Belgian pale help needed using WY3739

[altone]

As some of you may know I usually do APA's and English styles. So bugger all idea on Belgians and the recipes I do have are for Dubbels and Tripels.

However I have this WY3739 spinning up on the stirplate and basically looking for a simple and not too high ABV recipe to chuck it in.
So I thought some kind of Belgian pale would be the go.
Also something that doesn't take weeks to age if possible.

Anyone got a tried and reasonably good recipe to share?

 

[goatchop41]

I treat Belgian pales a lot like saisons in terms of grist.
Go for pils and wheat, anywhere from 50/50 to 80% pils/20% wheat, depending on you much body and haze you want. You can throw in up to 10% vienna if you want some more malt flavour going on. I generally aim for about 1.040-45 OG for mine.

IBUs about 20-30, only noble hops - mostly a single 60 min addition, but you can also throw in a small late addition if you want to, or go new world with some US/AUS/NZ hops in whirlpool or dry hop.

Mash medium to low, so that the yeast gets a good chance to dry it out a bit. Carbonate to at least 3 vols.

Importantly - fermentation temp: depends on how expressive you want the yeast phenols/esters. If you have experience with that yeast, then you'll know what to go for. Otherwise start down at about 18o for your first go, then ramp up by 2-4o next time if you want it more expressive

 

[goatchop41]

That should be very drinkable as soon as it is carbed, great in hot weather

 

[mongey]

Far from tried and true i bottled my first ag bpa yesterday. And it was damn tasty out of the fermenter. Think it cane out really well.

I went 80 % Pilsner and rest Vienna with a touch of buiscuit thrown in. I also added 500 g dex in the fermenter. That was a spur of the moment decision to bump it from 1045 to 1050. Was drunk at the time but it worked.tastes good.

Mashed 65 as I didn’t want it super dry like a saison.but still ferment down so it’s not too sweet. Finished 1008

Hops I used what I had in feridge. Magnum at 60 and some Saaz at 15 and 5.

Fermented 21 with wlp550.

 

[altone]

Thanks folks
I'll keep the grain simple and I have plenty of Saaz so I'll add those to about 25IBU

Cheers

 

[shacked]

Belgian pale ale is one of my favs but it's easy to go overboard.

Keep the grain bill simple, use good ingredients and shoot for a starting gravity of around 1.050. This is one of the few Belgian styles that does not need a simple sugar addition.

Hops
Go for 30IBU max with about 2/3 of that from the bittering addition. For late hops saaz, EKG, styrian goldings, hallertau mit, tettnang, challenger, whitbread goldings and even helga have worked well for me in the past.

Water
Low mineral content, shoot for 50ppm of calcium and use acid malt or lactic acid to get pH towards the bottom of the range.

Grist
Traditionally mostly pilsner style malt with:
3-5% special B or medium crystal
3% aromatic or buscuit

You can swap the aromatic or biscuit for a good lick of toasted malt, say 10-20% munich 1 or a bit more vienna.

One of my go to's is pretty much all vienna with a smalll hit of special b.

Ferment
Start at around 20C and ramp 1C per day to 26C

Enjoy! And repitch that yeast into a big tripel or dark strong for winter consumption!!!