#2 Belgian Dubbel

I've wanted to brew a Belgian Dubbel for a while now. Ever since getting into Belgian beer, I've loved the style and wanted to brew something just as malty yet drinkable. I took this recipe from the September 8th, 2008 episode of The Jamil Show on The Brewing Network. Seemed like a great recipe to start with. 

I think I've learned more in the past few months after listening to TBN shows than I have in my few years as a homebrewer. Brew Strong is one of the few sources where I can find answers to the most intricate, and geeky, questions I may have about brewing. I think the show will greatly contribute to my learning more about the biochemical side of brewing, the side I think I need the most help with.

I tweaked the recipe slightly to scale it from 6.5 to 5 gallons and lowered the amount of dark Belgian candi sugar to get the correct color of about 16 SRM. Strangely, the proportion of malt and sugars given on the podcast would produce a 6.5 gallon batch at 75% efficiency. Maybe that's in order to allow for any beer lost during transfer, but I figured I'd just scale it back to 5 gallons and if I lose a bit of beer, it'll mean less bottles when I bottle the beer. I'm too cheap to just leave beer in the fermenter or secondary.

Belgian Dubbel

Batch Volume (Gal): 5.00

Pre-Boil Volume (Gal): 6.33

Total Grain (Lbs): 11.25 (14 oz. of which are sugars)

OG: 1.064     Anticipated FG: ~1.012     Anticipated ABV: ~6.9%

IBUs: 22.7

SRM: 16.4

Brewhouse Efficiency: 72%

Boil Duration: 90 min

Grain                         (Lbs/oz.)     (%)     (added to boil)

Pilsner                            8.5           75.6

Munich Malt                 0.75          6.7

Cane Sugar                    10 oz.        5.6             (15 min)

Aromatic Malt               6 oz.         3.3

CaraMunich 60             6 oz.         3.3

CaraAroma                    6 oz.         3.3

Candi Sugar (dark)       4 oz.         2.2            (15 min)

Hops                     (AA%)             (IBU)                (Oz.)             (Boil [min])

Styrian Goldings    4.6                  15.9                   0.75                     60

Czech Saaz             3.9                   3.9                    0.75                    30

Yeast

WLP 530 Abbey Ale Yeast (repitched from Belgian Pale Ale yeast cake)

Water

1 tsp Calcium Chloride (90 min)

1 tsp Calcium Sulfate (90 min)

1 tsp Irish Moss (10 min)

1/2 tsp yeast nutrient (10 min)

I mashed this beer with 1 TBL of 5.2 and was able to hold my target mash temperature of 150 F for the entire 60 minutes of the mash. I mashed low to let this beer dry out and have a nice malty finish. 

The mash was going perfect until I unfortunately realized my hot liquor tank was leaking; that's what I get for using cheap PVC to try and create a tight seal between my ball lock valve and my cooler. With 30 minutes left in the mash, I chose to run down to the local hardware store to try and find parts that would hold my sparge water in my 10 gallon Rubbermaid cooler. I found them really quick with the help of the employee there, and rushed home to try and make it before the end of the 60 minute mash to mash out. I made it and brought the mash up to 170 F. Too bad the hardware I bought failed to hold any water and I had to resort to hand pouring my strike water into the top of the mash tun during the sparge. I guess not a huge issue, but one of those frustrations that seems to throw the entire day off.

Luckily the failing hot liquor tank didn't keep me from hitting a nice high sparge temp of 170 F during the sparge. After collection 6.33 gallons I hit 1.058, which with the sugars I added came out to my target OG of 1.064. I boiled for 90 minutes to drive off DMS since the base malt was all pilsner malt. The long boil gave me the chance to have the Ashton cigar I picked up at my local homebrew shop. The Fermentation Station is too much of a tease: cigars, brewing, and wine ingredients.

I decided to ferment the batch in my dad's 6 gallon wine carboy. It had been so long since I'd last used a carboy as a fermenter, I forgot to find the 5 gallon mark on the carboy. Not only was it a pain in the ass to transfer from the boil kettle into the narrow neck of the carboy, now I have no idea my final wort volume. Based on my boil off percentage, I think I have approximately 5 gallons in the fermenter. Hopefully this batch will turn out well in 6 weeks time and I'll forget how much of a pain in the ass it was to brew this beer!

I transferred the Belgian Pale Ale off of its yeast cake in order to pitch into the Dubbel. I'm glad the Belgian Pale Ale is one step closer to being chilled and carbonated in the kegerator; I have one half batch of beer left in bombers. Buster's Bitter is an ESB I brewed in honor of my grandfather. It turned out phenomenal. It finished a little high and the hops could be stronger to balance but at 7.5% ABV after it fermented with such a great yeast (Wyeast 1968 London ESB) there are few beers I'd rather have while it's cold outside.

After brewing Belgians for the past two weeks, I'm excited to start using the Wyeast 2565 Kolsch Ale yeast when I brew up a German Alt. I think it'll make for a great session ale during the mid-winter, and I'm looking to build up a good amount of yeast to ferment a clean and crisp Kolsch.