Modern Homebrew Recipes (42 page)

Style:
Belgian Dubbel (Classic BJCP Style)

Description:
This beer is a malty, dark, moderately strong Trappist ale with fruity and spicy yeast character complementing the rich malt, caramel and dark fruit flavors from the malt.

Ingredients:

Water treatment:

RO water treated with ¼ tsp 10% phosphoric acid per 5 gallons

1 tsp CaCl
₂
in mash

Mash technique:

Step mash, mashout, dark grains added at
vorlauf

Mash rests:

142°F (61°C) 30 minutes

156°F (69°C) 30 minutes

168°F (76°C) 15 minutes

Kettle volume:

8.5 gallons (30 L)

Boil length:

90 minutes

Final volume:

6.5 gallons (25 L)

Fermentation temp:

64°F (18°C), allowing to rise freely

Sensory description:
Chewy, rich malt base with deep bready, and toasty flavors. Balanced bitterness but retains a malty finish. Notes of dark and dried fruit, including plums and raisins. Spicy aroma complements the malt. The finish is dry and lightly warming, but the malt remains in control.

Formulation notes:
Each ingredient has a purpose, but the key is including some dark Munich malt, and using Wyeast 3787 yeast. I could make a flavorful beer without dark Munich, but it never had the right malt
punch
to it. I enjoyed many of the other yeast varieties (I remember a good example using Wyeast 3522 Ardennes fermented warm that had some of the best esters of any batch), but 3787 is the Westmalle strain and it shows. The Special B malt gives the raisin notes, the CaraMunich brings the plum and some caramel. The chocolate wheat is for color adjustment only. It’s important that the beer be malty but not sweet, so a lot of crystal type malts won’t help. I don’t like to get the alcohol above 7%; it’s a good beer, but at higher ABVs it starts moving away from
dubbel
and into the dark strong territory. When using 3787 yeast, be aware that it is a vigorous fermenter and often needs a blowoff tube. It likes a rising temperature during fermentation, and will often stop and flocculate if you try to cool it during fermentation. I like to start it cool and keep the ambient temperature cool,
but let the fermenting beer rise as warm as it wants. If it seems like it’s slowing down but not done, I’ll warm it up. Give it some extra time on the yeast after fermentation to help clean up by-products.

Variations:
I’ve tried so many different variations of this beer that they’re hard to count. I’ve done split batch yeast experiments, changed sugars, varied base malts, changed percentages of specialty grains, used different mash schedules (including decoction), played with alcohol level and IBUs, evaluated different maltsters, and explored spicing. All the beers were recognizable as
dubbels,
and all were enjoyable, so the style does have broad range. I do have some personal preferences based on all that experimentation, and those showed up in this recipe. But just when I thought I had it right, out came the commercial Belgian syrups and I had to start over. Still, that’s the fun part of brewing: there’s always something new to learn. If I were to make this as a single infusion beer, I’d shoot for converting at 151°F (66°C). I’ve mashed higher but the extra dextrins don’t help with the dry finish. I’d rather mash lower and use a little CaraPils to ensure I get the right body. The yeast can handle a wide range of fermentation temperatures, so you can try this fermented cool and compare it against one fermented warm (72°F, 22°C). Westmalle and Westvleteren both use the same yeast, but Westmalle ferments cooler while Westvleteren goes warmer.

MODERN HOMEBREW DUBBEL

On trips to Belgium, I am often surprised to find that Belgian brewers tend to use simpler recipes than American homebrewers to produce classic darker beers. I was wondering how they managed to get such richness of flavor. As Stan Hieronymus’
Brew like a Monk
reveals, their secret weapon is their sugar. Much like some classic English recipes rely on flavorful specialty brewing sugars, the Belgians have long had access to syrups that supply the rich flavors and color the styles require. American homebrewers are fortunate to now have multiple sources of such brewing sugars, as well as instructions on how to make their own. This recipe is a modern adaptation of my classic recipe, showing how sugars can replace specialty malts to achieve the same goals.

Style:
Belgian Dubbel (Classic BJCP Style)

Description:
Malty, rich, moderately strong Trappist ale with fruity and spicy flavors.

Ingredients:

Water treatment:

RO water treated with ¼ tsp 10% phosphoric acid per 5 gallons

1 tsp CaCl
₂
in mash

Mash technique:

Infusion, mashout

Mash rests:

149°F (65°C) 60 minutes

168°F (76°C) 10 minutes

Kettle volume:

8.5 gallons (30 L)

Boil length:

90 minutes

Final volume:

6.5 gallons (25 L)

Fermentation temp:

64°F (18°C), allowing to rise freely

Sensory description:
Amazingly similar to the original recipe. Chewy, rich malt with fresh, dark fruit and caramel flavors. Balanced bitterness with a malty but dry finish. The yeast gives it a spicy profile with some balanced fruit.

Formulation notes:
Similar to the Traditional Homebrew Dubbel recipe, but with Pilsner malt instead of Pale Ale malt as the base. Most breweries
I visited in Belgium were using Dingemans Pilsner malt as their base for all styles, so it’s quite authentic. I chose to keep the richer base malts that bring the malty punch; that’s a personal taste preference of mine. The dark Munich malt is not something that you’d typically see used in Belgium. The syrups fill in for the specialty malts and rock sugars. Hops and yeast are the same.

Variations:
I first tried the candi syrups as a direct substitute for the dark candi sugar rocks, but that produced a very malty, fruity, and rich beer that seemed too dark and too intense for the style. A few sips tasted good, but it was hard to get through a glass. The syrups were duplicating many of the flavors from the base malts. I’m using two different types of syrups for added complexity, but you can choose one or the other as well. It would be a fun experiment to try this recipe against the same one made with all D syrup and another with all D-90 syrup. You can also try it as an exercise in minimalism—start with just the Pils malt and the syrup and see what minimum number of additional ingredients are needed to fit the target flavor profile. That’s probably closest to how Belgians brew it, although formulations for this style do vary quite a bit between breweries. I sometimes use this as a base for a fruit beer, where you can add in any fruit that amplifies some fruity flavor present in the profile. Probably the easiest to do is the infamous cherry
dubbel
.

FLANDERS RED

I don’t make a lot of sour beers, but have dabbled in brewing the various styles. I do like Flanders red ale, though. I think Rodenbach Grand Cru is the exemplar of the style, so I often turn to that beer for guidance. I think the sourness should be pleasant, not puckering. When I visited the brewery, I saw how after the beer came out of the barrel it was much more sour than their finished product. They must do some blending to hit a target sourness level, most likely like gueuze. A little bit of new to temper the old.

Style:
Flanders Red Ale (Classic BJCP Style)

Description:
Tart and fruity with a toasty, caramel malt base and dry finish.

Ingredients: