Marris Otter As Base Malt?

[tcapach]

G'day team,

I'm on my way to constructing a recipe for a belgian dark strong ale, and am considering using Marris Otter as the base malt.

In my (reasonable amount) of reading up on recipes for this style I have not yet come across one that uses MO for the base malt. However, it sounds like it would be a great base malt for this style. Am I wrong?

Thoughts appreciated.

 

[Jace89]

I say do it, you might stumble across a killer recipe reguardless of style
Another option I would strong consider is Golden Promise.

 

[going down a hill]

I made a brew from Mo with ringwood yeast. It is a great drop, it's not belgian by any stretch but it is a good malt for a base.

 

[MHB]

Not sitting on the fence, but two quite conflicting points of view
If you want to brew to style use the Dingermans Belgian Pilsner it really works with the style, giving just the right character to Belgian beers (no problem treating it like an ale malt).
If you are keen to experiment what the point of asking others opinion? Just hook in and brew it, see what its like and tell people after the event.

Personally, Im trying to get my version of the St Bernardus Abt 12 dialled in as a step toward the legendary Westvleteren 12, perhaps the holy grail of Belgian beers. Working with Dingermans Pilsner Alsatian Strissellspalt, Belgian Dark 2 Candy Syrup and am very happy with the progress so far. But Im a bit of a purist as much as I like Maris, everything you brew with Maris tastes like its brewed with Maris not something Im looking for in a Belgian.
MHB

 

[tcapach]

I'm not so much of a purist, but just keen to get a few opinions in case I was making a silly noob mistake. Don't want to end up with a horrible beer - but am keen to experiment.

 

[MHB]

Its (for me) a flavour question, if you want it to taste like Belgian Dark Strong the no I wouldnt use Maris. Will it make a bad beer no, but it wont be as Belgian.
Using Maris in a full blooded English bitter where it really shines would make more sense to me, but brewing is about making the beer you want to drink, jump in and enjoy.
Mark

 

[hsb]

Give it a go! those monks dont travel much, you might be onto something!
It'd be interesting to compare to a bottle of the real thing.
It definitely doesnt sound 'horrible', so long as its balanced, its still malt hops etc...

 

[kevo]

Sorry if this was already posted - skimmed and didn't notice.

I think there's a recipe for a BSD on the Homebrew chef's site based on MO. Saucerful of secrets I think the beer is called. Could be wrong.

Pretty complex recipe from memory - might be worth a look though.

Kev

edit: address! http://www.homebrewchef.com/SaucerfulofSecrets.html

 

[MHB]

His (brewchefs) Westmalle Tripel Clone is a cracker; he has added a couple more since I last visited his site, have to have a dig through them. Maybe just a touch overcomplicated most of the great begins are really quite simple, nothing an average brewer cant whip up with about 500 years of collected wisdom, local malt and hops and yeast thats been trained for thousands of generations... easy as really
M

Oh Recipe Link
M

 

[Malted]

His (brewchef's) Westmalle Tripel Clone is a cracker; he has added a couple more since I last visited his site, have to have a dig through them. Maybe just a touch overcomplicated most of the great begins are really quite simple, nothing an average brewer can't whip up with about 500 years of collected wisdom, local malt and hops and yeast that's been trained for thousands of generations... easy as really
M

Oh Recipe Link
M

Bugger me! Pilsner and candy sugar... Looks TOO easy, I will sooooo have to try it! Thanks for the link Mark.

 

[Bizier]

I agree with MHB on the pils malt, and perhaps biscuit, even though by descriptions they might sound like they come to the same result, they do not.

You could still make a decent beer with MO and your Belgian yeast though.

 

[bkmad]

Not sitting on the fence, but two quite conflicting points of view
If you want to brew to style use the Dingermans Belgian Pilsner it really works with the style, giving just the right character to Belgian beers (no problem treating it like an ale malt).
If you are keen to experiment what the point of asking others opinion? Just hook in and brew it, see what its like and tell people after the event.

