Belgian Strong ale recipes

mikey · Post by **mikey** » Saturday Nov 04, 2006 4:45 pm

lethaldog wrote:All in at the same time for 40 mins

Cheers.

Ahutchy · Post by **Ahutchy** » Wednesday Dec 13, 2006 11:13 am

THanks Lethaldog for the Chimay Blue recipe.

I changed it around a bit to suit what I was trying to get rid of.

1 x oldish tin of Muntons Premium Pilsner
1kg x of fresh LDME
.5kg x Brown Sugar
.25kg x Honey
30g of cascade steeped 20 min
handful of choc grain, cracked and steeped 20min
Brew cellar ale yeast slurry from previous batch of pale ale.

fermented at 20c

10 days in primary, 10 days in secondry, bottled yesterday and wow this could be good. Subtle raison undertones, bit to clean tasting, probably a bit too much obvious alcohol...but with some carbonation and proper serving temp and age, mmmm.

Thanks again Lethaldog for the motivation.

Andrew.

lethaldog · Post by **lethaldog** » Wednesday Dec 13, 2006 4:34 pm

No worries although it wont be the same as the chimay/my recipe it should still be good, even the chimay has the obvious alcohol taste to it so dont worry to much

Ahutchy · Post by **Ahutchy** » Friday Dec 15, 2006 8:23 am

Hi again,

Yeah as I said "a bit "too" much obvious alcohol...

In other words I was hoping for that warming alcohol flavour that all Chimays and others deliver to varying amounts but this one is a bit too obvious but hey lets give it a few months and see.

I popped a Red Chimay into a glass last night and spent 15 - 25 minutes enjoying its lovliness and I feel mine is going to be more like this than the blue although my alcohol is a little higher at OG 1067 - FG 1011 - 7.5 - 8%.

Anyway I had better think of something else or they'll all get drunk well before time.

Thanks again, Andrew.

Danzar · Post by **Danzar** » Tuesday Jan 16, 2007 12:19 pm

pharmaboy wrote:Ed, my fav belgian ale that i brew, is what i call a forbidden fruit;-
Brewcraft belgian ale 1.7kg
LME 1.5 kg (light if you want the right colour, amber for more complex sugars)
500gm English crystal malt steeped
200 grams brown sugar (or candy if you can be bothered)
tablespoon crushed coriander
zest of one mandarine
forbidden fruit yeast (can be got from bottle or wyeast forbidden fruit)

brew at 24 degrees

If you want to be real tricky, the sugar/candy can be added after krausen to give the yeast another shot.

make up to 21 litres.

Have this one in the fermenter but had to make some changes due to a lack of resources.

Used 500g crystal malt (EBC 145).
Used White Labs Belgian Ale Yeast (550)

Now, fermentation was slow and continues to be slow. OG was only 1.051. After five days it's only down to 1.018 - the airlock is bubbling every five minutes or so.

Is this normal? Any suggestions? I expected this to go off like a rocket. Brew temp is around 24c.

mikey · Post by **mikey** » Friday Feb 23, 2007 6:55 am

lethaldog wrote:Oh by the way as far as clones go i dare you to put this one beside the real thing and see if you can taste the difference, it is bassically an exact copy of chimay blue label as far as im concerned so have fun with it guys

P.s be careful with this one it comes out at 9.5%

I tried this and even at 1 month old it wasfantastic! I can't wait till it matures.

When I made it I wasn't sure how high the alcohol content would be - but the hangover after drinking several certainly let me know it was higher than my bog standard CPA's etc.

SpillsMostOfIt · Post by **SpillsMostOfIt** » Friday Mar 09, 2007 7:48 pm

lethaldog wrote:ldme 2.3kg
black grain (crushed) 30g
soft dark brown sugar 400g
blended honey 250g
bittering hops hallertau 40g
bittering hops goldings 20g
if you can get hold of a bottle of chimay blue label then make a starter out of it but if not just use a good ale yeast eg. safale or wyeast abbey ale
final volume 15litres

boil all ingredients for 40 min then strain and adjust to 15 litres with cold water, wait to pitch yeast untill it reaches 25*c.

sit back and crack a cold one as usuall

I'm wanting to All-Grain this. Do *you* think that if I get the same OG with pale ale malt (probably JWM), I'll be okay, or is there something *special* about the extract that I won't get with grain?

NTRabbit · Post by **NTRabbit** » Friday Mar 09, 2007 11:14 pm

I'm going to simultaneously do lethaldog's recipe in one fermenter (with saphire instead of hallertau), and this recipe in the other

Coopers Draught 1.7kg
500g of some kind of sugar, probably make my mind up in the store since Candi Sugar is not available here and I don't have a thermometer that can handle home made.
1kg LDME
50g Crystal Grain
12g of Strisselspalt steeped, ala the old teabag
Filled to 15L

Comes out to 1.079-1.019 8.7% after bottling, makes it my Tripel to Lethals Quadrupel

Suggestions? Criticisms?

