need an easy belgium recipe

[sam.k]

hey guys, I fancy having a crack at a Belgium beer, something pale and spicy would be nice.
I have seen a few recipes floating around but I seem to have lost my bookmarks.
anyone got a tried and proven one that they mind sharing?

regards
Sam.

 

[phettebs]

What type of gravity are you looking for? Something strong?

I have a lot of Belgian recipes. A nice tripel is always a good call. You could also do a Saison. It depends what you are looking for.

 

[sam.k]

haha I was hoping you would pipe up as it was your triple recipe I think I had book marked :)

 

[morethanworts]

A simple tripel for you. It's all about the yeast though, so don't skimp on that...

85% Pilsner
7% clear candi sugar
5% dextrose
3% Wheat

... Enough for an OG of 1.075 at your batch size. (edit - this should give you a 9.5% beer by the time it gets down to around 1.009 and you prime it with around 3 times the sugar you'd use in an English ale!)

Mash at 65/66 for 2.5 hrs @2.6 L/Kg

Boil with bittering hops only (I recommend Northern Brewer, nice clean bittering) to 25-30 IBUs

Ferment with a big enough starter of WY3787 or WLP 530, keeping it around 17-18C for a couple of days before increasing to 24C gradually over the next 5 days. Hold there until gravity is stable around 85-90% apparent attenuation. Mine took 3 weeks. Chill right down for a few days before bottling.

Prime to a bold 3.5 vols in bottles and keep really warm for a couple of weeks before storing cold.

:drink:

 

[Eduardo]

I'm looking for a relatively simple saison grain bill if anyone could help out.

More or less got my hops and misc ingredients sorted, but struggling to pick grains.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[jkp]

I've been looking for some belgian recipes recently too, so I'm all ears here.
I found one that caught my eye, I think it might have been posted by phettebs, so may also be the one you are thinking of:

AG Dark Strong Belgian

Original Gravity (OG): 1.089 (°P): 21.3
Final Gravity (FG): 1.015 (°P): 3.8
Alcohol (ABV): 9.70 %
Colour (SRM): 42.9 (EBC): 84.5
Bitterness (IBU): 24.1 (Average)

60.62% Pale Malt
15.16% Pilsner
12.11% Candi Sugar, Dark
9.08% Vienna
3.03% Special-B

1.8 g/L Styrian Golding (4.4% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil)
1.5 g/L Styrian Golding (4.4% Alpha) @ 20 Minutes (Boil)


Single step Infusion at 66°C for 60 Minutes. Boil for 60 Minutes

Fermented at 20°C with Wyeast 1762 - Belgian Abbey II

Notes: need a massive starter

 

[zombrewer]

I'm looking for a relatively simple saison grain bill if anyone could help out.

More or less got my hops and misc ingredients sorted, but struggling to pick grains.

Any help would be appreciated.

This is Wild Beer Co's Epic Saison grain bill...

Lager malt 4kg
Cara Gold 600g
Wheat Malt 250g
Brown malt 150g

I probably overdid the aroma hops on my take on this - too much Motueka in an aroma steep & then dry hop - but it's mellowed really nicely after six weeks in the bottle, and is now really well balanced. What yeast are you using? I've only made one saison, but can highly recommend Wyeast 3711... lots of nice spicy notes if you ferment high - 23 for 2 days, then up to 28 until it ferments out. I've heard a lot of the others can be a bit temperamental and take a really long time, but this went from 1.051 to 1.004 in a week :thumb:

 

[zombrewer]

A simple tripel for you. It's all about the yeast though, so don't skimp on that...

85% Pilsner
7% clear candi sugar
5% dextrose
3% Wheat

... Enough for an OG of 1.075 at your batch size.

Mash at 65/66 for 2.5 hrs @2.6 L/Kg

Boil with bittering hops only (I recommend Northern Brewer, nice clean bittering) to 25-30 IBUs

Ferment with a big enough starter of WY3787 or WLP 530, keeping it around 17-18C for a couple of days before increasing to 24C gradually over the next 5 days. Hold there until gravity is stable around 85-90% apparent attenuation. Mine took 3 weeks. Chill right down for a few days before bottling.

Prime to a bold 3.5 vols in bottles and keep really warm for a couple of weeks before storing cold.

:drink:

This looks great, been meaning to give a tripel a go :

 

[morethanworts]

A simple tripel for you. It's all about the yeast though, so don't skimp on that...

