NHC 2016 Cat 26 Gold - Trappist Ale

[redshift]

This is the gold medal winning recipe in category 26 trappist ale. It was intended to be a clone of Rochefort 8 but it didn't really turn out much like it at all tbh, but I was still pretty happy with the result 

Drunken Monk

Recipe Specs
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Batch Size (L):           20.5
Total Grain (kg):         7.34
Total Hops (g):           74
Original Gravity (OG):    1.078 
Final Gravity (FG):       1.012 
Alcohol by Volume (ABV):  8.7 %
Colour (SRM):             29.5
Bitterness (IBU):         23.9
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 65
Boil Time (Minutes):      90

Grain Bill
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5.000 kg Pilsner (68%)
0.750 kg Caramunich II (10%)
0.600 kg Cane Sugar (8%)
0.370 kg Candi Sugar, Dark (5%)
0.250 kg Flaked Corn (3.5%)
0.250 kg Special-B (3.5%)
0.120 kg Carafa Special (2%)

Hop Bill
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40.0 g Fuggles Leaf (4.8% AA) @ 90 Minutes (Boil)
24.0 g Hersbrucker Leaf (1.6% AA) @ 30 Minutes (Boil)
10.0 g Hersbrucker Leaf (1.6% AA) @ 5 Minutes (Boil)

Misc Bill
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10.0 g Crushed Coriander Seed @ 5 Minutes (Boil)

Notes
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Single step Infusion at 64°C for 120 Minutes
Fermented with Wyeast 1762 - Belgian Abbey II with 2L starter
Pitched at 19°c and allowed to rise naturally to 24°c then held there for 3 weeks
Primed to 2.8 vol CO2
Water profile: Ca 82, Mg 7, Na 37, So4 83, Cl 83, Bicarb 207

When I brew this again, a few tweaks I'll make are:
1. Increase the sugar percentage and mash at 63°c to lower the fg
2. Keep the fermentation temp a bit lower for a couple of days before ramping it up, to control esters
3. Increase carbonation a little, maybe around 3-3.2 vol

[BrewDorg]

Saw this exact recipe somewhere about a month ago. I have the ingredients bought and waiting for my fermenter to be free. Might have to enter it next year when it's had a year to age. Glad it turned out well for you!

[redshift]

Saw this exact recipe somewhere about a month ago. I have the ingredients bought and waiting for my fermenter to be free. Might have to enter it next year when it's had a year to age. Glad it turned out well for you!

Yeah this seems to be a pretty popular Rochefort clone recipe, the only modification I made was to increase the sugar content a bit. I'd recommend mashing nice and low because it seems many have problems getting the fg as low as it should be, myself included. Really you want about 85%+ attenuation whereas mine crapped out at 80%. Good luck with your brew!

[BrewDorg]

Brewed this one up today. The grain has been lying in my storage box for the past few months and the crush looked very poor I was looking for an OG of 1.075 but I got 1.064. Similar to the efficiency I was getting in batches from that vendor around that time. Since then, the crush has been great and my efficiency has been spot on. Hopefully this turns into something decent in a couple of months anyway.

[redshift]

Brewed this one up today. The grain has been lying in my storage box for the past few months and the crush looked very poor I was looking for an OG of 1.075 but I got 1.064. Similar to the efficiency I was getting in batches from that vendor around that time. Since then, the crush has been great and my efficiency has been spot on. Hopefully this turns into something decent in a couple of months anyway.

I feel your efficiency pain, my last couple of brews I've been doing well to hit over 70% for some reason. I'm sure your brew will still turn out well, maybe closer to Rochefort 6 than 8