Belgian?

[lancsSteve]

I'd say YES - liquid yeasts = better belgian tastes!

[coatesg]

I'd say liquid yeasts pretty much essential. T-58 doesn't cut it really and S-33 isn't really a Belgian strain at all...

[softlad]

Thanks both

WLP550 on order

[far9410]

ok, so i can make something special using this yeast cake, what I dont know is, what are the basic principles of a dubbel and trippel, what do I have to do thats different?

[mrmojorisin]

Really interested in this myself as I'm looking for a fruity Belgian brew, found a recipe but wanted some input/advice.

Belgian dubbel

4.5kg Belgian pale malt
225g belgian caramunich
115g Belgian special B

30g tradition at 60 mins
450g Dark candi sugar at 15 mins
30g hersbruker at 10 minutes

Primary fermentation 2 weeks, secondary a month then bottle.

Notes say it produces an authentic Trappist style with Flavours including plum, spice, dried fruit, rum and raisin.

To be brewed with wyeast 1214.....but I need to sort my yeast collection/storage before I spen £6+ on yeast

[mrmojorisin]

ok, so i can make something special using this yeast cake, what I dont know is, what are the basic principles of a dubbel and trippel, what do I have to do thats different?

From a bit of reading, the dubbel originated with the westmalle brewery in 1856, and denote strength (stronger than the standard brew), obviously the tripel is stronger again. The triple is also a golden brew whereas the dubbel is a fruity dark or red ale.

One idea has just occurred, I could try harvest some yeast? Apparently chimay red would be suitable??

[far9410]

What about something like this
Pale malt ( about 80%)
Pilsner
Aromatic
Cara
Wheat
Choc
Sugar candy

Saaz
EKG

[lancsSteve]

Notes say it produces an authentic Trappist style with Flavours including plum, spice, dried fruit, rum and raisin.

To be brewed with wyeast 1214.....but I need to sort my yeast collection/storage before I spen £6+ on yeast

Look at the tips on http://www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk/liquid_yeast.htm to make a starter and split the yeast - once it's split 2 or 3 ways then its good value, better than dry and keeps a LONG time in the fridge.

From a bit of reading, the dubbel originated with the westmalle brewery in 1856, and denote strength (stronger than the standard brew), obviously the tripel is stronger again. The triple is also a golden brew whereas the dubbel is a fruity dark or red ale.

Trippel's used to be dark as well then Westmalle made them blonder than Marilyn Monroe.

I would HIGHLY recommend spending out a little money on the truly excellent book 'Brew Like a Monk' http://www.amazon.co.uk/Brew-Like-Monk- ... 093738187X and checking the website at http://www.brewlikeamonk.com/ for a lot of solid information on history, techniques, yeasts, characters, recipes etc. for all manner of belgian beers. It's REALLY interesting, well written and full of ideas and techniques as well.

One idea has just occurred, I could try harvest some yeast? Apparently chimay red would be suitable??

You can,. served homebrewers well for many years through the dark ages. But that yeast's gone through the wars to get to the bottle so what's left won't be premium viable yeast but whatever survived the bottling and alcohol. These days you can get high quality, viable liquid yeasts for the cost of a bottle or two of chimay with FAR more predicatable results...

[coatesg]

BLAM is a great book

You may want to try the proper candy syrup rather than rocks (it's the stuff the breweries use). Rob (Malt Miller) has it on site now.

[far9410]

This all sounds great guys, and at some point in the future I will go down this route. But as my sign off suggests I have no patience and have made a brew as close as I could with the ingredients I've already got (see#20 chouffed to bits)

[lancsSteve]

BLAM is a great book

You may want to try the proper candy syrup rather than rocks (it's the stuff the breweries use). Rob (Malt Miller) has it on site now.

Not cheap though! Will be going to a supermarket in Brussels next week as 500ml is €1 there!

[mysterio]

Bruges Zot, that's an incredible Belgian blonde on tap at the brewery. Amazing Belgian pils malt character. I remember watching the brewer come out and pour a half pint like he was about to evaluate it. He sunk it in a single gulp, I think he was just thirsty.

I brewed a Belgian blondy a couple of weeks ago and I'm sampling now. Dingemans pils malt, aromatic, some Demerara sugar and White Labs Abbey. I fermented it around 18C and it is really restrained and delicious. The malt character really comes through and the carbonation cuts right through the sweetness.