Belgian Dubbel pics, etc.
Belgian Dubbel pics, etc.
I brewed today. Everything went according to plan. I thought I'd get a tad more color from the candi syrup, but I'm happy with the result. Gravity was about 1.064. I pitched a pretty good size slurry from the starter I made a couple of days ago. In a month or so I'll post on the flavor profile. Below are links to the pics.
http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z74/Whorst/Wort.jpg
http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z74/ ... ySugar.jpg
http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z74/ ... ravity.jpg
http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z74/Whorst/Wort.jpg
http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z74/ ... ySugar.jpg
http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z74/ ... ravity.jpg
Excellent pics. I hope to be making a Chimay clone soon - once I sort my stir plate out to get the starter yeast. Hope yourt brew turns out well. What was the recipe? I'd like to know as I am partial to Belgian beers myslef. BTW I was toying with the idea of making my own candi sugar in a sauce pan. Apparently it is pretty easy as long as you keep stirring the sugar to stop it sticking!.
Cheers
Z
Cheers
Z

The candy syrup was nearly black and tasted lovely. I'm hoping the final product tastes something like Corsendonk Pater Dubbel. I need to do more research and find out if it's really necessary to make this style with 9 different malts! Below is the recipe. I've changed it to meet my 60% mash efficiency.
7 lb Dewolf Pilsen
1 lb Wheat Malt
0.8 lb Dewolf Aromatic
0.5 lb Dewolf Munich
0.4 lb Dewolf Caramunich
0.4 lb Gambrinus Honey Malt (subsitute - Dewolf Caraviene)
0.4 lb Dewolf Special B
0.4 Dewolf Biscuit
Hops:
0.33 ounces Styrian Goldings (90 min)
0.25 ounces Liberty (60 min)
1 lb Dark Belgian Candy
Yeast:
WLP500 - Trappist Ale Yeast
7 lb Dewolf Pilsen
1 lb Wheat Malt
0.8 lb Dewolf Aromatic
0.5 lb Dewolf Munich
0.4 lb Dewolf Caramunich
0.4 lb Gambrinus Honey Malt (subsitute - Dewolf Caraviene)
0.4 lb Dewolf Special B
0.4 Dewolf Biscuit
Hops:
0.33 ounces Styrian Goldings (90 min)
0.25 ounces Liberty (60 min)
1 lb Dark Belgian Candy
Yeast:
WLP500 - Trappist Ale Yeast
My understanding is that the commercial dubbel recipes are very simple - pils malt, sugar and dark candi syrup. Some might have a bit of caramel malt or a roasted grain. They are nowhere near as complicated as the homebrew recipes you see - most of those however predate the availability of dark candi syrup in homebrew shops.