Here is a recipe for a Belgian Dubbel. The aspect to nail down for this style is to keep the solvent-y alcohol flavors out of the beer. With a good healthy pitch of yeast and keeping fermentation temperatures on the cooler side of the range, this beer will be a good sipper on a crisp Autumn day.
If you are at the mercy of ambient temperatures during your fermentation, it makes sense to brew this beer in the early spring and have it ready for colder days on the other side of summer.
Belgian Dubbel
Brew Method: All Grain
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 5.5 gallons (ending kettle volume)
Boil Size: 7 gallons
Efficiency 75%
Ingredients:
10 lbs – Belgian Pilsner Malt
1 lbs – Munich 10° L
0.25 lb – Belgian Special B
0.5 lb – Abbey Malt
0.5 lb – Cane Sugar
1 lb – Belgian Candi Syrup – Dark 90 °L
1.25 oz – Tettnang Hops boiled for 60 mins. (AA 4.5%)
Yeast: White Labs – Abbey Ale Yeast WLP530
Ingredients:
Ferment at 66°F for two weeks raising the temperature if necessary towards the end of the two week period to 70°F to ensure proper attenuation. Bottle or keg as usual to carbonation levels of 3 to 4 volumes. Store at fridge temperatures for at least one month before serving.
Stats:
Original Gravity: 1.069
Final Gravity: 1.016
ABV: 7.01%
IBUs: 18.73
SRM: 13.69
This beer should not be hot with alcohol flavors but should have a nice dry finish.
Chris
I am currently brewing a similar recipe using WLP530. I started at 64F and am up to around 70F to finish. I got a lot of sulphur notes at day 3 when the fermentation was very violent. I had to place a towel under the blow off pail.
John
Good information – need to warm up the beer to dry it out.
RayY
I brewed a beer with the Wyeast 3787, which I believe is the same strain. OG 1.079. Kind of got stuck around 1.020–I think I racked too soon (after 1 week), and fermentation slowed to a crawl (it was fairly cool here in my house). Then added some alpha-amylase (it was an extract brew) and tried to keep it fairly warm–finished out at 1.012. It’s not bad, tastes pretty flowery. I don’t know if that’s a defect or not. I think it was better at a higher FG–like when I tasted the sample at 1.020. Maybe needs some bottle age, too. Anyhow, from what I’ve read about this yeast, it heats up quite a bit, then I think you have to be careful not to let it crash. Probably keep it at or above 70F to allow the ferm. to finish.
John
Thanks RayY. Looks like I may be using my heating pad if it stays cool in my basement.