Never brewed a Belgian style before. Does anybody have a good 5 gallon All Grain recipe , that they would like to share?
Do you have any specific Belgian style you want to go for or maybe at least a starting gravity target? There can be a lot out there in the world of Belgian beer. Personally I thought NB’s Belgian Dubbel was decent kit.
Light gold in color , crsip , dry , refreshing? ABV round 5-6%.
This one is a little on the hoppy side, but you can tone that down easily.
Belgian Blonde Recipe
Recipe: New Vleteren Blonde
Style: Belgian Specialty Ale
TYPE: All Grain
Recipe Specifications
Boil Size: 6.00 gal
Post Boil Volume: 5.50 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.25 gal
Bottling Volume: 5.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.053 SG
Estimated Color: 3.6 SRM
Estimated IBU: 34.0 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 75.7 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes
Ingredients:
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
1.00 g Calcium Chloride (Mash 60.0 mins) Water Agent 1 -
1.00 g Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 mins Water Agent 2 -
7 lbs 8.0 oz Pilsner (2 Row) Franco Belg (Soufflet) ( Grain 3 75.0 %
2 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (3.0 SRM) Grain 4 20.0 %
8.0 oz Sugar, Table (Sucrose) (1.0 SRM) Sugar 5 5.0 %
2.25 oz Hallertauer Mittelfrueh [3.40 %] - 60m Hop 6 26.7 IBUs
0.50 oz Sterling [7.50 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 7 5.9 IBUs
0.25 oz Hallertauer Mittelfrueh [3.40 %] - 15m Hop 8 1.5 IBUs
0.80 oz Sterling [7.50 %] - Aroma Steep 0.0 min Hop 9 0.0 IBUs
1.0 pkg Trappist High Gravity (Wyeast Labs #3787 Yeast 10 -
Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Light Body, No Mash Out
Total Grain Weight: 10 lbs
Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Mash In Add 12.00 qt of water at 167.5 F 150.0 F 60 min
Mash Step Add 3.00 qt of water at 209.2 F 160.0 F 5 min
Sparge: Batch sparge with 2 steps
Our host has two blode kits: lefse blond and paterbeir. Get/make either and you’ll be happy. their recipe is available at their link too.
:cheers:
+1 for the Patersbier. Sounds like exactly what you’re looking for. Easy beer to make. Light gold, crisp and refreshing. Mash cooler (mid to upper 140’s maybe around 147F) to help dry it out.
So I just posted a question about stopping a fermentation to prevent a beer from becoming too dry, but this post may hold part of the answer as well.
My Outmeal stout that ended a little dry was from an extract kit so it doesn’t apply, but if I had brewed it as AG you’re saying that I can control how dry it is with my mash temp?
Why is that? I’m assuming lower mash temp = less sugar = dryer. But then if I were monitoring my mash efficiency it would appear that I have a less efficent mash process as well correct?
So I just posted a question about stopping a fermentation to prevent a beer from becoming too dry, but this post may hold part of the answer as well.
My Outmeal stout that ended a little dry was from an extract kit so it doesn’t apply, but if I had brewed it as AG you’re saying that I can control how dry it is with my mash temp?
Why is that? I’m assuming lower mash temp = less sugar = dryer. But then if I were monitoring my mash efficiency it would appear that I have a less efficent mash process as well correct?[/quote]
Lower mash temps create smaller sugars which are more easily consumed by the yeast converted to alcohol. Higher mash temps create more complex sugars that are harder for the yeast to convert. So lower temp = more convertible sugar. Higher mash temp = less convertible sugar. Wort with more convertible sugar (or easier for the yeast to consume) will be less sweet and have a higher alcohol content making it more dry. Wort with less convertible sugar (harder for the yeast to consume) will be more sweet and have a lower alcohol content.
I picked up the grain for a PB on monday and will probably brew it tomorrow or saturday. really looking forward to exactly what your describe: crisp and refreshing.
:cheers:
I picked up the grain for a PB on monday and will probably brew it tomorrow or saturday. really looking forward to exactly what your describe: crisp and refreshing.
:cheers: [/quote]
The best description is that it will turn out tasting like the best light beer you’ve ever had. At least that’s my opinion of it. BMC crowd pleaser, but you’ll know it’s a Belgian which makes it even more fun to watch BMC drinkers enjoying it.
I made an abbey single last year that was very successful, I was very pleased. What I like to do is make a small beer to get a really big yeast cake then do one of the bigger Belgian ales. In this case, the small beer did better than the triple I made with the yeast cake.
By the way, I do have one comment concerning the discussion about mash temperature. I agree that mashing cooler will give you more simple sugars which will end up giving you more attenuated beer everything else being equal. However, if you mash hot, you end up with complex sugars (better known as dextrans) which are not generally fermentable by normal beer yeasts. Where I disagree though is that dextrans have no flavor so they don’t add “sweetness” per se to your beer. In other words, you can brew a beer high in dextrans which will come off dry (many German lagers made correctly fall into this category).
If you made a beer which dried out more than you liked I can think of a couple of ways to remedy that situation. My first suggestion (especially if you don’t wish to mess with the grist) is to find a yeast strain that does not attenuate as well. Many British strains are well known for this quality, my personal favorite is WLP02 (Fuller’s yeast) but there are quite a few others. Many of these strains will add more yeast character to your beer than say WLP01 (Chico yeast) but I rather like that (just be careful about diacetyl because it’s easy to make a “butter bomb” with this stuff). My other suggestion would be to mess around with your formulation. Adding crystal malt will add sweetness to your beer as well as adding mouthfeel. I guess another way to do it would be to under-pitch but I don’t recommend that because it can cause all sorts of other problems. This brewing stuff is really alot like cooking in that you have to balance several variables at the same time to get a product you are really happy with.
Thanks for correcting that. I definitely misspoke… mistyped… whatever. Yes, mashing hotter (upper 150’s) will create more complex sugars that can’t be converted as easily by yeast which leads to more body and mouth feel in a beer. Think Stouts. But these beers usually use more crystal malts which also lend dextrins and other non-fermentable sugars which lead to a sweeter wort.
So correcting myself, lower mash temps make a more fermentable wort, which leads to a drying beer. Higher mash temps create a less fermentable wort, which leads to more body and mouth feel. And beers that should be mashed with higher temps generally use larger amounts of crystal malts which will add sweetness to the beer.
Thank you all for your help.
