Chimay Blue Recipe. Anyone Got A Good One? Ag Or Partial

[grinder]

Have recently tried a chimay Blue and was blown away. It was fantastic!. So naturally I want make a clone.
So I am on the search for a ripper. Anyone got one?
Cheers

 

[Jazzafish]

I can't say how good this one is, never brewed it. I am also looking for something like this great beer.

When I want to brew something like a commercial beer, I normally find a whole bunch of recipes that claim to be "clones" and go for an average. I'm also reading brew like a monk for some ideas.

Only found one "clone" so far... here it is:

UptheGrandcru

A ProMash Recipe Report

Recipe Specifics
----------------

Batch Size (L): 41.64 Wort Size (L): 41.64
Total Grain (kg): 17.92
Anticipated OG: 1.096 Plato: 22.81
Anticipated EBC: 39.1
Anticipated IBU: 44.7
Brewhouse Efficiency: 69 %
Wort Boil Time: 60 Minutes


Grain/Extract/Sugar

% Amount Name Origin Potential EBC
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
81.0 14.52 kg. Pale Malt(2-row) Belgium 1.037 6
6.3 1.13 kg. Candi Sugar (clear) Generic 1.046 1
6.3 1.13 kg. Wheat Malt America 1.038 4
2.5 0.45 kg. Biscuit Malt Belgium 1.035 47
1.9 0.34 kg. Special B Malt Belgian 1.030 236
1.9 0.34 kg. Chocolate Malt America 1.029 690

Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.


Hops

Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
113.40 g. Styrian Goldings Pellet 5.25 38.3 60 min.
56.70 g. Styrian Goldings Pellet 5.25 6.4 20 min.


Extras

Amount Name Type Time
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
0.55 Oz Grains of Paradise Spice 0 Days(boil)
0.28 Oz Cardamom Seed Spice 0 Min.(boil)


Yeast
-----

WYeast 1214 Belgian Ale

I plan on brewing this one like this in March/April

 

[Jazzafish]

Just typed "chimay blue clone" into Google... heaps of recipes!

http://beertools.com/html/recipe.php?view=4159
http://beeradvocate.com/forum/read/848872/848990/
http://www.bradpretzer.com/brewing/chimay.html

 

[grinder]

I can't say how good this one is, never brewed it. I am also looking for something like this great beer.

When I want to brew something like a commercial beer, I normally find a whole bunch of recipes that claim to be "clones" and go for an average. I'm also reading brew like a monk for some ideas.

Only found one "clone" so far... here it is:
I plan on brewing this one like this in March/April

Where did you find this recipe?

 

[Adamt]

My recent Belgian Dark Strong recipe is as follows:

40% Weyermann Munich I
40% Weyermann Pilsener
11% Clear Candi (Chinese lump sugar) in boil.
3% Wey Caraaroma
3% Wey Caramunich I
3% Wey Carawheat

Single Infusion Mash 67.5C

90 minute boil (maybe 120 next time)

EKG (5%) at 60 for 15IBU
EKG (5%) at 20 for 10IBU

OG 1.085

Pitched T-58 at 20C
Primary between 20C-23C for 3 weeks.

FG 1.015

Cold conditioned for a couple of weeks because I was too lazy to bottle.

Its about 1.5 months in the bottle now, quite spicy and peppery with dark fruit esters, definite alcohol warming without being sharp but not quite the malt chewiness yet you find in Chimay (not sure if this is the yeast, mash, or lack of maturation).

Will try a liquid yeast next time as well, but is still very tasty.

 

[Jazzafish]

Where did you find this recipe?

I think it was on this page:
http://www.brewrats.org/Recipe_Exchange/

This one modified a bit
http://www.brewrats.org/Recipe_Exchange/RE...theGrandCru.rec

 

[brettprevans]

Have recently tried a chimay Blue and was blown away. It was fantastic!. So naturally I want make a clone.
So I am on the search for a ripper. Anyone got one?
Cheers

I got a chimay recipe at home. uses the yeast from a bottle of chimay in the recipe. havent' made it yet (its on the cards), but the guys swears by it. Will post it tonight/tomorrow.

