Style Of The Week 16/8/06 - Belgian Dubbel

[A3k]

Hi guys,
i've been looking at making a dubbel for ages now.

I've read a lot of statements that say the belgians use only base malt plus dark candy sugar. BLAM says this for Westveteren, but shows the others using specialty grains (eg Wesmalle using Caramel and Dark Malt).

So i've taken the recipe out of Brewing Classic Styles, then reduced the specialies, and upped the Candi Syrup to match the bottle i have.


Volume: 22.64 l
Estimated OG: 1.064 SG
Estimated Color: 31.5 EBC
Estimated IBU: 22.0 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Ingredients:

4.80 kg Pilsner (2 Row) Bel (3.9 EBC) Grain 74.7 %
0.45 kg Munich (Dingemans) (10.8 EBC) Grain 7.1 %
0.18 kg Aromatic Malt (Dingemans) (37.4 EBC) Grain 2.8 %
0.18 kg Caramunich I (Weyermann) (100.5 EBC) Grain 2.8 %
0.11 kg Special B (Dingemans) (290.6 EBC) Grain 1.8 %
0.70 kg Candi Sugar, Dark (157.6 EBC) Sugar 10.9 %
28.66 g Motueka [7.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 22.0 IBUs
1.0 pkg Wyeast Labs #3787
I do like the idea of simplifying it and just using base malt and syrup, but i haven't seen many recipies doing this?

If i'm going to follow BCS, should I just go by the recipe, or keep with my changes of upping the Candy Syrup?

The only real changes i've made from the BCS recipe is the following:
Increased Candi Sugar from 340g to 700g
decreased the Aromatic and Caramunich Malts from 227g to 180g
decreased the Special B from 227g to 110g
[EDIT} And I removed the Cane Sugar

Thanks,
Alan

 

[A3k]

Hi guys,
Any experienced Dubbel brewers out there able to help with my post above?

Cheers

 

[manticle]

I've read a lot of statements that say the belgians use only base malt plus dark candy sugar. BLAM says this for Westveteren, but shows the others using specialty grains (eg Wesmalle using Caramel and Dark Malt).

That is a blanket statement that is not always true. People read something about one famous Belgian and assume it's true for all.

It is true that a lot use sugar. It is true that a lot are base plus sugar or base, a hint of spec plus sugar but there are also tasty Belgians (like Tripel karmeleit for example) that have much more complicated grists.

It is true that almost all rely on yeast character rather than spice but some might still be mildly spiced (Rochefort 10 for example although the hint of spice is historically a preservative)

It is true that many are low bittered and low hopped but there are some (Westmalle tripel for example) that are relatively highly bittered and quite hoppy.

What is alos true is that while Belgian beers have associated techniques and history, they are much less rule or style driven than other parts of the world. The important thing is to get the flavours that you want, into a beer that tastes good, well balanced and relatively sessionable (eg dry finish belying the flavour pack that's delivered).

My current dubbel recipe still tries to remain simple but does incorporate a touch of spec B as well as Belgan pils base and d2 syrup. I think it works well - better than my attempts with just base + sugar. i also step mash which I think helps.

Anyway- upshot is that your recipe looks OK. Yeast management and conditioning are just as important as grist in my experience. Start cool, let temp raise slowly to the higher end, cold condition for a while, allow the beer to get some age.

If I were to simplify your recipe, i'd probably drop out the caramunich as you will get plenty of raisin from the spec B and commercial syrup if you use it (much better than home made). I'd also use a noble rather than a new world. As I said though - your beer, your rules and you can always tweak for next time. A lot of people have brewed BCS styles with success and you need a starting point in order to know what to change, if anything.

 

[A3k]

Thanks Manticle. That helps a lot.

the syrup i've used is Dark Candi Syrup from Gryphon Brewing. this stuff. http://gryphonbrewing.com.au/product_info.php?products_id=366

I'll likely ditch the Caramunich as you suggest.

Thanks again mate

 

[manticle]

I just added a touch of that into my Belgian dark strong. I think it's the same as the stuff I've used before - just packaged differently. I add a portion at a time once fermentation has finished as I've read too big a sugar addition at the start can make yeast lazy and I've experienced hot alcohol adding too much at once at the end. I go 200 mL at a time into 20 L, give it a couple of days to ferment out, then add the next dose. I keep the bottle in the fridge but you could boil up the syrup if you're paranoid (such a high sugar concentration doesn't welcome bacterial contamination)

 

[A3k]

hehe you answered the question i forgot to ask...
I was going to ask if i should add the sugar to the fermenter for that reason, (that's how i've done my Tripels). On top the reasons you mentions, is also seems like a bit of a waste a when you include a bit of loss in the kettle). All the reading i did had the syrup into the kettle, but i couldn't see any reason for this.

My syrup arived without a label, so doesn't look the same either.

cheers again

 

[carniebrew]

Brewing Classic Styles' page for Belgian Dubbel says "when fermentation is finished, carbonate the beer to approx 3 to 4 volumes and allow to lager for 1 month at 7 - 10C".

That's some serious carbonation, and I notice my bulk priming calculator suggests 1.9-2.4 vols for a Belgian Dubbel. But what I'm more interested in is the lagering....does the above suggest I need to allow a couple of weeks for the beer to carbonate at ale temps (e.g. ~ 17C up), and then lager it? I assume it doesn't mean to bottle it with say 3 vols worth of priming solution and lager straight away...otherwise I assume it won't carbonate at all, no?

 

[manticle]

I carb to about 2.3 -2.5 which is high for me.
Lager in bulk first then prime to carbonate or bottle, prime, carb then lager.

 

[carniebrew]

Thanks manticle. I think I'd prefer to free up the fermenter so I'll bulk prime, bottle, allow it to carb then lager it. Do you think the 7-10C temp is important for the lagering? Or could I get away with stashing the lot in my garage fridge which is sitting at about 4C?

 

[manticle]

If it's had enough time in the fermenter to clean up acetaldehyde etc then I'd just put them in the fridge.

 

[carniebrew]

It's had two weeks, started it at 18C, rose it to 21 over the first week, been at 21 since.

 

[manticle]

Go on flavour not time. If it has hit fg and doesn't seem taste like apples, pumpkin or paint, you should be good to go.