chimay

[AT]

Chimay Grande Reserve Clone

OG: 1.087
FG: 1.015
SRM: 34 (amber with some red tones)
IBU: 27
ABV: 9.0%

For 5 gal recipe:

Grains:
13.33lb Belgian 2-row Pilsner Malt
8 oz Belgian Cara-Munich Malt
6 oz Belgian Aromatic Malt
4 oz Belgian Special B Malt
2.5 oz British Chocolate Malt

Single infusion mash at 149F for 90 minutes, 1.1-1.25 qts water/lb grain. Soften water by diluting with RO or distilled water. I used 3 parts distilled to 1 part tap. You need a highly fermentable wort.

Hops:
1/2 oz Yakima Magnum (6 HBU) - 60 min boil
1/2 oz Hallertau Hersbrucker - 15 min boil
1/4 oz Hallertau Hersbrucker - 2 min boil

Other Additions:
1.5 lb Belgian Dark Candi Sugar - 60 min boil
1/8 tsp Grains of Paradise - 15 min boil
1 tsp Irish Moss - 15 min boil
1/8 tsp Grains of Paradise 2 min boil

Ferment at 65F with WLP500 Trappist Ale yeast (or Wyeast 1388 Belgian Strong Ale). I've heard people ferment at low to mid 70s also with good results.

Ferment in the primary fermenter for 7 days or until fermentation slows, then siphon into the secondary fermenter. Prime the beer in the secondary with another dose of the same strain of fresh yeast 3 days before bottling. Bottle when fermentation is complete, target gravity is reached and beer has cleard (approximately 6 weeks) with:

1/2 cup corn sugar and 1/3 cup Belgian candi sugar that has been boiled for 10 minutes in 2 cups of water. Let prime at 70F for aproximately 6 weeks until carbonated, then store at cellar temperature.

I found this on line and wanted to know what ye think? along with hobgoblin it's my fav and although it looks complicated i'd like to give it a go, where can i buy these ingredients?

[AT]

grains of paradise

God bless ebay

[mysterio]

You can get all of the grains hops and yeast from hop & grape. You'll need to get some malt extract and do a nice big starter for it, around 4 litres. Also good aeration of the starter and wort will help.

Apart from those steps it doesn't look particularly difficult.

[AT]

can't find Yakima Magnum hops in hop and grape except in pellets, does this make any difference? i've never used them but i read it's hard to seperate them from the wort

[mysterio]

Don't worry about the hops in Belgian beers, they aren't known for their hop character. Chimay uses tinned hop extracts apparently. I would probably just use the leftover Hersbruker for bittering, but go for the Magnum pellets if you want. I don't bother filtering them out, whatever isnt filtered out by the whole hops drops out naturally after fermentation.

[AT]

Well this is my next brew, i just ordered it and the swimbo is away next week