Belgian Beers

[Tony]

Hi all

Seeing as 2007 is as close to the AHB "year of the belgian beer" as it can get...... i have decided to explore the endless relm of these beers as well.

I have tried a few comercial (if you can call them that) belgians befopre but never understood them.

Well my taste has matured now and i tried a few and bloody loved them !

I tried a chimay red...... that i have tried before and it was great. very malty

I also tried two leffe beers.

one was the purple capped one with Vieille Ruvee on it (i think)

one was red capped with Radieuse written on it.

now i have no idea what was what as far as belgian styles are concerned.

they were all great beers, anber in colour. the two Leffe beers were different in that the purple one had more fruitiness, was fuller boddies and less bitter IMO. I actually liked the purple one the best out of all 3.

can someoun help me with my belgian styles.

Im lost

cheers

 

[Stuster]

For any beer I don't know, I always look on Ratebeer. The search button is in the top corner and they put the Radieuse as a Belgian Strong Ale. The BJCP style guidelines are also a good place to go for info on what that style is, although styles are Belgian beers are a bit of a mismatch. The other Leffe was probably Vieille Cuvee.

I'm with you. Let's make it the official AHB "Year of the Belgian". :lol:

 

[Kai]

Having received Brew Like a Monk for Christmas, I can recommend giving it a read.

 

[bindi]

I'm with you. Let's make it the official AHB "Year of the Belgian". :lol:

I will 2nd that .
It's was always going to be a "Year of the Belgian" for me, no matter what others are doing.

 

[barfridge]

pfft, Belgians! Who wants to brew them. They make horrible beers.

My signature is a lie.

 

[bconnery]

For beer styles I quite like http://beeradvocate.com/

American centric in the forums for the most part but good for info about beer.

Here's a good site on belgians and brewing them:

http://belgianstyle.com/mmguide/

Otherwise the "Classic Beer Styles' range of books has a good belgian edition...

 

[pint of lager]

There is a good site listed in the links section too.

 

[bindi]

There is a good site listed in the links section too.

Yep Linky this part of it.

 

[tangent]

can someoun help me with my belgian styles

thats what i love about Belgian beers, they just brew whatever the hell they want to brew.
Probably never heard of BJCP beer police there h34r: Have a look at the BJCP guidelines for Belgian Specialty Ale. (there aren't any)

 

[Tony]

Ok..... i get the massage.

Let the creative juices flow.

I do have a couple of more questions.

What is "special B" malt

and what colour in EBC shoud i use if using dark candy sugar and where can i get it...... the genuine stuff that is

cheers

 

[tangent]

check out the basic brewing radio episode on using sugars in Belgian beers Tony, some interesting stuff there.

 

[Stuster]

The genuine stuff is apparently not dark candi sugar rocks but sugar syrup. AFAIK it's not available in Australia at the moment.

Special B is also not available here. CaraAroma is apparently a good sub. Here.

 

[bconnery]

Ok..... i get the massage.

Let the creative juices flow.

I do have a couple of more questions.

What is "special B" malt

and what colour in EBC shoud i use if using dark candy sugar and where can i get it...... the genuine stuff that is

cheers

Special B is a belgian malt. Cara-aroma is similar and available here.

Candy sugar is available from grain and grape, or at least it used to be. Otherwise you can use various dark sugars or even make your own...

Search for inverting sugar around this site or elsewhere...

 

[DarkFaerytale]

making your own candy suger

i'v made some light colored befor was fairly simple

-Phill

 

[razz]

G'day Tony. You can use Baird's Dark crystal or Fawcett's D/Crystal II as well as Weyermann Caraaroma. I think they are all approx 120 degrees.

 

[Brewtus]

I don't know if this will help but you could find God, learn language of Flanders, travel to Belgium and join a monastery.

 

[Tony]

if it ment spending my life brewing the worlds best beers it could be worth it !!!!!!!!

do they get to drink it ???

cheers

 

[sinkas]

Learn Flanders?

In a geographical way?

 

[tangent]

bierdiddly

 

[razz]

Living up to my new years resolution, just pitched WL500 into my first belgian. I must say the plum/fruity nose from the starter smells very promising. I plant to ferment at 22 degrees, will this be a good temp to get that same aroma happening ?