Dubbel this Weekend

[Barley Water]

I brewed the second beer in my Belgian series this weekend, a Dubbel. I just love brewing this kind of stuff because I can get really wild with the ingredients and still stay within the style. This time I used a bunch of date syrup as well as 3/4 of a bottle of the dark Belgian candi sugar (liquid). Additionally, I pulled off a quart of first runnings and ground up 6oz of raisens in the blender, threw them in the first runnings then carmelized the entire thing. By the time I was done, I had a sause pan full of brown sticky goo that had a very intense raisin taste which I then put into the copper. Hopefully, this will lead to a rummy, dark fruit taste in the finished beer. This beer came out a little bigger than planned, the O.G. is 1.080 but what the hell, there should be enough sugar in there to keep it from being too cloying.

As an aside, I got the results from a small competition I entered earlier this month. I entered six beers and got five metals, the best I have ever done by alot. Three of the beers were heavily influenced by what I learned on this forum so I want to thank all the guys that gave me advice, God knows I need some guidance.

[mysterio]

Congrats on the medals! What were the beers and what scores did you get?

Dubbel sounds good, what yeast?

[Barley Water]

I went with WLP500 (Chimay) yeast yet again. I am having trouble getting what I want out of this style and after much debate decided to use this one again because I really want that nice raisin/plumb/current/rummy taste that this strain is capable of producing. If this doesn't work out the way I want, I will switch to WLP530 next time. My plan is to start off at 65F and ramp the temperature up a little every day until I get to the mid 70s. This yeast can also throw off alot of bananna which although great in a weizen can get to be too much here, I guess it's pretty much out of my hands now though. I am also very optimistic about the carmalized raisins, tasted great going in but you never know how things will come out. Anyhow, it's great fun to play with, I really enjoy doing Belgians although I doubt I will ever win anything brewing them but then, that leaves more for me.

I was very surprised to do as well as I did in the competition although it was a smaller competition so I don't think I will let my head swell too much. I got gold metals for a CAP and a Best Bitter, silver metals for a Helles and a Brown Porter and a bronze metal for a Mild. I don't remember exactly what the scores were but I want to say I averaged around 40. You guys helped me with advice on the Mild (my first attempt at the style) and I used the posted formulation for the Fuller's London porter clone. Strangely enough, Aleman's advice concerning ceral mashes got me over the top with the CAP (wierd somebody from the UK helping out a yank with an American beer but I'll take good advice wherever I can find it).

[delboy]

I went with WLP500 (Chimay) yeast yet again. I am having trouble getting what I want out of this style and after much debate decided to use this one again because I really want that nice raisin/plumb/current/rummy taste that this strain is capable of producing. If this doesn't work out the way I want, I will switch to WLP530 next time. My plan is to start off at 65F and ramp the temperature up a little every day until I get to the mid 70s. This yeast can also throw off alot of bananna which although great in a weizen can get to be too much here, I guess it's pretty much out of my hands now though. I am also very optimistic about the carmalized raisins, tasted great going in but you never know how things will come out. Anyhow, it's great fun to play with, I really enjoy doing Belgians although I doubt I will ever win anything brewing them but then, that leaves more for me.

I was very surprised to do as well as I did in the competition although it was a smaller competition so I don't think I will let my head swell too much. I got gold metals for a CAP and a Best Bitter, silver metals for a Helles and a Brown Porter and a bronze metal for a Mild. I don't remember exactly what the scores were but I want to say I averaged around 40. You guys helped me with advice on the Mild (my first attempt at the style) and I used the posted formulation for the Fuller's London porter clone. Strangely enough, Aleman's advice concerning ceral mashes got me over the top with the CAP (wierd somebody from the UK helping out a yank with an American beer but I'll take good advice wherever I can find it).

I don't suppose you could post your helles recipe/process? BTW congrats on the medals

[Aleman]

Well done on the silverware BW, Glad the cereal mash made a difference

[oblivious]

Congratulation on the medals

[Barley Water]

Thanks guys, again I really appreciate the help.