 

[Yeasty]

looking forward to trying something like this at some point. Was wondering if anybody could post a partial recipe as well...?? Or help me convert an AG?

Seeing as Ross now has belgium candi sugar, i wouldnt mind trying it out.

 

[SpillsMostOfIt]

I've made one of these ------> http://www.homebrewandbeer.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2031 , but haven't tried it yet. Several people seem to think it is about as good as it gets.

You could also try:

http://www.tastybrew.com/index.html
http://hbd.org/brewery/cm3/recs/00contents.html
http://www.babblebelt.com/index.html
http://www.beertools.com/html

They've all helped me with Belgian recipes.

 

[braufrau]

I guess everyone's read this before ...
chimay ingredients

Interesting. It seems chimay is not the beer it used to be.
Hop extract! Malt extact! And american hops, not european.
Dextrose not candy sugar! Shocking!

Oh! And don't forget, Michael Jackson says the most important influence is the yeast,
which is probably wyeast 1214 or culture from the bottle.

 

[braufrau]

looking forward to trying something like this at some point. Was wondering if anybody could post a partial recipe as well...?? Or help me convert an AG?

Seeing as Ross now has belgium candi sugar, i wouldnt mind trying it out.

Here's my conversion of jazzafish's recipe.

I scaled it down to 21l and substituted malts I know I can get for biscuit and special B.
Note the extract is to be added at the end of boil.




BeerSmith Recipe Printout - www.beersmith.com
Recipe: chimay blue
Brewer: braufrau
Asst Brewer:
Style: Belgian Strong Dark Ale
TYPE: Partial Mash
Taste: (35.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 21.00 L
Boil Size: 10.00 L
Estimated OG: 1.100 SG
Estimated Color: 43.8 EBC
Estimated IBU: 44.7 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
4.50 kg Pale Liquid Extract (8.0 EBC) (0min) Extract 59.2 %
1.40 kg Pale Malt (2 Row) Bel (5.9 EBC) Grain 18.4 %
0.57 kg Wheat Malt, Bel (3.9 EBC) Grain 7.4 %
0.23 kg Caraamber (59.1 EBC) Grain 3.0 %
0.17 kg Caraaroma (256.1 EBC) Grain 2.2 %
0.17 kg Chocolate Malt (886.5 EBC) Grain 2.2 %
55.90 gm Styrian Goldings [5.40%] (60 min) Hops 38.3 IBU
27.95 gm Styrian Goldings [5.40%] (20 min) Hops 6.4 IBU
4.00 gm Coriander Seed (Boil 0.0 min) Misc
7.70 gm Seeds of Paradise (Boil 0.0 min) Misc
0.57 kg Candi Sugar, Clear (1.0 EBC) Sugar 7.4 %
1 Pkgs Belgian Ale (Wyeast Labs #1214) Yeast-Ale


Mash Schedule: My Mash
Total Grain Weight: 2.53 kg
----------------------------


Notes:
------


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[brettprevans]

I got a chimay recipe at home. uses the yeast from a bottle of chimay in the recipe. havent' made it yet (its on the cards), but the guys swears by it. Will post it tonight/tomorrow.

Cant find the AG or partial recipe so you'll have to settle for a K&K recipe

Yeast starter made from Chimay blue (made 1 day in advance)
light dry malt 2extract 2.3Kg
black malt grain (crushed) 30g
soft dark brown sugar 400g
blended honey 250g
bittering hops hallertau pellets 40g
bittering hops goldings pellets 20g

mix evrythinh (not yeast) together and bring to boil for 30-40min in 304L of water.
strain and discard solids
adjest volume to 15L with cold water.
wait til temp is below 25C
add yeast

OG1081, FG 1018, Alc 9.3%

 

[Stuster]

That looks a nice recipe, braufrau.

