AG Leffe Blonde clone (pic heavy!)
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Telford Brew
Re: AG Leffe Blonde clone (pic heavy!)
any updates Dean - I really want to do a Leffe clone so have been following this thread
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dean_wales
- Drunk as a Skunk
- Posts: 991
- Joined: Mon Jul 12, 2010 1:13 pm
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Re: AG Leffe Blonde clone (pic heavy!)
...A good question indeed gents! One that prompted me to do a proper side by side taste test.
This will be a bit of a ramble... I am on my second pint of this and its an absolute headbanger of a beer. Treat it with respect!
I have sampled a few bottles as time has gone by but have been putting it off as I have plenty of dodgy brews that need drinking and this beer has improved noticeably with age. So its been about 4 months - which I would say is the minimum time to condition a beer like this - so whats the verdict?
Well... heres a newbies side by side account:
Real leffe on the left, my leffe imposter on the right! Note the 29mm crown caps as I couldnt get my arse in gear to get sorted for corking, plus its cheaper!
I know - should be in a goblet! But I only had some tumblers to hand! The colour is absolutely bang on. I mean bang on - it appears slighly different because its a little hazy. If I had been a better brewer or if I had hit it with finnings it would have been indestinguishable from the original. Head is similar on both but as the carbonation is much higher on the orginal it looks different. Partly as a result of this fizz (and the fact that InBev probably add some enhancers and can brew better than me!) the head retention is weaker on mine. Overall very pleased.
Onto the all important taste test. This is where the differences start to show, but in all honest its pretty close. I even blind taste tested my dad and he said they were very similar but you could just notice the difference.
First difference that strikes you is the aroma. Both are nice but mine is more ale-y and the original is noticeably more aromatic and spicy. Its quite a noticeable difference sniffing back and forth between glasses.
In the mouth the initial flavours are remarkably similar but the finish is different. Mine is much smoother and sweeter with a slight fruity-ness. The original is noticeably drier with definately more of bite on the tongue. The higher carbonation though on the original combined with the fact that it was a bit cooler than mine means it exaggerates the difference slightly. It is a noticeably crisper pint to drink though.
I am chuffedf to bits how this has turned out. Its really, really, nice to drink and pretty close to the original. Depending on personal taste you might even prefer it. I would reccomend the following changes/tweaks to hone in on the original.
Flavour: Firstly I used the white labs WLP500 yeast. I dont think you would close with a dried yeast. But I would DEFINATELY go with WLP550 next time. Its slightly more attenuative (is that a word?) and has less fruitiness and better flocculation. All of which are charecteristics I would have liked to see here. Also I think its quite possible that the commercial Leffe was drier and crisper because the sugar content may be higher than mine. Personally I wouldnt raise the sugar content above what it is as it would loose its malty oomph. I wouldnt increase the hopping for bitterness either as my volumes were way out. Breweed to the intended length it would have been just right.
Aroma: I dont know how you could achive that lovely fragrance that Leffe do. I think that if you added more aromatic malt it would make the beer too dark as that is EBC 50. So I would brew it again with WLP550 (EDIT 03/01/2012 - I think WLP530 would actually be the best yeat to use) to see what difference that would make to the aroma and leave the grainbill as it stands.
Carbonation: I would go higher next time, the commercial stuff is obviously a little above the styles parameters on the carbonation calculator!
Appearance: Colour spot on, clarity is a target for improvement but is not something that bothers me.
All in all a great beer to brew and drink and hopefully this thread will give some other newbies the motivation to go ahead and brew their first belgian (as this was for me). I will brew it again in the spring taking into account the revisions above but will be quite happy if I get another 5 gallons of this stuff!
Tarra, time for some crisps!
Dean.
This will be a bit of a ramble... I am on my second pint of this and its an absolute headbanger of a beer. Treat it with respect!
I have sampled a few bottles as time has gone by but have been putting it off as I have plenty of dodgy brews that need drinking and this beer has improved noticeably with age. So its been about 4 months - which I would say is the minimum time to condition a beer like this - so whats the verdict?
Well... heres a newbies side by side account:
Real leffe on the left, my leffe imposter on the right! Note the 29mm crown caps as I couldnt get my arse in gear to get sorted for corking, plus its cheaper!