The helles formulation is simple, pils malt with a little carapils for body. I did a single decoction which if I remember correctly was about 1/3 of the mash (the dry portion) boiled for 20 minutes. Petty standard stuff, if you try it, make sure you pitch plenty of yeast and keep the temperature down to avoid any off flavors. There is absolutely nothing to hide behind with a beer like this so fermentation is critical to success. Actually, in my humble opinion the beer came out pretty well but it started near 1.060 which is really a little too big for the style, next time I will drop the gravity to 1.050 like our buddies in the fatherland do. For some reason, I have a real aversion to watering down wort, I guess it's a Texas thing.

[mysterio]

I've got a Dubbel planned for pretty soon... got some of the dark candi syrup on the way

Should be a good beer to break out during the Winter months.

[Barley Water]

My Dubbel is now in secondary and I can bottle as soon as my supplier gets me the Belgian corks and cages (I already have the bottles, boy are they expensive). I will report back here once I get a taste at bottling time. This year's Saison is also ready to bottle although I like to let it go for a very long time before bottling so it attenuates all the way down (and that Saison yeast is wierd, slow stuff). The great thing about Saison is that I do it at room temperature so it doesn't take up cool space plus I have some of last year's effort left so I am not in any hurry.

Last weekend, I did a "Leffe like" Belgian Blonde Ale. I made this one a little less agressive from an alcholol standpoint (O.G. 1.069) but it is still pretty big, not a quaffing brew for sure. I started with Jamil Z's formulation and substituted jaggary for the table sugar and threw in a couple of ounces of honey malt plus a little lemon zest at knockout. For some reason, I just can't get myself to follow directions, especially when I am making a Belgian. I guess that comes from reading too many wierd homebrew books that stress creativity. The other thing about Belgians is that I am not trying to win contests with this stuff so I can do whatever I feel like at the time which for me, is really fun.

I am going to make one more Belgian before the end of the year, a Belgian pale ale then it's on to the German lagers again. My next big project is going to be Belgian sour ales. Unfortunately, I noticed that Mr. Mysterio was messing with the wierd bugs and that got me curious (hopefully he will keep us abreast of his progress there). After some research, I think I can handle some of that action so in the spring when Wyeast comes out with their preferred wild blend, I am going to the dark side. My wife is going to be very upset with me once I start having full 5 gallon carboys all over the house with wierd things growing in them. Just think how much fun can be had blending some the the sour ales with some of the other stuff I make, the possibilities are endless.

[mysterio]

Glad to hear you're breaking your sour ale cherry (or should that be kriek..)

Only problem is i've got to wait a year until I know if i've made 5 gallons of balsamic vinegar or something drinkable... The white pellicle that sits on top of the beer looks disgusting, and it's not exactly inviting me to take a sample... probably for the best.

Dubbel is coming up soon on my list, after a Dunkelweizen and another Wit... got zero time to brew them though. Good call on the champagne bottles - i've been saving the big leffe bottles for when i bottle mine, only got four so far though.

[Barley Water]

I was a bottling fool this weekend. I bottled both my Dubbel and this years Saison. I put the Dubbel in the Belgian 750's with the corks and wire cages, it all went pretty well. The Saison was bottled in champaign bottles with crown caps, I can not find corks for those damn things that work with my corker. I have one more batch to bottle, the Belgian Blond which will also go into Belgian 750's. I must admit, bottling is a giant pain-in-the-butt but at least once I get this last batch in the bottles, I should not have to do very much for quite a while. The good thing about this was that I found a whole case of Saison that I made about a year and a half ago which still tastes good. The Dubbel is really nice, very alcholic but nice. The flavors have come together nicely and the alcholol is there but it is not hot or solventy (this that a word?). Nice rummy, dark fruit taste, I can't wait to try this stuff once it carbonates. I'm doing bottle conditioning on both these beers and I over yeasted both with some neutral American ale yeast just to make sure that there were not problems. I dosed the Dubbel with a cup of corn sugar (for a 5 gallon batch) which should make it lively but not over the top. The Saison got 1 1/3 cups which should make the beer almost jump out of the bottle. I think that both beers should throw up pretty big heads, especially the Saison.