Something Belgian Please - Reward

[phatboytall]

I'm planning to brew my fist attempt at a Belgian beer. I know bugger all about Belgians other than Poroit. I normally just brew hoppy ales and US Pale ales.

I've got 4kgs of Special B malt in stock as I loved that in my Arrogant Bastard Clone, and I’ve got some S-33 dried yeast. Plus pretty much every other type of English/US type malt and hop in stock (I like to keep a good stock of brewing supplies in case of nuclear war or the breakdown of society as we know it)

So suggest me a recipe! Plus any tips on making it, all i know is you ferment them at about 24c?

Reward : I'll reward submissions by naming a famous Belgian for every recipe provided

[crookedeyeboy]

I brewed this and after a year it was amazing! Not that it wasnt drinkable before then! I had one bottle left after a year :-0
DEFINITELY go for the making your own invert sugar its dead easy and add so much flavour and body, as well as ABV!!!
Here you go:

Lager Malt 2.5 EBC 3750 grams 58.8%
Pale Malt 5 EBC 2000 grams 31.4%
Crystal Malt, Pale 60 EBC 125 grams 2%
Sugar Invert No. 1 Solid 30 EBC 500 grams 7.8%


Mount Hood Whole 4.4 % 90 mins 0 lbs. 0.9 oz 25 grams 28.7%
Mount Hood Whole 4.4 % 65 mins 0 lbs. 1.3 oz 37 grams 42.5%
Mount Hood Whole 4.4 % 10 mins 0 lbs. 0.9 oz 25 grams 28.7%

Final Volume: 23 Litres
Original Gravity: 1.065
Final Gravity: 1.012
Alcohol Content: 7% ABV
Total Liquor: 34.2 Litres
Mash Liquor: 14.7 Litres
Mash Efficiency: 75 %
Bitterness: 28.38 EBU
Colour: 15 EBC

[phatboytall]

Great! thanks! Will google making invert sugar.

And your reward. Belgian World Cup 1990 Midfield maestro Enzo Scifo

[dave-o]

I wouldn't use S33 in a Belgian, it doesn't finish dry enough.

[crookedeyeboy]

Typical my reward had to be football based! I am a minority male who doesnt like football so I havent a clue who that is!!!

I used WLP575 in that brew but to be honest if you want more Belgian character I would go with one of the trappist strains, 575 is more of a belgian 'style' yeast, it wasnt that strong in flavour for me.

Dried yeast wise Safale T58 leaves a good alcohlic dry finish with lots of Belgian character

[TheMumbler]

Assumed effcicency 72% since I have been under lately when assuming 75%
Predicted OG 1053
Predicted FG 1013
Colour 10 SRM

23l
5000g Dingemans Pale
350g Amber Candi Sugar

46g Bobek (4.5 ) @ 90
10g Saaz (3.8 ) @ 90
25g Saaz (3.8 ) @ 30
25g Saaz (3.8 ) @ 15

WKP550 pitched at 20*C rising to 24*C over a few days
water treated as general, using united utilities averages and results of a salifert kit test for carbonate.

ended up with better efficiency and so stronger. It isn't actually finished conditioning yet, I'm in the process of carbing so it is a bit flat but nice I think. I guess you are after something more along the lines of a strong dark with all that special B. Belgian beers are all about the yeast really, so I'm not sure S33 will cut it, I would certainly ferment towards the higher end of its range if you do go with that

Typical my reward had to be football based! I am a minority male who doesnt like football so I havent a clue who that is!!!

don't worry I'll probably end up getting Jean Claude Van Damme

[phatboytall]

Cheers for the recipe! Looks amazingly simple!

I am thinking i might have to delay brewing my Belgian beer until I can get some better yeast, probably when the new season hops are availble to buy.

Your Reward? Audrey Hepburn. Yep, born in Ixelles, Belgium.

[dave-o]

This is my latest "Belgian" if it's of any interest:

(23l)

4500g Pale Malt
300g Wheat Malt
300g Special B
300g Table Sugar

50g Aurora - Full boil
25g Saaz - 5 mins
25g Saaz - Flame out

S05


Despite using a non-Belgian yeast i would say it does have distinctly Belgian characteristics. I don't have a great deal of Belgian-drinking experience to call upon, but i would describe it as quite similar to Duvel but with a deeper flavour and less of a "special brew-y" aftertaste.

[phatboytall]

Cheers Dave-o, I do love Special B malt.....

Reward : Jean Claude Van Damme of course.

[crookedeyeboy]

Cheers Dave-o, I do love Special B malt.....

Reward : Jean Claude Van Damme of course.

[moose]

I'm just fermenting the following, adapted from the Enkel recipe in Drew Beecham's book:

Pale Malt 5 EBC 2800 grams 69.1%
Flaked Oats 0 EBC 500 grams 12.4%
Molasses sugar 16 EBC 500 grams 12.4%
CaraBelge 35 EBC 250 grams 6.2%

Bobek 60 mins 30 grams
Bobek 10 mins 16 grams
Final Volume: 23 Litres
Alcohol Content: 4.4% ABV
Bitterness: 15 EBU
Colour: 11 EBC

With T-58 as the yeast.

It's not really an authentic Belgian strength as I prefer my beers at around 4-5%, but after 4 days fermenting it has an amazingly fruity smell to it.

Stu

[WishboneBrewery]

This was good http://pdtnc.wordpress.com/2011/01/01/a ... style-ale/
This would have been good if I'd used a Whitelabs yeast http://pdtnc.wordpress.com/2010/07/24/a ... ans-candy/
This was a cracker, and my 1st Belgian brew http://pdtnc.wordpress.com/2009/10/17/a ... ppist-red/

my next Belgian will be a Wit though.

[phatboytall]

Cheers guys,
I'm continually impressed at how simple some of the recipes look. I'm currently thinking about taking an Arrogant Bastard clone I did and belgian'ing that up a bit with some candy sugar, different yeast and maybe a few of the above malts and hops bills

Of course your rewards
@Moose, Adolphe Sax, inventor of the saxophone

@PDTNC Eddy Merckx, five times winner of the Tour de France
Herge (Georges Remi) , the creator of TinTin
Peter Paul Rubens, baroque painter

[crookedeyeboy]

Great thread, like the blog site too phatboy! Good luck with it. I need to do another soon.

[dave-o]

Audrey Hepburn is Belgian?
http://www.famousbelgians.net/top10.htm

Bagsy!