Belgian IPA, advice?

[eanna]

Hi guys,

The closing date for entering the Galway Bay Brewery competition is approaching  (14th March) and they want the recipe before that date, even though I won't be brewing until next Monday. The competition is for a Belgian-ish beer, so I'm planning an IPA/PA with a Belgian yeast.

The ingredients I have include;

Marris Otter
Crystal 120L
Chocolate malt (800EBC I think)
100g Centennial
100g Cascade

And I'll have to make a trip to Homebrew west to get a Belgian yeast.

My thoughts are 18/19L batch
5.5%-6%abv
Crystal
Maybe some Chocolate for colour
60IBU
Sugar?

I haven't used Centennial before and don't know what it's like. Tempted to keep it and brew with it on its own some other time.

Anyone have any advice about what yeast would work well, what mash temperature I should go for, Sugar/no Sugar? Anything else that would work well?

Thanks.

[Jacob]

Not sure about chocolate malt.
Would use some Special B (400EBC) instead.
With 120L crystal and chocolate/special b it's going to be amber-brown in colour so to keep it 'belgian' would also add dark candi sugar.

[eanna]

Thanks Jacob, those sound like things I could stretch the budget for. I presume a 90min mash at low temps would be the way to go too?

Tube, I'm not much of a strong Belgian drinker, I leave that to men of more refined taste..

[Jacob]

I wouldn't mash it in low temp. You want to get full body beer so my choice would be to mash it in 66-67 for 60-90 minutes.

[eanna]

Cool, thanks Jacob!

[marceldesailly]

what are YOU trying to achieve in this? is it a beer full of hop aroma and less yeast or less hoppy and more yeast esters dominating?
just to put a v.diff spin on things and cause you more confusion.And this is just how I would formulate a belgian style IPA ( in your 5-6% category)
keep it almost all pils, possibly add a touch of sugar ( I mean 2%) if you want to dry it even further.
keep the bitterness lower than normal ( for an IPA) at 25 and I would use a saison yeast(wlp 565 i think is dupont) and ferment it cool(internet wisdom seems  to say this can't be used below 25c  but I do it regularly well below this.i like the profile I get at the temp and it suits a big knockout addition of hops).

or alternatively if you want more yeast derived flavours in an IPA id go with something like wlp570 or the golden ale yeast ( wlp550??) and I'd prob not load the knockout additions quite as much. and possibly add a little bit (<5%) of crystal malt or special b

anyway let us know what you want to achieve out if it and I'm sure other other people have different ideas.

[mr hoppy]

To be fair Belgian IPA is probably really two different styles: one being American IPAs with Belgian (e.g. trappist type) yeast like Stone Belgian IPA or Raging Bitch and Belgian tripels with a lot of American hops like Hopsinjoor or Houblon Chouffe.

[eanna]

My goal is an american IPA with some added Belgian yeast flavour and maybe a bit sweeter than a usual IPA. It doesn't help that I haven't tasted Raging Bitch or any of the other US-Belgian IPAs, maybe a job for this weekend.
I think now I have this clarified in my head I might drop the Special B and keep it simple- regular IPA recipe +Safbrew T-58 (Homebrew west seem to have it in stock and it looks to fit the bill ).

[Hop Bomb]

Ive got a good bit of special b if you want some.

[eanna]

Got this done up yesterday, 15L of 1.061. Was going for 18L but various things conspired against me. No major slip-ups though so I'm expecting a good beer out of it.