WhiteLabs Trappist and its beer, Hmmm

[WishboneBrewery]

How's this for a monster, Malty, Red, Leffe-ish

I decided on the yeast a while ago, I'm going to get a healthy sized starter going in a day or so for a brewday on Friday or Saturday. Even if I'm not brewing this idea I'll be pitching the yeast into something beer flavoured
viewtopic.php?f=12&t=25707

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Aromatic Red

Fermentables:
Lager Malt	2.5 EBC	6 lbs. 9.8 oz	3000 grams	44.9%
Wheat Malt	3.5 EBC	1 lbs. 12.2 oz	800 grams	12%
Munich Malt	20 EBC	1 lbs. 12.2 oz	800 grams	12%
Vienna Malt	7.5 EBC	1 lbs. 12.2 oz	800 grams	12%
Belgian Aromatic Malt	55 EBC	0 lbs. 14.0 oz	400 grams	6%
German Cara Red	50 EBC	0 lbs. 7.0 oz	200 grams	3%
Golden Syrup	0 EBC	1 lbs. 7.9 oz	680 grams	10.2%

Hops:
Boadicea	Whole	7.9 %	60 mins	0 lbs. 1.6 oz	45 grams	50%
Saaz	Whole	3.3 %	10 mins	0 lbs. 0.8 oz	22 grams	25%
Hallertauer Hersbrucker	Whole	2.9 %	10 mins	0 lbs. 0.8 oz	22 grams	25%
Protafloc Tablet	Pellet	0 %	20 mins	0 lbs. 0.0 oz	0 grams	0%

Final Volume:	23	Litres
Original Gravity:	1.069	
Final Gravity:	1.012	
Alcohol Content:	7.5%	ABV
Total Liquor:	34.3	Litres
Mash Liquor:	15	Litres
Mash Efficiency:	75	%
Bitterness:	34	EBU
Colour:	21	EBC

*recipe subject to change

Will 6kg of grain fit in the Thermos Coolbox OK? I'll be Batch Sparging, would I need 3 batches rather than 2?
Thanks for any Input,

[Garth]

I've had 9 kg of a grain in a Thermos before, the mash wasn't that stiff either.

Whether or not you'll have to do three or two batch sparges I don't know as I've only batch sparged a few times with normal sized grain bills.

[WishboneBrewery]

Cool.
Any thoughts on the recipe?

[Barley Water]

Well, if you want a "Leffish" beer I have a couple of suggestions for you to consider. My '08 version of a Belgian Blond came out pretty well and the beer did well in our big competition over here. The judging comments I got involved getting the beer a little sweeter and they also seemed to want the beer clear (I had wheat in my verison also). Ok, so here are my thoughts about your formulation, think about droping the IBU's down to the 20's neighborhood and consider adding some type of crystal malt. I use Honey malt in my formulation and I actually increased it for the '09 version to sweeten things up a bit along with dropping the bitterness to the low 20's. I also cut back on the wheat I added as I am trying to get the beer to clear (although I wanted a little wheat to help with head retention). Oh yeah, just for fun I add about 1/4 of the zest of a lemon. That is enough to put a faint "lemon thing" on the beer but not so much that people can tell I spiced the stuff (I think it adds a little interest).

Have you given any consideration as to how you are going to package the beer? I like to bottle carbonate my Belgians and I also want a really big head so I add priming sugar pretty agressively. To avoid bottle bombs, I bottle in Belgian 750's with a cork and wire cage. I set aside four, 12 oz bottles for competitions and frankly that makes me a little nervous since I am really not sure how much those little "tall boys" can take. Anyhow, let us know how your beer turns out.

[WishboneBrewery]

I am assuming the Leffe-ish part come mainly from the yeast character.

How's this, Caramalt added and knocked back the wheat.

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Aromatic Red

Fermentables:
Lager Malt	2.5 EBC	6 lbs. 9.8 oz	3000 grams	45.6%
Munich Malt	20 EBC	1 lbs. 12.2 oz	800 grams	12.2%
Vienna Malt	7.5 EBC	1 lbs. 12.2 oz	800 grams	12.2%
Golden Syrup	0 EBC	1 lbs. 7.9 oz	680 grams	10.3%
Belgian Aromatic Malt	55 EBC	0 lbs. 14.0 oz	400 grams	6.1%
Caramalt	20 EBC	0 lbs. 14.0 oz	400 grams	6.1%
Wheat Malt	3.5 EBC	0 lbs. 10.5 oz	300 grams	4.6%
German Cara Red	50 EBC	0 lbs. 7.0 oz	200 grams	3%

Hops:
Boadicea	Whole	7.9 %	60 mins	0 lbs. 1.1 oz	30 grams	40.9%
Protafloc Tablet	Pellet	0 %	20 mins	0 lbs. 0.0 oz	0 grams	0%
Saaz	Whole	3.3 %	10 mins	0 lbs. 0.8 oz	22 grams	29.6%
Hallertauer Hersbrucker	Whole	2.9 %	10 mins	0 lbs. 0.8 oz	22 grams	29.6%

Final Volume:	23	Litres
Original Gravity:	1.067	
Final Gravity:	1.012	
Alcohol Content:	7.3%	ABV
Total Liquor:	34.2	Litres
Mash Liquor:	14.8	Litres
Mash Efficiency:	75	%
Bitterness:	24	EBU
Colour:	23	EBC

[Barley Water]

I think you will like that just a little better. What yeast are you planning to use? I use WLP500 (from our buddies at Chimay) and it has served me well so far. You do get a little bananna and some nice spicy notes but if you pitch enough to start with, it's not over the top. The thing I love about making Belgian styles is that you have alot of leeway so it's fun to play around with the formulations. Besides the Blonde, I also just recently made a Dubbel, another of my favorites and with that style you get to mess with the dark candy sugar, God I love it.

[WishboneBrewery]

The Yeast will be Whitelabs Trappist http://www.whitelabs.com/beer/strains_wlp500.html I'll get a large starter going either tonight or tomorrow I think.