You could probably back off the bitterness a bit, to more like 30-35 to be more in line with what Belgian Dark Strongs usually are, but it's your beer of course.

Also, hopefully Doc will comment, but it looks like a lot of Seeds of Paradise. :unsure:

There is really no reason to use clear candi sugar though (unless your money is just burning a hole in your pocket ). It will contribute nothing to your beer that ordinary white sugar will. Dark candi sugar is different.

 

[braufrau]

Thanks Stuster.

That looks a nice recipe, braufrau.

You could probably back off the bitterness a bit, to more like 30-35 to be more in line with what Belgian Dark Strongs usually are, but it's your beer of course.

Well, I just used the same IBUs as the recipe jazzafish posted.
It is outside the guidelines for this style.
Scaling it down to 32IBUs gives 40 and 20g for the hop additions.

Also, hopefully Doc will comment, but it looks like a lot of Seeds of Paradise. :unsure:

Again, that's just 1/2 the quantity used in the other recipe.
Does chimay really have those spices in it at all? Or are they there to
give some of the characteristics otherwise given by the yeast and particular fermentation
process/temperature? :unsure:
Michael Jackson describes it as "very spicey indeed".
I should just go buy some shouldn't I?

There is really no reason to use clear candi sugar though (unless your money is just burning a hole in your pocket ). It will contribute nothing to your beer that ordinary white sugar will. Dark candi sugar is different.

Oh well, I think we will have to agree to disagree on this one.
I think a practical, cheap, alternative is to partially invert the sugar while you're mashing
and dump the hot syrup into the kettle.

 

[Stuster]

I'll refer you again to MHB's posts on the thread you started a while ago, here. Posts 20 and 29. I've seen similar information in other books. What advantage do you see in inverting the sugar?

According to a good book on Belgian beers (Brew Like A Monk), Chimay Blue is 1077, 9%, 89% attenuation, 80 EBC and 35IBUs. Since your starting gravity is that bit higher, maybe your original IBUs might give you a similar balance.

That book also says there are no spices in Chimay beers (except the beer for the monks, Doree).

Edit: Doc's not around it seems, but he used 1.5gr of Grains of Paradise in 40L of Saison, Link.

 

[braufrau]

I'll refer you again to MHB's posts on the thread you started a while ago, here. Posts 20 and 29. I've seen similar information in other books. What advantage do you see in inverting the sugar?

Well I refuted some of the things stated in those posts in the thread itself.
The liquid sugar that breweries use is partially inverted or it wouldn't stay liquid.
After post 29 I just gave up. There's no "just shredding" of sugar by yeast.
Hmmm. Well I'm not going to go into a sermon about activation energies and how enzymes
change them here. I'm not easily blinded by a bunch of chemistry since i have a Ph. D. in the subject.
Inverting the sugar, as I said before, means the yeast doesn't have to do it, and the
process of inversion produces unwanted flavours. Otherwise why don't the monks just
chuck in sucrose?
Although inverting sugar on the stove with acid probably wont give the % inversion in belgian candy
sugar. Probably it would make more sense to mix purchased fructose:glucose: sucrose 1:1:2.

According to a good book on Belgian beers (Brew Like A Monk), Chimay Blue is 1077, 9%, 89% attenuation, 80 EBC and 35IBUs. Since your starting gravity is that bit higher, maybe your original IBUs might give you a similar balance.

80EBC?? Really?
wyeast 1214 has attenuation of 72-76%. I don't suppose I can know what the real
attenuation will be for the particular wort, without fermenting it.

That book also says there are no spices in Chimay beers (except the beer for the monks, Doree).

So the spices are there to emulate a taste that should be produced by the
yeast. So what is lacking in home brewing that the authors of the original recipe felt these spices
have to be added? Maybe they're the result of some sort of web-chinese whispers thing, starting
with a recipe that didn't use the right yeast. :unsure:
Is there a trick to getting the spiciness out of the yeast?


