Big Belgian Ale

abaca · 05-25-09, 00:08

My brother and I brewed this up 10 days ago. We were trying to get a high gravity wort using all grain. We did a single infusion mash, sparged and collected 10 gallons and boiled it down to 5.5 gallons before the 1 hour boil with the hop additions. It took 7-8 hours to boil it down. With all the boiling I think I'll just add extract to boost the gravity next time. Anyways here's the recipe.

17 lbs Belgian Pale malt
3/4 lb Vienna malt
1/2 lb Munich malt
1/4 lb Crystal 20
1/4 lb Victory
1/4 lb British Dark
1/8 lb De-bitter Black

1 oz Willamette Hop pellets; boil 1 hour
1 oz Tettnang Hop pellets; boil 10 min

White Labs California Ale Yeast; starter made with 4c water and 1 lb Munich malt extract 24-48 hours prior to pitching

The grain was mashed at about 154F for one hour. At 15 min the wort pulled off the bottom of the mashing tun was cooler than the temp on the top so a continuous sparge was done to equalize the temperature throughout the grain bed. Sparged with 170F to collect 10 gallons wort. Boiled down to 5 gallons, cooled and pitched starter. Gravity of the 10 gallons was 1.070. Gravity before pitching was 1.091. I thought the gravity would have come up much more. It was racked today and the gravity was 1.025. That's about 9% abv and it's still fermenting. Hope to get it down to 1.010-1.018. We're planning on bulk aging this for 6-12 months, adding oak at the last racking before bottling.

Scroto Baggins · 05-25-09, 00:58

Oh hells yea!! That sounds bomb, should be nice and rich.

A few questions though; why didn't you guys use a Belgian ale yeast for this one; and also did you calculate your mash efficiency?

abaca · 05-25-09, 19:14

We did not calculate the mash efficiency. We used the California ale yeast because it has better attenuation and a higher alcohol tolerance. We felt that the Belgian yeast would make it too cloy.

waylitjim · 05-26-09, 01:16

This one may end up more like barley wine than a Belgium ale. You'll get that authentic Belgium character from the yeast, not so much from the malt bill or hops used. Either way, it'll be one big beer! In the future you can always add a lb of dextrose to increase the abv, and dry it out a bit.

abaca · 07-11-09, 23:36

This brew was racked a few days ago. The gravity is down to 1.020; hoping to get it down to 1.015. The flavor is disorganized but should iron itself out bulk aging over the next 6-9 months.

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05-25-09, 00:08	#1 (permalink)
abaca jerk of all trades Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 335	Big Belgian Ale My brother and I brewed this up 10 days ago. We were trying to get a high gravity wort using all grain. We did a single infusion mash, sparged and collected 10 gallons and boiled it down to 5.5 gallons before the 1 hour boil with the hop additions. It took 7-8 hours to boil it down. With all the boiling I think I'll just add extract to boost the gravity next time. Anyways here's the recipe. 17 lbs Belgian Pale malt 3/4 lb Vienna malt 1/2 lb Munich malt 1/4 lb Crystal 20 1/4 lb Victory 1/4 lb British Dark 1/8 lb De-bitter Black 1 oz Willamette Hop pellets; boil 1 hour 1 oz Tettnang Hop pellets; boil 10 min White Labs California Ale Yeast; starter made with 4c water and 1 lb Munich malt extract 24-48 hours prior to pitching The grain was mashed at about 154F for one hour. At 15 min the wort pulled off the bottom of the mashing tun was cooler than the temp on the top so a continuous sparge was done to equalize the temperature throughout the grain bed. Sparged with 170F to collect 10 gallons wort. Boiled down to 5 gallons, cooled and pitched starter. Gravity of the 10 gallons was 1.070. Gravity before pitching was 1.091. I thought the gravity would have come up much more. It was racked today and the gravity was 1.025. That's about 9% abv and it's still fermenting. Hope to get it down to 1.010-1.018. We're planning on bulk aging this for 6-12 months, adding oak at the last racking before bottling. __________________

05-25-09, 00:58	#2 (permalink)
Scroto Baggins Mycophage Join Date: Dec 2006 Posts: 173	Oh hells yea!! That sounds bomb, should be nice and rich. A few questions though; why didn't you guys use a Belgian ale yeast for this one; and also did you calculate your mash efficiency? __________________ "I think I got really really drunk and really really naked." - Scroto

05-25-09, 19:14	#3 (permalink)
abaca jerk of all trades Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 335	We did not calculate the mash efficiency. We used the California ale yeast because it has better attenuation and a higher alcohol tolerance. We felt that the Belgian yeast would make it too cloy. __________________

05-26-09, 01:16	#4 (permalink)
waylitjim A Mirror Image Join Date: Sep 1972 Posts: 4,232	This one may end up more like barley wine than a Belgium ale. You'll get that authentic Belgium character from the yeast, not so much from the malt bill or hops used. Either way, it'll be one big beer! In the future you can always add a lb of dextrose to increase the abv, and dry it out a bit. __________________ *Waylit's Exotic Roundup - a collection of sexy threads* Last edited by waylitjim; 05-27-09 at 02:06.

07-11-09, 23:36	#5 (permalink)
abaca jerk of all trades Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 335	This brew was racked a few days ago. The gravity is down to 1.020; hoping to get it down to 1.015. The flavor is disorganized but should iron itself out bulk aging over the next 6-9 months. __________________

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