Belgian Dubel
Belgian Dubel
Plan on brewing this on Sunday or Monday. Never brewed a Dubbel before so any pointers would be greatly appreciated -
3.50 kg Maris Otter
2.00 kg Munich Malt
100 g German CaraMunich I
100 g Belgian Special B
500 g Candi Sugar Amber
1.00 kg Glucose Brewing Sugar
17 g Styrian Goldings (6.0%) - added during boil, boiled 60 min
14 g Styrian Goldings (6.0%) - added during boil, boiled 15 min
1 tsp Irish Moss - added during boil, boiled 15 min
1 tsp Yeast Nutrient (AKA Fermax) - added during boil, boiled 15 min
14 g Styrian Goldings (6.0%) - added during boil, boiled 1 min
WYeast 1214 Belgian Abbey
3.50 kg Maris Otter
2.00 kg Munich Malt
100 g German CaraMunich I
100 g Belgian Special B
500 g Candi Sugar Amber
1.00 kg Glucose Brewing Sugar
17 g Styrian Goldings (6.0%) - added during boil, boiled 60 min
14 g Styrian Goldings (6.0%) - added during boil, boiled 15 min
1 tsp Irish Moss - added during boil, boiled 15 min
1 tsp Yeast Nutrient (AKA Fermax) - added during boil, boiled 15 min
14 g Styrian Goldings (6.0%) - added during boil, boiled 1 min
WYeast 1214 Belgian Abbey
What are the stats you get for that - particularly IBU, OG and ABV.
At first glance it looks like quite an impressive amount of sugar. I'd probably use half that - looking to get about 10-15% fermentables by weight from sugar - you're nearer 20% which is a little high. But it depends on the OG you're aiming for.
I generally don't use a lot of Munich in my Belgians, I tend to add a smaller amount of aromatic malt which I find gives similar flavor with less expensive speciality malt. You're choice though.
It also looks a bit low on color malts. What's the SRM/EBC?
BTW, you add the sugar during the boil (just in case you didn't know).
At first glance it looks like quite an impressive amount of sugar. I'd probably use half that - looking to get about 10-15% fermentables by weight from sugar - you're nearer 20% which is a little high. But it depends on the OG you're aiming for.
I generally don't use a lot of Munich in my Belgians, I tend to add a smaller amount of aromatic malt which I find gives similar flavor with less expensive speciality malt. You're choice though.
It also looks a bit low on color malts. What's the SRM/EBC?
BTW, you add the sugar during the boil (just in case you didn't know).
Dubbel Trubbel
18-B Belgian Dubbel

Size: 35 imp pt
Efficiency: 65%
Attenuation: 75.0%
Calories: 456.07 per 1 imp pt
Original Gravity: 1.085 (1.062 - 1.075)
|================================|
Terminal Gravity: 1.021 (1.010 - 1.018)
|==============================#=|
Color: 18.0 (10.0 - 14.0)
|================================|
Alcohol: 8.42% (6.0% - 7.5%)
|================================|
Bitterness: 18.31 (15.0 - 25.0)
|=============#==================|
Ingredients:
3.50 kg Maris Otter
2.00 kg Munich Malt
100 g German CaraMunich I
100 g Belgian Special B
500 g Candi Sugar Amber
1.00 kg Glucose Brewing Sugar
17 g Styrian Goldings (6.0%) - added during boil, boiled 60 min
14 g Styrian Goldings (6.0%) - added during boil, boiled 15 min
1 tsp Irish Moss - added during boil, boiled 15 min
1 tsp Yeast Nutrient (AKA Fermax) - added during boil, boiled 15 min
14 g Styrian Goldings (6.0%) - added during boil, boiled 1 min
0.0 ea WYeast 1214 Belgian Abbey
Just going on what Beertools tells me, this is too dark for a belgian. I was shooting for around the 8% mark which I could do by reducing the amount of candi sugar.
If adding sugar, I always dissolve it in a bit of wort on the stove before adding to my kettle
18-B Belgian Dubbel