I know - should be in a goblet! But I only had some tumblers to hand! The colour is absolutely bang on. I mean bang on - it appears slighly different because its a little hazy. If I had been a better brewer or if I had hit it with finnings it would have been indestinguishable from the original. Head is similar on both but as the carbonation is much higher on the orginal it looks different. Partly as a result of this fizz (and the fact that InBev probably add some enhancers and can brew better than me!) the head retention is weaker on mine. Overall very pleased.
Onto the all important taste test. This is where the differences start to show, but in all honest its pretty close. I even blind taste tested my dad and he said they were very similar but you could just notice the difference.
First difference that strikes you is the aroma. Both are nice but mine is more ale-y and the original is noticeably more aromatic and spicy. Its quite a noticeable difference sniffing back and forth between glasses.
In the mouth the initial flavours are remarkably similar but the finish is different. Mine is much smoother and sweeter with a slight fruity-ness. The original is noticeably drier with definately more of bite on the tongue. The higher carbonation though on the original combined with the fact that it was a bit cooler than mine means it exaggerates the difference slightly. It is a noticeably crisper pint to drink though.
I am chuffedf to bits how this has turned out. Its really, really, nice to drink and pretty close to the original. Depending on personal taste you might even prefer it. I would reccomend the following changes/tweaks to hone in on the original.
Flavour: Firstly I used the white labs WLP500 yeast. I dont think you would close with a dried yeast. But I would DEFINATELY go with WLP550 next time. Its slightly more attenuative (is that a word?) and has less fruitiness and better flocculation. All of which are charecteristics I would have liked to see here. Also I think its quite possible that the commercial Leffe was drier and crisper because the sugar content may be higher than mine. Personally I wouldnt raise the sugar content above what it is as it would loose its malty oomph. I wouldnt increase the hopping for bitterness either as my volumes were way out. Breweed to the intended length it would have been just right.
Aroma: I dont know how you could achive that lovely fragrance that Leffe do. I think that if you added more aromatic malt it would make the beer too dark as that is EBC 50. So I would brew it again with WLP550 (EDIT 03/01/2012 - I think WLP530 would actually be the best yeat to use) to see what difference that would make to the aroma and leave the grainbill as it stands.
Carbonation: I would go higher next time, the commercial stuff is obviously a little above the styles parameters on the carbonation calculator!
Appearance: Colour spot on, clarity is a target for improvement but is not something that bothers me.
All in all a great beer to brew and drink and hopefully this thread will give some other newbies the motivation to go ahead and brew their first belgian (as this was for me). I will brew it again in the spring taking into account the revisions above but will be quite happy if I get another 5 gallons of this stuff!
Tarra, time for some crisps!
Dean.
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T1mjv
Re: AG Leffe Blonde clone (pic heavy!)
Why not try Wyeast 3522 ? as the beer originally comes from the ardennes, plus in brew like a monk it states that this beer has maize as a adjunct not sugar. 
Re: AG Leffe Blonde clone (pic heavy!)
I'm going to try this with WPL500 at 25-27°C as suggested by another poster. I have fermented one batch of dark ale at this temperature already, and it has a really strong, Leffe/Belgian character, but when I fermented another beer at about 18-20°C, it is super clean, with none of that character.
Re: AG Leffe Blonde clone (pic heavy!)
This is now tucked up in the brew fridge at an initial 24°C. I've used WPL500 harvested from my last batch, and it's gone off like a rocket. 12 hours in and there is 4" of foam on top of the brew 
Today, I have also make 650g of light belgian candi syrup, and chucked that in. This should take me to the 6.6-6.8 ABV range, assuming it ferments down to 1.010. Smells lovely already. I will report back the success.
One change I was forced to make is that I ran out of pale malt. I only had 3kgs, so I had to top-up with 2kgs of wheat malt. I'm sure it won't be a disaster.
Today, I have also make 650g of light belgian candi syrup, and chucked that in. This should take me to the 6.6-6.8 ABV range, assuming it ferments down to 1.010. Smells lovely already. I will report back the success.
One change I was forced to make is that I ran out of pale malt. I only had 3kgs, so I had to top-up with 2kgs of wheat malt. I'm sure it won't be a disaster.