Need help composing recipes for my next few brews.

[tazman67]

Agree whith the Doc, for Belgians..the key is Yeast , Liquid is the go for these babies.
Wyeast 1214 ( Chimay )
Wyeast 1388 ( Duval )
Wyeast 1762 ( Rochfort )
Wyeast 3463 ( Forbidden Fruit )
Wyeast 3522 (Achouffe )
Wyeast 3787 ( Westmalle )
These are from Mr Maltys Web site: http://www.mrmalty.com/yeast.htm
Worth a look if you are looking at Liquid yeasts
Cheers

[Fifey]

I got the 3522 Ardennes yeast picked from the tasting notes and temp range; in case something goes wrong with our temp control it gives a little more leeway.

[Tipsy]

Wassa's Honey Porter has 1kg of DDME. The Belgian has 2.3kg of LDME. I've also got some Carafa spec II and some black grain. Would it be a good idea to sub some of the DDME in Wassa's Honey Porter for some Carafa to free up a bit of DDME for the Belgian? I'm not happy with the variety of malt in the Belgian recipe, it's just LDME, 50g of black grain and various sugar fermentables (brown sugar and honey, though I've got some candi syrup to sub the sugar with).

I wouldnt put any DDME in a belgian so no.

The key to a good belgian is the yeast. Make sure you have a belgian yeast.

Sorry but I've got to ask,why no DDME in a Belgian?

[drsmurto]

Wassa's Honey Porter has 1kg of DDME. The Belgian has 2.3kg of LDME. I've also got some Carafa spec II and some black grain. Would it be a good idea to sub some of the DDME in Wassa's Honey Porter for some Carafa to free up a bit of DDME for the Belgian? I'm not happy with the variety of malt in the Belgian recipe, it's just LDME, 50g of black grain and various sugar fermentables (brown sugar and honey, though I've got some candi syrup to sub the sugar with).

I wouldnt put any DDME in a belgian so no.

The key to a good belgian is the yeast. Make sure you have a belgian yeast.

Sorry but I've got to ask,why no DDME in a Belgian?

Dark malt flavours such as choc, coffee etc are out of place in a belgian (if brewing to style that is). Dark crystal malts are preferred to get more of the dark, dried fruit characteristics.

Mots of the belgian styles are more about the esters from the yeast as well as the dark crystal malt characters i mentioned. The possible exception would be belgian dark strong.

I am not very experienced with brewing belgian ales but have been studying them quite a bit for next weeks BJCP exam which does involve coming up with recipes (albeit AG) for all the styles.

Even as a kit brewer i preferred to get dark malt complexity from grain rather than using DDME so would always go with LDME and get the colour and flavour from crystal/choc etc.

[Tipsy]

Thanks for the reply.
To be honest, I have never used DDME