Looking for an Abbey Style Blonde recipe

Advertise with us
shop deals on amazon
Shop deals on ebay
The Homebrew Forum

Help Support The Homebrew Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
regaltabs

regaltabs

Not happy with change
Joined
Jan 9, 2012
Messages
84
Reaction score
0
Location
Letchworth
Hi,

I'm looking for a single step mash Abbey style Belgian Blonde recipe, can anyone help with this?

I'm looking for a 23ltr recipe and some advice on a yeast to match the style. :cheers:
 
Most Belgian beers are deceptively simple. I would go with just pale malt and some sugar.

Go easy on the hops (hallertauer, saaz, styrian goldings are all fairly commonly used), they aren't usually especially bitter or hoppy.

Let the yeast do the talking, I've used wlp550 and that was OK: tasted similar to Achouffe. I would be tempted to have a go with wlp530 if I was doing a Belgian.

Depending on the yeast you might want to start fermentation fairly low (17/18c)and then allow it to rise after a day or two on to get good attenuation. I have heard a few people say that wlp500 throws a lot of banana if you ferment it too warm. I would rather avoid that but if you are a fan of Karmeleit you might want encourage the bananary esters.

Here is a link to my last (I think only solo) Belgian effort which turned out nicely. You could just up everything a bit if you want a stronger drink.

edited to add the link (sorry about that)
 
I've just brewed a clone of Westmalle Triple. This may be a bit stronger than the standard Leffe style blonde, but should give you an idea of the ingredients. I actually cultured my yeast from a bottle of Westmalle Triple, but you can buy Wyeast 3787, which I believe is the same yeast.

Recipe Specs
----------------
Batch Size (L): 23.0
Total Grain (kg): 7.350
Total Hops (g): 140.00
Original Gravity (OG): 1.081 (°P): 19.6
Final Gravity (FG): 1.017 (°P): 4.3
Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 8.39 %
Colour (SRM): 3.9 (EBC): 7.7
Bitterness (IBU): 34.6 (Average)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 80
Boil Time (Minutes): 90

Grain Bill
----------------
6.350 kg Pilsner (86.39%)
1.000 kg Candi Sugar, Clear (13.61%)

Hop Bill
----------------
14.0 g Hallertau Mittlefrueh Leaf (4.9% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (0.6 g/L)
56.0 g Saaz Leaf (2.9% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (2.4 g/L)
14.0 g Hallertau Mittlefrueh Leaf (4.9% Alpha) @ 30 Minutes (Boil) (0.6 g/L)
56.0 g Saaz Leaf (2.9% Alpha) @ 30 Minutes (Boil) (2.4 g/L)

Misc Bill
----------------

Single step Infusion at 64°C for 90 Minutes.
Fermented at 22°C with Wyeast 3787 - Trappist High Gravity
 
Thanks for the advice :cheers:

Anymore would be great I'm not looking to brew to strong 7% max if I'm honest. So a single would be best I think?
 
I used the same recipe as MacKiwi, except I used a three-stage decoction. It came out really well although due to me getting the maths wrong on the boiler, I reduced it too far and it finished on a whopping 12%!
That's not going to stop me from doing it again though, especially if I can re-use the expensive Wyeast. :drink:

Step-by-step bits for my attempt are here if that helps.
 
Cheers Paul, I need a singl step due to my equipment, or at least to make it easy without having to top up with hot as I go.
 
Ok guys, after a lot of playing around and net research I have come up with the recipe below.

Ingredients
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
5.00 kg Pale Malt, Maris Otter (5.9 EBC) Grain 1 87.7 %
0.20 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (39.4 EBC) Grain 2 3.5 %
0.50 kg Candi Sugar, Clear (1.0 EBC) Sugar 3 8.8 %
20.00 g Challenger [8.16 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 4 14.9 IBUs
20.00 g Hallertauer Mittelfrueh [4.90 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 5 6.9 IBUs
1.00 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins) Fining 6 -
20.00 g Saaz [3.10 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 7 2.1 IBUs
1.0 pkg Abbey Ale (White Labs #WLP530) [35.49 ml] Yeast 8 -

Est Original Gravity: 1.061 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.009 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 6.8 %
Bitterness: 23.8 IBUs
Est Color: 10.5 EBC

All comments would be welcomed :thumb:

I plan on brewing this next Saturday (30/03/13), can anyone tell me when is the best time to start the starter? I have never worked with liquid yeast before or my stir plate. I was thinking about 24hrs before brewing in 1.5l DME (1.020 OG) wort and on the stir plate in the fermentation fridge at 20c.

Any advise on any of the above would be great :pray: :cheers:
 
Hi , your starter wants around 2 days , but 24hrs will do if your low on time , i would up the starter to around 1030 too . maybe if you are doing a single step mash the aim for 68c to give it more body so it will finish more like 1012/1014 and lower the abv but use more candi sugar (750g) to increase the abv so a stronger fuller bodied beer , but remember candi syprup makes it stronger but doesn't make it taste strong so higher abv is possible without ruining taste etc , hope it goes well for you .
 
p.s i would also up the ibu (around 30) , i like my beers malt more than hops but higher abv also increases the hop to get balance .
 
pittsy said:
Hi , your starter wants around 2 days , but 24hrs will do if your low on time , i would up the starter to around 1030 too . maybe if you are doing a single step mash the aim for 68c to give it more body so it will finish more like 1012/1014 and lower the abv but use more candi sugar (750g) to increase the abv so a stronger fuller bodied beer , but remember candi syprup makes it stronger but doesn't make it taste strong so higher abv is possible without ruining taste etc , hope it goes well for you .
Click to expand...


Thanks Pittsy, I am ok for time so 48 hrs is no problem and ill up the OG on the starter. I was planing to mash at 64c so this might need a rethink? I only want to use half 500g of my candi sugar in this brew and half in my next brew so could I just add 250g of light Muscovado sugar??
 

Similar threads

Twostage
Biere de Guarde
Replies
18
Views
1K
Twostage
Twostage
peterpiper
Why adding Sucrose, can reduce FG
Replies
6
Views
375
JockyBrewer
JockyBrewer
dlowe1992
Short Mash / Short Boil
Replies
3
Views
442
dmtaylor
dmtaylor
emmever
Extract Blonde Ale
Replies
3
Views
334
Sandimas
Sandimas
alsch890
Belgian Dubbel recipe
2
Replies
22
Views
3K
Slid
Slid

Latest posts

Back
Top