And BTW - its not my recipe I was just converting it to a partial for yeasty.

 

[braufrau]

OK. So the grains are gone.
I've dropped the OG a tad and upped the average attenuation for the yeast to 76%. (Was 74%).
Upped the boil volume to 12l.
Adjusted the bitterness.
Left the colour pretty much the same 'cause I'm still a bit sceptical about the 80EBC.
Should just go and buy some and see


BeerSmith Recipe Printout - www.beersmith.com
Recipe: chimay blue
Brewer: Sam
Asst Brewer:
Style: Belgian Strong Dark Ale
TYPE: Partial Mash
Taste: (35.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 21.00 L
Boil Size: 12.00 L
Estimated OG: 1.089 SG
Estimated Color: 45.6 EBC
Estimated IBU: 35.0 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
3.00 kg Pale Liquid Extract (8.0 EBC) Extract 42.4 %
2.50 kg Pale Malt (2 Row) Bel (5.9 EBC) Grain 35.4 %
0.51 kg Wheat Malt, Bel (3.9 EBC) Grain 7.1 %
0.21 kg Caraamber (59.1 EBC) Grain 2.9 %
0.20 kg Chocolate Malt (886.5 EBC) Grain 2.8 %
0.15 kg Caraaroma (256.1 EBC) Grain 2.2 %
44.90 gm Styrian Goldings [5.40%] (60 min) Hops 30.0 IBU
22.45 gm Styrian Goldings [5.40%] (20 min) Hops 5.0 IBU
0.51 kg Candi Sugar, Clear (1.0 EBC) Sugar 7.1 %
1 Pkgs Belgian Ale (Wyeast Labs #1214) Yeast-Ale


Mash Schedule: My Mash
Total Grain Weight: 3.56 kg
----------------------------


Notes:
------


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Prolly tastes nothing like it.

 

[braufrau]

Or bigger bacth size, smaller mash.


BeerSmith Recipe Printout - www.beersmith.com
Recipe: chimay blue
Brewer: Sam
Asst Brewer:
Style: Belgian Strong Dark Ale
TYPE: Partial Mash
Taste: (35.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 23.00 L
Boil Size: 12.00 L
Estimated OG: 1.089 SG
Estimated Color: 45.6 EBC
Estimated IBU: 40.3 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
4.50 kg Pale Liquid Extract (8.0 EBC) Extract 60.7 %
1.20 kg Pale Malt (2 Row) Bel (5.9 EBC) Grain 16.2 %
0.55 kg Wheat Malt, Bel (3.9 EBC) Grain 7.5 %
0.22 kg Chocolate Malt (886.5 EBC) Grain 3.0 %
0.23 kg Caraamber (59.1 EBC) Grain 3.0 %
0.17 kg Caraaroma (256.1 EBC) Grain 2.2 %
51.21 gm Styrian Goldings [5.40%] (60 min) Hops 34.5 IBU
25.61 gm Styrian Goldings [5.40%] (20 min) Hops 5.8 IBU
0.55 kg Candi Sugar, Clear (1.0 EBC) Sugar 7.5 %
1 Pkgs Belgian Ale (Wyeast Labs #1214) Yeast-Ale


Mash Schedule: My Mash
Total Grain Weight: 2.36 kg
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temp Step Time
Step Add 5.91 L of water at 75.3 C 68.3 C 90 min


Notes:
------


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[neonmeate]

braufrau are you happy with being a "Partial Man" on this site!!!??

 

[braufrau]

braufrau are you happy with being a "Partial Man" on this site!!!??

Well it came as a bit of shock to my husband when I told him I was a partial man.
Didn't seem to affect our relationship though.

Glad I've graduated from Gives good head.

But what I really miss on this blokey site is some girly emoticons!
There's no embarassed and no crying. So constraining!
I'm sure there's some guys on the site who are in touch with their emotions and could
use a good cry sometimes too.