Size: 35 imp pt
Efficiency: 65%
Attenuation: 75.0%
Calories: 456.07 per 1 imp pt
Original Gravity: 1.085 (1.062 - 1.075)
|================================|
Terminal Gravity: 1.021 (1.010 - 1.018)
|==============================#=|
Color: 18.0 (10.0 - 14.0)
|================================|
Alcohol: 8.42% (6.0% - 7.5%)
|================================|
Bitterness: 18.31 (15.0 - 25.0)
|=============#==================|
Ingredients:
3.50 kg Maris Otter
2.00 kg Munich Malt
100 g German CaraMunich I
100 g Belgian Special B
500 g Candi Sugar Amber
1.00 kg Glucose Brewing Sugar
17 g Styrian Goldings (6.0%) - added during boil, boiled 60 min
14 g Styrian Goldings (6.0%) - added during boil, boiled 15 min
1 tsp Irish Moss - added during boil, boiled 15 min
1 tsp Yeast Nutrient (AKA Fermax) - added during boil, boiled 15 min
14 g Styrian Goldings (6.0%) - added during boil, boiled 1 min
0.0 ea WYeast 1214 Belgian Abbey
Just going on what Beertools tells me, this is too dark for a belgian. I was shooting for around the 8% mark which I could do by reducing the amount of candi sugar.
If adding sugar, I always dissolve it in a bit of wort on the stove before adding to my kettle

Can I just say that it looks like BTP is totally getting the terminal gravity wrong. It looks like it's assuming that the attenuation of 75% applies to all the fermentables. It doesn't. It only applies to malts. The sugars are totally fermentable so your terminal gravity will be lower and your ABV will be higher than BTP calculates.
EDIT: I guess strictly speaking, if they are saying the apparent attenuation for this beer will be 75% then they are correct with the FG. It's just that it won't be with that much sugar in it. If you assume that malts attenuate by 75% (which is reasonable) then the apparent attenuation for this beer will be much higher mid-80's probably
EDIT: I guess strictly speaking, if they are saying the apparent attenuation for this beer will be 75% then they are correct with the FG. It's just that it won't be with that much sugar in it. If you assume that malts attenuate by 75% (which is reasonable) then the apparent attenuation for this beer will be much higher mid-80's probably
Last edited by steve_flack on Fri Feb 16, 2007 9:46 am, edited 1 time in total.
Which malt would you suggest? And with only 100g of special B is it worth reducing it? Not much going in anyway!
I have slightly changed my base malt reducing the Munich Malt to 1kg and increasing the Otter to 4kg. While not quite halving the sugar, I have reduced it. 300g of Candi (from 500g) and 700g of brewing sugar (from 1kg). I still want the alcohol but not increasing the malt (too much)
I have slightly changed my base malt reducing the Munich Malt to 1kg and increasing the Otter to 4kg. While not quite halving the sugar, I have reduced it. 300g of Candi (from 500g) and 700g of brewing sugar (from 1kg). I still want the alcohol but not increasing the malt (too much)
I'd try some aromatic malt or perhaps a light crystal.
The secret with Belgian Dubbels is that in reality Belgian brewers generally don't use as much speciality malt as homebrewers think they do. In many of the best dark beers the color and flavour actually comes from the candi syrup they use. This is NOT THE SAME as the stuff that the homebrew shops sell. It's a whole lot darker. Many beers are just pale or pils malt, dark candi syrup and some white sugar.
The stuff is definitely available in US homebrew shops http://pivo.northernbrewer.com/nbstore/ ... di&x=0&y=0
It isn't in the UK but brouwland in Belgium stock a syrupt that looks similar but shipping is prohibitive if that's all you want. Brupaks import the crystals from there so maybe they'd consider bringing in the syrup? Are the Brouwland crystals and syrup different - I dunno.
The secret with Belgian Dubbels is that in reality Belgian brewers generally don't use as much speciality malt as homebrewers think they do. In many of the best dark beers the color and flavour actually comes from the candi syrup they use. This is NOT THE SAME as the stuff that the homebrew shops sell. It's a whole lot darker. Many beers are just pale or pils malt, dark candi syrup and some white sugar.
The stuff is definitely available in US homebrew shops http://pivo.northernbrewer.com/nbstore/ ... di&x=0&y=0
It isn't in the UK but brouwland in Belgium stock a syrupt that looks similar but shipping is prohibitive if that's all you want. Brupaks import the crystals from there so maybe they'd consider bringing in the syrup? Are the Brouwland crystals and syrup different - I dunno.