raisins. Dial it back to maybe .5 lb and I think you'll have a nice beer. Call it a Belgian strong.

 

[hottpeper13]

Raisins my butt, straight up prune juice!

 

[Clint Yeastwood]

I think it fits Strong Belgian.

I don't know if the recipe is good or not, but the grain is already prepared, so I will have to go with it as it is and make adjustments next time.

 

[broot]

Raisins my butt, straight up prune juice!

agree on the special B. i would cut that to 1/2 to 3/4 lb. never used Sabro so can't comment on that.

 

[HM-2]

Special B and Sabro: Raisins and coconut suntan lotion.
With Belgian esters.
That's, er, quite something.


FWIW, I love Special B but only at 3-5%. I've got a Belgian amber on at the moment that was 3% B, alongside a mixture of both clear and dark candi sugar, and it's very prominent.

 

[JohnDBrewer]

Let us know.

 

[Clint Yeastwood]

Just put a starter on the stir plate, and I'm waiting for it to cool so I can add Abbaye. My yeast expired in September, but I don't care. Age is just a number, right?