St. Sixtus Westvleteren 12 clone

[kck74]

Hi all,

Going for a strong belgium next So, inspired by St. Sixtus Westvleteren 12 here is my recipe iv'e been playing around on Beersmith with........

St. Sixtus Westvleteren 12 clone

Belgian Golden Strong Ale
All Grain
Batch Size (fermenter): 25.00 l
Boil Size: 32.02 l
Boil Time: 90 min
End of Boil Volume 28.95 l Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Final Bottling Volume: 23.49 l Est Mash Efficiency 81.0 %


Ingredients

3.00 kg Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (5.9 EBC) Grain 1 33.3 %
3.00 kg Pilsner (2 Row) Bel (3.9 EBC) Grain 2 33.3 %
1.50 kg Munich Malt (17.7 EBC) Grain 3 16.7 %
1.00 kg Vienna Malt (6.9 EBC) Grain 4 11.1 %
0.50 kg Sugar, Table (Sucrose) (2.0 EBC) Sugar 5 5.6 %
20.00 g Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] - Boil 90.0 min Hop 6 22.5 IBUs
20.00 g Tettnang [4.50 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 7 3.4 IBUs
20.00 g Saaz [4.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 8 1.2 IBUs
1.0 pkg Bastogne Belgian Ale (White Labs #WLP510)


Est Original Gravity: 1.082 SG Measured Original Gravity: 1.046 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.011 SG Measured Final Gravity: 1.010 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 9.3 % Actual Alcohol by Vol: 4.7 %
Bitterness: 27.1 IBUs Calories: 427.1 kcal/l
Est Color: 14.0 EBC

Gonna mash overnight and get mi boil on tomorrow

Kev

[bellebouche]

1.082 is reasonably big... have you got a hefty starter running already? I'd guess two litres would be the order of the day.

I'm a big fan of Orval and would love to have a play with that yeast... from reading up on it a while ago (after I bought B.L.A.M.) I understand it gets feisty if stressed or the temp is pushed. Opportunities for lots of banana-y esters.

1.011 is a lowish target to shoot for.. I guess you're mashing low. Looks exciting!

[smdjoachim]

Add the sugar after a few days of fermentation.It helps to get the FG down.

[kck74]

Cheers for the replies!

Bellebouche - I only made a 1ltr starter you live and learn eh? was gonna mash at 65deg. should it be lower?

Smdjoachim - Cheers for that, was gonna stick in the boil at 5 mins, plan changed now

Will keep you updated

Kev

[Spud395]

Well you know what I'm doing here, kck

Is your recipe based on something you've seen or a gut feeling.
Looks like it'll be lighter in colour, I'm not knocking at all, it looks like a super beer

[kck74]

Hi Spud,

Mi dad had a couple of bottles and we sat down and drunk em a while back. Bluddi amazin beer!

Recipe was from various sites, a bit of guesswork and very fond memories of that 15 minutes!!!

I hav'ny brewed yet as I'm back over to Norway next week, but I will do it when I get back.

I will resurrect this thread on mi return

See ya soon

Kev

[Spud395]

Cheers Kev

I'm going to bump my next Belgian brew to my next bar one, brewing tomorrow, 2-3 weeks after that I'll stick on a dark strong Belgian ale.
With a combination of the ingredients that I have.
I'll post about it when I think a bit about my recipe and see what I have in stock

[kck74]

Hi Spud,

Just revised this, I think i'd forgotten just how dark it was! Also upped the IBU's. What do ya think?

3.60 kg Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (5.9 EBC) Grain 1 36.2 %
3.00 kg Pilsner (2 Row) Bel (3.9 EBC) Grain 2 30.2 %
1.50 kg Munich Malt (17.7 EBC) Grain 3 15.1 %
1.00 kg Vienna Malt (6.9 EBC) Grain 4 10.1 %
0.35 kg Chocolate Malt (886.5 EBC) Grain 5 3.5 %
0.50 kg Sugar, Table (Sucrose) (2.0 EBC) Sugar 6 5.0 %
20.00 g Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] - Boil 90.0 min Hop 7 21.2 IBUs
20.00 g Tettnang [4.50 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 8 3.2 IBUs
20.00 g Saaz [4.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 9 1.1 IBUs
0.99 oz Coriander Seed (Boil 5.0 mins) Spice 10 -
1.0 pkg Bastogne Belgian Ale (White Labs #WLP510) [35.49 ml] Yeast 11 -

Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.090 SG Measured Original Gravity: 1.046 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.013 SG Measured Final Gravity: 1.010 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 10.2 % Actual Alcohol by Vol: 4.7 %
Bitterness: 25.4 IBUs Calories: 427.1 kcal/l
Est Color: 47.3 EBC

I maybe had misled people that I was brewing this the other week, but since I had limited time before going away again, I used the starter that I had on another brew. But DEFO gonna brew this when I get back in about 6 weeks time.

Kev

[DaveV]

Just done something not altogether dissimilar, but with WLP500 and a lot less additional malts (basically plenty of caramelised and dark sugar and some Special B and Crystal malt) , still ended up pretty dark, and from initial tasting at racking , pretty fruity. 500g of the sugar was added as a syrup after a couple of days in the FV after some advice from this forum.
I used about 700ml krausen from another lower OG blonde (1060 OG) and that really ripped through (1082 est OG finishing at 1007). It is now sitting in secondary for a good while before bottling. I also pushed the fermentation temperature up to 24 deg C after a couple days starting at 20, that probably also helped to get good attenuation.
Be interested to hear how yours goes. I won't really know what mine is like for months...

Davev

[Spud395]

From my reading I'm more inclined to make things simpler as well Dave.
It seems the monks rely on good quality pilsner and pale malt, caramelised sugar, yeast and time

[kck74]

Awwww don't gang up on me!!!

The reason for the amount of different fermentables is that whenever i drink a Trappist, (or trappist/Belgian style) I always love the complexity of the taste. I've tried to brew a couple so far and they seem to lack this.

I'm only doing it in my kitchen, so hopefully this is my way round it

But, you are right, it does seem too overcomplicated from what i read. I will keep you informed in a few months

Kev

[DaveV]

Hi Kev,

Unlike Spud, I am no expert (only done about a dozen AGs now), just been reading Brew Like a Monk pretty intensively, so all theory at this stage.. I am going to take a step-by-step approach. Thus am trying this simple attempt first , then will have another go in a month or so time with maybe another fermentable/spice/yeast or fermentation profile next time so I can try and determine differences they impart. I am also hoping to coincide my next Belgian attempt in about six weeks to eight weeks time with bottling so I can harvest some krausen from a blond for addition at bottling, as well as for pitching into my follow up stronger brew. On the basis that this is what some of the main Trapist brewers appear to do (on a much larger scale mind..).
This is my new hobby, and I am in no rush to reach perfection...I also really like the idea that with this style of brewing we won't really know till Christmas what has worked or not! Possibly part of a Slow Beer movement that some of the UK brewers may like to join with...

DaveV

[Spud395]

Ah come on now, dont dare call me an expert
30 AG brews under the belt and lots to learn, in fact only brewed 1 Belgian ale so far, a Dubbel that worked out

Change of plan on this one I think.
Instead of building a big starter I'm going to brew a Belgian Blond or maybe abbey single.
Then I'll brew a big'un with the yeastcake.
I was thinking of mixing the base malts up a bit to be honest, for a bit of complexity, a mix of Pale, Lager and Munich malts and then some caramelised suger, we'll see in time