Belgian style beer ideas????

[mickeyt69]

Hi i have a few different types grains etc and an belgian abby yeast 1214 starter ready and various hops. i would like to make a special belgian style brew with quite a high percentage around the7-10 % mark the grains i have are as follows:-

700g crystal light malt
350g carapills malt
950g chocolate malt
1kg black malt
600g amber malt90g crystal rye malt
about 4kg marris otter
4kg pilsner malt
1kg of belgian candi sugar

hops available are as follows:-

80g goldings
100g perle
30g northern brewer
90g pacific gem
100g simcoe
100g magnum

do you think the style i want is possible ffrom these ingredients? the idea is to use what i have before buying new any help would be apreciated as i have never brewed a belgian style before i thikn apart from the goldings my hops are probably way off the mark but let me know what you guys think :drink:

Mick

 

[Kyral210]

Hmm, a double?

 

[luckyeddie]

Absolutely definitely - you have pretty well everything you need for a Dubbel. Just nip down to the co-op and pick up some really cheap porage oats (this is strictly optional, buut I just love the mouth feel that you get with oats).

The following is for 20 litres at approx 1.075 OG:

Maris Otter 4 kg (or 2 kg of MO and 2 kg of Pilsner Malt or even 4 kg of Pilsner)
Carapils 0.35 kg
Crystal 0.65 kg
Chocolate 0.10 kg
Flaked oats 0.25 kg
Candi Sugar 1 kg

Mash at 66C yadayada

Hops I would suggest nothing too elaborate - after all, the Belgians tend to make great use of Fuggles and Goldings. However, I'm a great fan of Amarillo and would suggest that for bittering if you have them, with either Goldings or Saaz for aroma.

The 1214 only gives something like 75% attenuation (I think) so you'll probably ferment down to about 1018 and be around 7.5% alcohol.

 

[Kyral210]

Sounds nice. I love how home brew lets you mess with traditional styles to create unique beers! My Coffee Stout has 700g of carapils in! That probably means its no longer a stout, but sod it, its tasty as hell!

 

[luckyeddie]

Sounds nice. I love how home brew lets you mess with traditional styles to create unique beers! My Coffee Stout has 700g of carapils in! That probably means its no longer a stout, but sod it, its tasty as hell!

Dead right.

The thing about Belgians though is that it's all in the yeast, i.e. much of the fruity, estery notes that typify Belgian styles owe everything to the little blighters together with the temperature of the fermentation, and the grain to a certain extent is of secondary importance (the hops though become more important as a balancing agent).

The strange thing is, one of the main Belgian yeasts (I think it's Chimay but may be wrong) in fact originated in Scotland.

 

[mickeyt69]

Thankyou very much for your replies guys dubbel it is then hope it goes well cheers :

 

[bob3000]

Wouldn't you want to mash at a lower temp? More like 63 c. for better fermentabiltiy and a drier finish.

 

[luckyeddie]

Wouldn't you want to mash at a lower temp? More like 63 c. for better fermentabiltiy and a drier finish.

It's a bit of a balancing act, isn't it? Orval use 63C at the start of their mash, then go to 72C for the last 20 minutes and then mashout at 77C. Other monasteries perform as many as 4 or 5 steps (I suspect this is when oats, wheat etc is involved), so they will be producing a mix of fermentables and non-fermentables. I tend to use 66C as my start point knowing that my mash temperature is going to drop 2-3 degrees during a 90 minute mash - and my mash tun doesn't have the capacity for a full-blown mashout with a typically hefty grainbill for a Belgian beer and a low temperature starting point unless I'm using a ridiculously stiff mash.

Note to self - build bigger mash tun next time

 

[bob3000]

Wouldn't you want to mash at a lower temp? More like 63 c. for better fermentabiltiy and a drier finish.

It's a bit of a balancing act, isn't it? Orval use 63C at the start of their mash, then go to 72C for the last 20 minutes and then mashout at 77C. Other monasteries perform as many as 4 or 5 steps (I suspect this is when oats, wheat etc is involved), so they will be producing a mix of fermentables and non-fermentables. I tend to use 66C as my start point knowing that my mash temperature is going to drop 2-3 degrees during a 90 minute mash - and my mash tun doesn't have the capacity for a full-blown mashout with a typically hefty grainbill for a Belgian beer and a low temperature starting point unless I'm using a ridiculously stiff mash.

Note to self - build bigger mash tun next time

Fair enough, i see what you mean. But, going on what i have heard and read. A step mash is one thing, but if you are going for a single infusion mash, to keep a light body and highly fermentable wort, going for the lower temps is the thing to do. The higher you start the more unfermenable sugars you will get ect.

Apparently you can go as low as 61c but i have never tried it. But you probably do need a mash out, not really sure though.

I have brewed a few beers at lower temps and haven't taken a hit on effienency. But, point taken about having to comprimise if you run out of space.