Brewing up a Belgian

[Bubbles]

Howya lads. I'm looking for a bit of advice on brewing a Belgian beer. I've never brewed one before. In fact, I've tried very few commercial Belgian beers but I've been getting into them lately. I'm planning on doing this during the summer months when the weather is hopefully a little warmer and might not be optimum for other beer styles. Anyone else do this during the summer?

I'd like to try something pale, like a tripel but maybe not as high in alcohol. I've been reading about moderate-gravity Belgian singles, brewed by Trappist monasteries for the monks consumption. This sounds like it could be suitable. Would the "Belgian Pale Ale" recipe from Jamil's book be in the right ball-park?

I'm also thinking about culturing some yeast from a couple of La Chouffe or Duvel bottles. Anyone got any tales to tell about stepping up yeast starters with these particular strains?

Finally, I'll be doing a partial mash, so I'm limited in the amount of Pilsner malt I can use. I know a lot of Belgian recipes use this as the primary base malt. So any recipes involving plain old DME or eveb wheat DME would be preferable.

Any other recommendations, tips etc. are greatly appreciated.

Cheers.

[LordEoin]

With any belgians I've brewed I've found that the best option is to keep it as simple as possible and let the yeast do most of the work for you.
Don't skimp on the yeast, research and select the most suitable whitelabs yeast for what you want. it's worth the extra few bucks.

[mr hoppy]

I've not recultured Chouffe or Duvel but I've done Rochefort and it worked out pretty ok. DME should be fine. If you are thinking of a triple type beer the T-58 dry yeast is probably ok. You might want to think about using a bit of sugar, especially if you want to push the gravity up. 10 - 20% table sugar is just fine in a Belgian depending on gravity. If you are thinking of something like Chouffe 5g of fresh Indian coriander per 20l added 5 mins before the end of the boil is another option.

The other thing about the kind of Belgians you are talking about is that it's good to start at a reasonably sensible ale temp when you're fermenting but once you're happy that the primary fermentation is winding down push the temperature up to dry it out.

This thread on Northern Brewer has a pretty good discussion on how to do a BPA. I wouldn't get too hung up on the specific De Koninck yeast but I did a beer based on the poster Adrie's recipe and it worked ok.

[Spud395]

I've brewed a few Belgians and I agree it's all about the yeast (well not all obviously, but) I really like wlp550 which is I believe the achouffe strain, I didn't re culture.
The different yeasts like slightly different regimes when it comes to fermentation so a little reading on the whitelabs site is all that you need.

My most successful Belgian beer to date was a Blond/single which was 100% Lager malt hopped to around 25BU's and a few subtle spices, came in around 5% and went down a treat.

[Bubbles]

With any belgians I've brewed I've found that the best option is to keep it as simple as possible

That's good - I'm a simple kind of guy...

Don't skimp on the yeast, research and select the most suitable whitelabs yeast for what you want. it's worth the extra few bucks.

I may end up buying the yeast, to save on hassle. But I've never cultured from a bottle before and I thought it would be a good learning experience. I'll be doing the research on the yeast strains anyway, thanks dude.

[Bubbles]

I've not recultured Chouffe or Duvel but I've done Rochefort and it worked out pretty ok. DME should be fine. If you are thinking of a triple type beer the T-58 dry yeast is probably ok. You might want to think about using a bit of sugar, especially if you want to push the gravity up. 10 - 20% table sugar is just fine in a Belgian depending on gravity. If you are thinking of something like Chouffe 5g of fresh Indian coriander per 20l added 5 mins before the end of the boil is another option.

The other thing about the kind of Belgians you are talking about is that it's good to start at a reasonably sensible ale temp when you're fermenting but once you're happy that the primary fermentation is winding down push the temperature up to dry it out.

This thread on Northern Brewer has a pretty good discussion on how to do a BPA. I wouldn't get too hung up on the specific De Koninck yeast but I did a beer based on the poster Adrie's recipe and it worked ok.

By coincidence, I just picked up a bottle of Rochefort today, first time. Also got a bottle or Orval which I believe is a much funkier affair.

That's a good tip about starting off at a regular ale temperature, thanks. Will try to remember it.

[Bubbles]

I've brewed a few Belgians and I agree it's all about the yeast (well not all obviously, but) I really like wlp550 which is I believe the achouffe strain, I didn't re culture.
The different yeasts like slightly different regimes when it comes to fermentation so a little reading on the whitelabs site is all that you need.

My most successful Belgian beer to date was a Blond/single which was 100% Lager malt hopped to around 25BU's and a few subtle spices, came in around 5% and went down a treat.