Personally, Im trying to get my version of the St Bernardus Abt 12 dialled in as a step toward the legendary Westvleteren 12, perhaps the holy grail of Belgian beers. Working with Dingermans Pilsner Alsatian Strissellspalt, Belgian Dark 2 Candy Syrup and am very happy with the progress so far. But Im a bit of a purist as much as I like Maris, everything you brew with Maris tastes like its brewed with Maris not something Im looking for in a Belgian.
MHB

I'd love to be able to brew something that approximates St Bernadus Abt 12. Best beer I've ever tried. Is your recipe literally just the ingredients you listed or have you got some caramel, biscuit and or aromatic malt in there? From my reading (mainly BLAM) I was thinking of trying something along the lines of 85% dingemans pils, 5% dingemans aromatic, 5% dark 2 candi syrup and 5% sugar with neutral bittering hop to about 25IBU and fermented with WY3787.

 

[humulus]

Not sitting on the fence, but two quite conflicting points of view
If you want to brew to style use the Dingermans Belgian Pilsner it really works with the style, giving just the right character to Belgian beers (no problem treating it like an ale malt).
If you are keen to experiment what the point of asking others opinion? Just hook in and brew it, see what its like and tell people after the event.

Personally, Im trying to get my version of the St Bernardus Abt 12 dialled in as a step toward the legendary Westvleteren 12, perhaps the holy grail of Belgian beers. Working with Dingermans Pilsner Alsatian Strissellspalt, Belgian Dark 2 Candy Syrup and am very happy with the progress so far. But Im a bit of a purist as much as I like Maris, everything you brew with Maris tastes like its brewed with Maris not something Im looking for in a Belgian.
MHB

MHB let us know how your St Bernardus turns out(the Wit is awsome) ive got one bottle of Westvletern 12 left in the cupboard,id love to do a side by side,hopefully you can get close to the original!!!your right about the holy grail.....that it is!!!

 

[MHB]

Had a tasting day a couple of months ago, all three Westies and St Bernardus and a bunch of other beers dam they are good got a case of nice fresh St B 12 to match the test brews against.
The St B 12 recipe in the BYO 250 Recipes is a good enough starting point, just subbed some of the American malts for Belgian and it looks OK.
Might start a development thread if enough people are interested
One thing I have noticed, there is a big difference between Belgian Candy Syrup and a homemade dark invert, the Belgian is made from Sugar Beet rather than Cane Sugar for a start.
Mark

 

[going down a hill]

I have been given a 1kg of beet sugar from a french mate to make up some candy sugar. Only cost me a couple of bottles of brew for it. Win win.

 

[humulus]

Had a tasting day a couple of months ago, all three Westies and St Bernardus and a bunch of other beers dam they are good got a case of nice fresh St B 12 to match the test brews against.
The St B 12 recipe in the BYO 250 Recipes is a good enough starting point, just subbed some of the American malts for Belgian and it looks OK.
Might start a development thread if enough people are interested
One thing I have noticed, there is a big difference between Belgian Candy Syrup and a homemade dark invert, the Belgian is made from Sugar Beet rather than Cane Sugar for a start.
Mark

Thumbs up for the development thread!love my belgians!!!.....rumour has it wyeast are releasing their Schelde yeast strain in Oct..time to look for a de koninck recipe!!!

 

[bkmad]

Might start a development thread if enough people are interested

Well I wouldn't say no to that.

 

[jimi]

I've been racking my mind trying to remember where I heard of an German brewer in Oz who was using MO in there Oktoberfest :huh: It's a bit different but brewing conventions mean little to an quality end product (assuming that was achieved). Certainly post your results if you use MO in your belgian

 

[Tim F]

Would it make a good style of the week thread about it maybe? I'd be interested in brewing a quad and learning more about them. Found brouwland as a supplier of dark candy syrup who will ship internationally unless there's cheaper local options?