Now, to split my Chimay Blue starter between the two, or to give my own recipe a sachet of Craftbrewer Belgian Ale from Ross?

lethaldog · Post by **lethaldog** » Saturday Mar 10, 2007 4:26 pm

Do you have a kitchen supplier like HOUSE nearby as they stock the thermos if you want to make your own candy sugar

I reckon the second ( yours ) will be good from description but since ive never tried it you will have to let me know

NTRabbit · Post by **NTRabbit** » Saturday Mar 10, 2007 10:07 pm

The closest I have is a General Trader down at Marion, I'll have to check tomorrow or Monday.

I made that recipe up on the spot (apparently I seem to have a talent for that), so I'll have to let me know how it turns out as well

lethaldog · Post by **lethaldog** » Saturday Mar 10, 2007 10:22 pm

From memory i think the sugar thermos are about $5-6 so nothing that will break the bank

SpillsMostOfIt · Post by **SpillsMostOfIt** » Monday Mar 12, 2007 12:59 pm

SpillsMostOfIt wrote:
lethaldog wrote:ldme 2.3kg
black grain (crushed) 30g
soft dark brown sugar 400g
blended honey 250g
bittering hops hallertau 40g
bittering hops goldings 20g
if you can get hold of a bottle of chimay blue label then make a starter out of it but if not just use a good ale yeast eg. safale or wyeast abbey ale
final volume 15litres

boil all ingredients for 40 min then strain and adjust to 15 litres with cold water, wait to pitch yeast untill it reaches 25*c.

sit back and crack a cold one as usuall
I'm wanting to All-Grain this. Do *you* think that if I get the same OG with pale ale malt (probably JWM), I'll be okay, or is there something *special* about the extract that I won't get with grain?

Bump.

lethaldog · Post by **lethaldog** » Monday Mar 12, 2007 3:11 pm

Soory spills, not sure on that one but i imagine it would be ok, but havent tried it so yeah i guess the best you can do is try it out and see how it goes

SpillsMostOfIt · Post by **SpillsMostOfIt** » Monday Mar 12, 2007 3:26 pm

lethaldog wrote:Soory spills, not sure on that one but i imagine it would be ok, but havent tried it so yeah i guess the best you can do is try it out and see how it goes

LDME seems to darken on me more than the sugary elixir I elicit from grain. I figure that (although it *shouldn't*) it might do something else.

I bought me a Chimay Blue from G&G on Friday and I've really got the taste. Given that it will probably want a fair while in the Storage Facility, I might just have to get on down and buy the ingredients quite soon...

lethaldog · Post by **lethaldog** » Monday Mar 12, 2007 3:47 pm

Yeah its a great drop especially in those cosy winter months, the one i did was almost identical apart from the fact that it was just a little lighter in colour and it deffinately benefits from a little extra maturing

SpillsMostOfIt · Post by **SpillsMostOfIt** » Monday Mar 12, 2007 4:24 pm

lethaldog wrote:Yeah its a great drop especially in those cosy winter months, the one i did was almost identical apart from the fact that it was just a little lighter in colour and it deffinately benefits from a little extra maturing

Oh no - not the maturing thing again..

You'll be pleased to know that I haven't gone near the Australia Day Stout yet. Fortunately, I've had some AG brews to keep my mind off things...

lethaldog · Post by **lethaldog** » Monday Mar 12, 2007 4:30 pm

Im guessing that you will be saving that one for next year cellebrations

The Ag's have a nack of keeping your mind off other brews, i did a coopers lager recently ( just cos it was sitting there for so long) and its absolute shite, before AG i would have gobbled it up without a thought but now cant drink the shit, maybe ive just been spoilt but none the less i still have a whole keg of it in the fridge, i guess ill have to invite a few over to get rid of it,

Kill 2 birds with 1 stone, they can get rid of the crap brew and cos its crap they wont want to drink my other brews

SpillsMostOfIt · Post by **SpillsMostOfIt** » Monday Mar 12, 2007 6:24 pm

It's doubly funny you should say that.

I'm thinking of inviting some of my mates around to help clear out the cupboard. They seemed to enjoy a lot of my K&K beers, so I should be able to get rid of a fair bit of that and also tempt them with an AG or two (which will assist with the next function - I have a *lot* of beer in storage).

Regarding the Shim A. Blew, I might make an extract version as a start with some Wyeast Abbey Ale which I can use as R&D for an AG version...

SpillsMostOfIt · Wednesday Mar 14, 2007 4:59 pm

Whilst browsing, I found something that is specifically called 'soft sugar'. Is the stuff you're prescribing (lethaldog) special or stuff I would likely pick up at the local soooopermarket?

lethaldog · Post by **lethaldog** » Wednesday Mar 14, 2007 5:13 pm

You pick it up at the local supermarket, im pretty sure that the stuff i used was CSR dark brown sugar