85% Pilsner
7% clear candi sugar
5% dextrose
3% Wheat

... Enough for an OG of 1.075 at your batch size.

Mash at 65/66 for 2.5 hrs @2.6 L/Kg

Boil with bittering hops only (I recommend Northern Brewer, nice clean bittering) to 25-30 IBUs

Ferment with a big enough starter of WY3787 or WLP 530, keeping it around 17-18C for a couple of days before increasing to 24C gradually over the next 5 days. Hold there until gravity is stable around 85-90% apparent attenuation. Mine took 3 weeks. Chill right down for a few days before bottling.

Prime to a bold 3.5 vols in bottles and keep really warm for a couple of weeks before storing cold.

:drink:

This looks great, been meaning to give a tripel a go :

I can very highly recommend it!

I have a 3rd batch brewday booked for a week on Monday. The yeast is on the go now. For my 23L batch I use a 600ml stirred starter stepped up to 3L shaken, but I'm sure you'd get away with a straight 2 or 3L shaken in a DJ or something, for anyone without a stir plate. The WY3787 is reputed to be the Westmalle strain and, while this is no clone as such, after a few months in the bottle it is distinctly similar to their tripel. A fantastic yeast, which smells great when it's on the go with massive krausen: use the biggest bucket you've got and prepare for a foamover!

PS - If you go for a saison, I've tasted two fellow members' saisons which were both brewed with the Lallemand Danstar Belle Saison dry yeast. Both were terrific and if you want 'easy', then I can recommend the results from that dry yeast (even though I didn't brew it myself!).

 

[zombrewer]

A simple tripel for you. It's all about the yeast though, so don't skimp on that...

85% Pilsner
7% clear candi sugar
5% dextrose
3% Wheat

... Enough for an OG of 1.075 at your batch size.

Mash at 65/66 for 2.5 hrs @2.6 L/Kg

Boil with bittering hops only (I recommend Northern Brewer, nice clean bittering) to 25-30 IBUs

Ferment with a big enough starter of WY3787 or WLP 530, keeping it around 17-18C for a couple of days before increasing to 24C gradually over the next 5 days. Hold there until gravity is stable around 85-90% apparent attenuation. Mine took 3 weeks. Chill right down for a few days before bottling.

Prime to a bold 3.5 vols in bottles and keep really warm for a couple of weeks before storing cold.

:drink:

This looks great, been meaning to give a tripel a go :

I can very highly recommend it!

I have a 3rd batch brewday booked for a week on Monday. The yeast is on the go now. For my 23L batch I use a 600ml stirred starter stepped up to 3L shaken, but I'm sure you'd get away with a straight 2 or 3L shaken in a DJ or something, for anyone without a stir plate. The WY3787 is reputed to be the Westmalle strain and, while this is no clone as such, after a few months in the bottle it is distinctly similar to their tripel. A fantastic yeast, which smells great when it's on the go with massive krausen: use the biggest bucket you've got and prepare for a foamover!

PS - If you go for a saison, I've tasted two fellow members' saisons which were both brewed with the Lallemand Danstar Belle Saison dry yeast. Both were terrific and if you want 'easy', then I can recommend the results from that dry yeast (even though I didn't brew it myself!).

Thanks for the advice, I have a stir plate, so no worries there... the 3787 sounds great, I've never had Westmalle's Tripel - Karmeliet is my favourite - though the Westmalle Dubbel is sublime. I've never stepped up a starter (1l starters are all I've done so far) but definitely sounds doable! I set up a blowoff tube for my hefe that's on at the moment, so will do the same thing again if it's likely to go nuts. My only concern is slowly ramping up the temperature - I use a water bath with fish tank heater & pump, so finer controls can be an issue. A brew fridge with PID will be mine one day, when I have the space

Re. the saison, I brewed one at the beginning of Feb using Wyeast 3711... really lovely yeast, great spicy notes, & 92% attenuation in a week! I've read various things online stating the Belle Saison is another 'easy' saison strain with a similar flavour profile, so may give it a go some time if I'm after a dry yeast. Sounds like a lot of the other strains (3724 etc.) are a LOT more hassle - if the results are so good with the 3711 /Belle Saison, why bother tying up an FV for six weeks, & constantly worrying about a stuck fermentation? :hmm: