Belgian Dubbel Recipe

[Ciderhead]

Ok rather than hijack capitals Barrel recipe anymore thought I would create a new thread.
Its an area I want to get into longer term but don't mind admitting I am finding the formulation challenging v's other brews I've done
Anybody any thoughts?

Recipe: Johns Dubbel Bubble

Style: Belgian Dubbel
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 31.48 l
Post Boil Volume: 26.73 l
Batch Size (fermenter): 22.70 l   
Bottling Volume: 21.70 l
Estimated OG: 1.067 SG
Estimated Color: 45.7 EBC
Estimated IBU: 20.6 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 85.8 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt                   Name                                     Type          #        %/IBU         
4.25 kg               Pilsner (2 Row) UK (2.0 EBC)             Grain         1        63.9 %       
0.90 kg               Munich Malt (17.7 EBC)                   Grain         2        13.5 %       
0.45 kg               Aromatic Malt (51.2 EBC)                 Grain         3        6.8 %         
0.45 kg               Crystal Malt - 60L (Thomas Fawcett) (118 Grain         4        6.8 %         
0.20 kg               Special B Malt (354.6 EBC)               Grain         5        3.0 %         
0.40 kg               Candi Sugar, Dark (400.0 EBC)            Sugar         6        6.0 %         
40.00 g               Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] - Boil 60.0 Hop           7        17.2 IBUs     
20.00 g               Saaz [4.00 %] - Boil 15.0 min            Hop           8        3.4 IBUs     
1.0 pkg               Trappist Ale (White Labs #WLP500) [35.49 Yeast         9        -             


Mash Schedule: Temperature Mash, 1 Step, Medium Body
Total Grain Weight: 6.65 kg
----------------------------
Name              Description                             Step Temperat Step Time           
Saccharification  Add 14.30 l of water at 75.2 C          66.7 C        60 min               
Mash Out          Heat to 75.6 C over 10 min              75.6 C        10 min               

Sparge: Fly sparge with 21.44 l water at 75.6 C
Notes:
------

[mr hoppy]

Have you had a look at Brew Like a Monk? I think I read it several times before I tried making any trappist inspired beers. It's really excellent.

[Ciderhead]

I have it and Brewing Classic styles open in front of me

[Ciderhead]

ok way too much aromatic in the above 0.2kg would be fine

[mr hoppy]

You could probably use plain table sugar rather than candi if you're putting a good bit of Special B in. From what I've read I think Belgians use Special B in things like DeKonninck more than in dubbels, but  it's definitely a popular approach with homebrew recipes.

I don't know anything about aromatic malt - but I'd skip the late hop addition. You could possibly throw in some coriander (5 grams) and orange peel (bitter or sweet are both good but different) at 5 minutes - although that's really a matter of taste.

I'd probably use a lower mash temp - you'll know from BLAM that Belgian beers including dubbels are pretty highly attenuated and not that heavy at all for higher strength beers. I'd also be tempted to up the sugar content a bit  I've not used WLP 500 but the Belgian yeasts I have used were very attenuative. I think a really important thing with Belgians is temperature. From what I've seen it seems that if you can start them at a normal enough temperature, and let them rise up on their own after a few days it helps dry them out.

[mr hoppy]

You could put a small bit of carafa in as well. Should help with aging also.

[TheSumOfAllBeers]

I might have a go at something like this soon. Might even do something crazy like skip all the sugar additions and use a saison yeast (itching to try Danstar Belle Saison - I tasted a beer made with it and it was a great beer).

[Ciderhead]

Ok extensive reading of brewing like a monk and guidance on here leads me to the following
Chocolate instead of Carafa
I am just on the top end of bjcp colour guidelines so have to be careful with boil 

Any thoughts?

Style: Belgian Dubbel
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 31.48 l
Post Boil Volume: 26.73 l
Batch Size (fermenter): 22.70 l   
Bottling Volume: 21.70 l
Estimated OG: 1.058 SG
Estimated Color: 36.1 EBC
Estimated IBU: 19.7 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 85.4 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt                   Name                                     Type          #        %/IBU         
4.00 kg               Pilsner (2 Row) UK (2.0 EBC)             Grain         1        69.0 %       
0.90 kg               Munich Malt (17.7 EBC)                   Grain         2        15.5 %       
0.20 kg               Aromatic Malt (51.2 EBC)                 Grain         3        3.4 %         
0.20 kg               Caramel/Crystal Malt - 30L (59.1 EBC)    Grain         4        3.4 %         
0.20 kg               Special B Malt (354.6 EBC)               Grain         5        3.4 %         
0.10 kg               Chocolate Malt (886.5 EBC)               Grain         6        1.7 %         
0.20 kg               Candi Sugar, Amber (147.8 EBC)           Sugar         7        3.4 %         
35.00 g               Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] - Boil 60.0 Hop           8        16.0 IBUs     
20.00 g               Saaz [4.00 %] - Boil 15.0 min            Hop           9        3.6 IBUs     
1.0 pkg               Trappist Ale (White Labs #WLP500) [35.49 Yeast         10       -             


Mash Schedule: Temperature Mash, 1 Step, Full Body
Total Grain Weight: 5.80 kg
----------------------------
Name              Description                             Step Temperat Step Time           
Saccharification  Add 12.60 l of water at 76.2 C          65.0 C        40 min               
Mash Out          Heat to 75.6 C over 10 min              75.6 C        10 min               

Sparge: Fly sparge with 22.48 l water at 75.6 C
Notes:

[mr hoppy]

I am just on the top end of bjcp colour guidelines so have to be careful with boil 

Any thoughts?

Yep, unless you are brewing for a competition BJCP and Belgian don't really mix.  Seriously, if you look at the beer style section in Tim Webb's Good Beer Guide to Belgium vs the BJCP guidelines it doesn't take long to reach the conclusion the BJCP is from Mars and Belgians are from Venus.

Incidentally, if you've not bought your yeast already recultured yeast from fresh bottles of Rochefort 6 makes really nice beer.

[mr hoppy]

I might have a go at something like this soon. Might even do something crazy like skip all the sugar additions and use a saison yeast (itching to try Danstar Belle Saison - I tasted a beer made with it and it was a great beer).

If it ain't crazy it ain't belgian.

[Ciderhead]

I have 500 already which I think is a good starting point for a first brew, but brewing like a M suggesting blending different yeast types to try and get an attribute from each
Sometimes the simplest ideas are right under your nose!
Whats not mentioned above is for fermentation I will start at 18 and drift up to 21 degrees over 7 days.
I forgot to ask you do you add your sugar or syrup at flameout or at high Krausen?
Thanks for your input on this thread its really helped!

[mr hoppy]

I've not tried it but I'm sure 500 is great - I just thought I'd plug the Rochefort as I've had great results with it.

No idea if it's right but usually I add sugar at the start of the boil as it makes hopping calculations easier. Definitely not post boil - it's not honey beer!

BTW if my input has been of any help that's fantastic - like a lot of people on here I'd say I owe you big time!

[imark]

Whats not mentioned above is for fermentation I will start at 18 and drift up to 21 degrees over 7 days.

You can take that up over 25C over ~10days without any problems from my experience. You must maximize attenuation to achieve the Belgian "digestability"

[Ciderhead]

Yep I read that alright that you get earthy on the lower range and to get the fruity element you need to be on the high end which for this yeast will be 22 so I may go mad with the extra degree, but with the cost and effort on that fecker it's deffo not gonna see 25 and reviews on white labs at elevated temps are not good with reports of bananas, whereas I am chasing plums maybe on V2.0 I'll be braver


Bored off my tits at Sat morning hockey

[mr hoppy]

Chimay White has a bit of a banana flavour.