I’m drinking my first Belgian IPA; homebrew of course. Its damn tasty! I used 10 pounds Belgian pale malt, a pound of Belgian biscuit malt and a pound of simplicity candi sugar. WLP530. I went all New Zealand hops; never used them and was intrigued. I did a OZ of Pacific Gem- 13.2% @ 20mins and a OZ of Super High Alpha- 13.6% @ 20min. The bittering is very subtle for a 56 IBU beer. Sharp on the tip of the tongue then for me disappears and the malt, possible the candi is displayed greatly. It ends with a somewhat muddled hop flavor. I’m picking up a sort of kerosene like twang on the very tail end. I just listened to a show where they said hi alpha NZ hops can do this so it may just be my mind playing tricks but if its there I like it. I used a OZ of each as a dry hop as well. This beer is still young about 2 weeks in the keg. The lacing is beautiful from the top to bottom of my Duvel glass. I’m becoming more and more into Belgians and sours as my style’s and just looking for a discussion on success or failures in the Belgian world. Cheers.
I love this style, and I get around to making it once a year or so. I usually use all pils malt, about 30 IBU, but then do a big hop burst at the end with what ever European hop smells the freshest. I usually use Saaz or Styrian in the finish, but I have also used sterling. I try to keep it between 7-8% so that it does not take forever to condition. I am not a big fan of the American made versions. I don’t think the American malt stands up to the hops. I also don’t use American hops because they often cover up some of the Belgian yeast character which is the whole reason for brewing this style. I get plenty of citrus from Saaz and styrians, and they really compliment the continental malt and yeast character.
530 is my favorite yeast for Belgians, but I think 550 comes into condition a bit faster so I often use it for this style. This is not a beer to age or you lose the hop flavor/aroma. Both of these yeasts will finish dry so I usually don’t add any sugar except at bottling, although this is one I often put in the keg since it is made to drink fairly fresh.
I steer away from pils malt for some reason. I think the long boil which is just being lazy. I know its said to give the typical “Beery” flavor or a nice grainy flavor. Do you have experience using pils in place of say Belgian pale malt and see a improvement?
Been a LONG time since I’ve been on here. Busy life got in the way. LOVE this topic. I’m a huge fan of Belgian IPAs. There are just so many different flavors going on. It’s an amazing style. My recipe is mostly Pale Ale & Munich, a little Melanoiden and cara-pils, and a lb of cane sugar to help dry it out a little. I like to use a mix of European and American hops. Magnum for bittering and a mix of Cascade, Saaz for aroma and flavor and I dry hop with Cascade and Perle. I like Wyeast and use 3522 Belgian Ardennes fermented a little warm starting around 70F and letting it raise up around 80F or so.
My brew club is having an all extract competition and I converted this over for the comp. No base malts allowed and only 2lbs of steeping grains. I’m using Munich LME which is 50/50 pale ale and munich. Thinking of adding the carapils, but that’s about it. Everything else will stay the same.
I have only used carapils twice on lagers. Can you steep that? I agree with you on the flavors being much greater. Its a lot to try and pick apart I am certainly a big fan already. Mine is only 6.8% there is something to be said about flavorful drinkable beer. I love making some 3-4% beers as well. I was thinking about doing a miny Belgian. High Mash temp High hop gold color or something along those lines.
I usually mix 50% Weyerman pils with 50% Maris Otter for my Belgian base malt. The MO gives it a bit of nuttiness and color in my saisons, single and Belgian strong darks. I usually stick with pils malt only in my tripels and Belgian IPA where I want the hops and yeast character to dominate.
I tried some aromatic Munich and other light crystal malts in some of my Saisons, singles, and I think their sweet, toastiness clashes with the yeast character, so I usually just try to keep it simple. Some of these grains work well in dark beers and Belgian pale ale though.
I make more singles and saisons at 5-6%. There is something to be said for drinkability.
Maris otter (and other pale ale grains) also works well as a base malt if you don’t like pils malt. Most of these yeasts will eat right through it with enough time.
[quote=“SA Brew”]
I make more singles and saisons at 5-6%. There is something to be said for drinkability.
Do you use Brett at all. I have been making a few recipes in Beersmith for saison; just playing around and I think I want to go the French saison strain Wyeast 3711 and then bottle with Brett B.
This is one hoppy style that I haven’t brewed yet. What does everyone like for yeast strains? What temps do you ferment at? I was thinking you’d want a relatively clean yeast fermented on the cool side so there isn’t too much of a clash with the hops.
I’m planning an IPA later this spring using Sterling, Crystal and Ultra. This thread has me tempted to use T-58 instead of my usual US-05…
[quote=“erockrph”]This is one hoppy style that I haven’t brewed yet. What does everyone like for yeast strains? What temps do you ferment at? I was thinking you’d want a relatively clean yeast fermented on the cool side so there isn’t too much of a clash with the hops.
I’m planning an IPA later this spring using Sterling, Crystal and Ultra. This thread has me tempted to use T-58 instead of my usual US-05…[/quote]
I find just the opposite to be true. You DO want a big flavorful yeast that lends those Belgian yeast attributes. Otherwise, it’s just an IPA. I like Wyeast and use 3522 Belgian Ardennes. It’s temp range is wide 65-85F. I start it off around 68-70F and let it rise on it’s own. It will get up into the upper 70’s or low 80’s when at room temp (72F). The higher temps is where you get all those great Belgian yeast flavors. And for my tastes… that’s what you want from a Belgian IPA.
[quote=“dobe12”][quote=“erockrph”]This is one hoppy style that I haven’t brewed yet. What does everyone like for yeast strains? What temps do you ferment at? I was thinking you’d want a relatively clean yeast fermented on the cool side so there isn’t too much of a clash with the hops.
I’m planning an IPA later this spring using Sterling, Crystal and Ultra. This thread has me tempted to use T-58 instead of my usual US-05…[/quote]
I find just the opposite to be true. You DO want a big flavorful yeast that lends those Belgian yeast attributes. Otherwise, it’s just an IPA. I like Wyeast and use 3522 Belgian Ardennes. It’s temp range is wide 65-85F. I start it off around 68-70F and let it rise on it’s own. It will get up into the upper 70’s or low 80’s when at room temp (72F). The higher temps is where you get all those great Belgian yeast flavors. And for my tastes… that’s what you want from a Belgian IPA.[/quote]
Big +1 on letting it rise and yeast selection. A word of advice, don’t let it start in the mid to high 70’s unless you’re ready for full on rocket fuel. Letting it free rise is where it’s at…with the first day or 2 held at a moderate fermentation temp (65-68 or so).
The first brew I made with 3522 was actually a copy of dobe12’s recipe. Dobe is correct in that this yeast will be significantly higher than ambient, especially for the fist few days of fermentation.
What’s up dsidab81? Long time no speak. Life got crazy and I haven’t been on the forum in quite some time. Wasn’t able to brew for a few months either, but I’m back in the game now. Just brewed a Belgian IPA yesterday 
It’s an all extract (haven’t done one of those in about 2 years) for my brew clubs extract competition at the end of February. Pitched at 65F and let it rise. It’s going crazy as of 6am this morning. Blowoff is churning away like mad! Smells AWESOME!!!
- Sorry to highjack -
Was wondering where the hell you went!!! No shame in extract, I still mix that in when short on brewing time.
Glad to hear you’re back in the brewing saddle.
I hear that! I’ve got my all-grain brew days down to about 4hrs if everything goes well. The extract I brewed yesterday took just under 3hrs.
We should do a swap again. I’ll PM you so we stop highjacking this dudes thread.
Unfortunately, I have picked up brett from somewhere, and I am trying to get rid of it. It makes my beers taste like brett only. There is no malt or hop character. I like brett beers, but don’t want every beer I brew to have it. I am slowly cleaning kegs and replacing hoses, etc.
I have not tried the 3711, but I have used the saison I and II and I like both of them. For some reason I like White Labs for my Belgians, and Wyeast for my English ales and the occasional lager.
WLP 550/3522 is probably the easiest yeast to use for Belgian IPA. 530 should work well, and is my favorite for blond, tripel, and quad. I think it’s flavor takes a little longer to mature though. I think the temp rise depends on gravity. If you are starting at 1.070, you could probably do 3 days cool and then let the temp rise. If you are starting stronger, you should probably go a week or so cool and let the beer finish warm for another week. It will still finish out and still have lots of Belgian character. Hot beer is not good. I have made the mistake of letting my beer get too warm, too fast, and had bad results.
Thanks for the tips on getting the right yeast character. I’m a big fan of WY1762, and it is a killer attenuator so that might be a good match for me. I generally like it in darker styles, so maybe I’ll brew a dubbel IPA with this yeast.
[quote=“SA Brew”]
530 should work well, and is my favorite for blond, tripel, and quad. I think it’s flavor takes a little longer to mature though. I think the temp rise depends on gravity.
I used WLP530 for this IPA and love it. I just ferment in ambient temps for right now. Basement is at 67F. I chill till about 90 and then let it sit in the fermenter over night when it gets to room temp. I don’t think this has anyone off or young flavors at all; not to say it isn’t hiding behind the hops. I am expecting another vial in a few days for a Dark Strong! I’m on the fence about moving it onto my sour beer oak chips after primary and then bottling. I planned on using WLP500 top cropped for three belgians in a row; the first being a dark with pepper corns. The first beer I pitched warm to just experiment and it took off a few hours later and smelt/taste like just banana’s for a month at least.