The WLP550 sounds nice. And it's used in a couple of the recipes in Jamil's book, one of which I'll probably end up using/bastardising. I've read through the specs on the HBC's website and I think the WLP500 or WLP550 both sound good. That is, if I decide not to reculture from a bottle.

As I do mostly partial mashes (and partial boils unfortunately) the biggest concern for me is the pilsner malt that is in a lot of Belgian pale ale recipes. Could I get away with just using Maris Otter and extra-light DME? (Doesn't pils malt have to have an extended boil to drive off extra DMS?) I might mash some munich and wheat also.

Thanks for your patience everyone...  :-/  

[mr hoppy]

Could I get away with just using Maris Otter and extra-light DME? (Doesn't pils malt have to have an extended boil to drive off extra DMS?) I might mash some munich and wheat also.

I'd say definitely to the Maris Otter, and you're right about the pilsener malt and DMS. I'd imagine the reason that a lot of Belgian beers are made with lager malt is because it's what's available and cheap.

Should also say I recultured the Rochefort from Rochefort 6. Even the monks don't repitch from 10.

[Bubbles]

I'd say definitely to the Maris Otter, and you're right about the pilsener malt and DMS. I'd imagine the reason that a lot of Belgian beers are made with lager malt is because it's what's available and cheap.

Should also say I recultured the Rochefort from Rochefort 6. Even the monks don't repitch from 10.

Cheers, that's good to know.

[imark]

Also got a bottle or Orval which I believe is a much funkier affair.

I've seen several mentions of tipping the dregs of an Orval bottle in after primary to introduce a bit of brett if it's funk you're after

[matthewdick23]

hey there- I started my AG life with all belgians- so have done quite a few of them. it's a bonus that I have a friend from belgium who is currently opening a brewery on the east coast- he was always a pestering email away!

anyways, i'd echo most of wot is above- depending on how strong u want it, you're prob going to want to add some sugar into the boil towards the end. although, never done that with a partial, so not sure how exactly that'd work- would prob work the same way, i think- but not sure.  but yes, yeast is key. i have chimay red, duvel, and westmalle tripel harvested and used multiple times and all have been great- they ferment really really quickly.

simple grain bill, unless you want to do a dubbel

matthew

[Will_D]

it's a bonus that I have a friend from belgium who is currently opening a brewery on the east coast-

Errm??, The East Coast of where?

[Bubbles]

Also got a bottle or Orval which I believe is a much funkier affair.

I've seen several mentions of tipping the dregs of an Orval bottle in after primary to introduce a bit of brett if it's funk you're after

Yeah, I've seen this mentioned on the forums too. I think what you have to do in this case is rack to secondary for some extended aging with the Brett. I wonder is one bottle enough? Or would you have to build up a little Brett starter from the dregs?

I've read reports of people bottling with Orval dregs aswell, but depending on the amount of residual sugars left in the beer before it's exposed to the Brett, you could be opening yourself to some serious bottle bomb action.

[Bubbles]

anyways, i'd echo most of wot is above- depending on how strong u want it, you're prob going to want to add some sugar into the boil towards the end. although, never done that with a partial, so not sure how exactly that'd work- would prob work the same way, i think- but not sure.  but yes, yeast is key. i have chimay red, duvel, and westmalle tripel harvested and used multiple times and all have been great- they ferment really really quickly.

simple grain bill, unless you want to do a dubbel

matthew

I wasn't sure if the sugar would be necessary in what is essentially a "patersbier" but I'll do a bit more reading up on it. (By the way, any recipes I've seen for partial mashes that involve sugar have recommended adding the sugar near the end of the boil, as you'd do if it were an AG batch.)

Cheers.

[mr hoppy]

Also got a bottle or Orval which I believe is a much funkier affair.

Yeah, I've seen this mentioned on the forums too. I think what you have to do in this case is rack to secondary for some extended aging with the Brett. I wonder is one bottle enough? Or would you have to build up a little Brett starter from the dregs?

I've read reports of people bottling with Orval dregs aswell, but depending on the amount of residual sugars left in the beer before it's exposed to the Brett, you could be opening yourself to some serious bottle bomb action.

I've done this twice and while I'm not sure you'll get a lot of funk in a rush I'll do it again. Once was in the secondary and second time bottling. The catch with doing it in the secondary is that you don't get the flavour development where the dry hops fade and the brett takes over that you can get over time in the bottle so that the beer evolves over time.

The other time I did it in the bottle and I didn't have any bottle bombs despite bottling with 3 volumes of sugar. I'll admit I could have probably mashed higher and the primary fermentation temperatures were a bit on the high side so that the final gravity before bottling wasn't that high. While I can't find links at the moment I think once you are down to single digits on your final gravity and you've got pretty strong bottles you'll be fine.