Buddy coming home from deployment - brewing his favorite beer, Duvel

• 4.5 lbs Extra light LME
• 2 lbs Wheat LME
• 1 lb. Cara-Pils
• 1.5 oz Saaz (90)

From BLAM:


1.069 - 1.006
83% Pils
17% Dextrose
Styrian Goldings and Saaz hops - 30 IBUs
WY1388
Pitched at 61 to 64 - Rises to 79 to 84 in 120 hours

Cold conditioned for 3 weeks below 32*

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Sure thing.

Again, this is a scaled recipe, originally from Jamil Zainasheff.

Batch size: 5.5 gallons

Efficiency: 74%

OG: 1.074

FG: 1.007

ABV: 8.8%

Color: 3.6 SRM

IBU: 22.3 (Jamil's number is a bit different, but that's what I get from BeerSmith)

Boil time: 90 minutes (pilsner malt requires a longer boil to drive off DMS)

Grain: 10 pounds pilsner malt (Belgian would theoretically be the best, bu I had to use German, which I understand to be essentially indistinguishable)

Hops: 2.59 oz Saaz (3.2% AA) @ 60 minutes (note that my Saaz has a rather low alpha acid content. If yours are higher - they often go up to 5% - you'll need to use less total hops. I can help you scale the amount if you need it.)

Table sugar - 3 pounds. Added to fermenter.

Mash at 149 degrees for 90 minutes (as opposed to the standard 60).

Boil for 90 minutes, adding your hops with 60 minutes left in the boil. I personally add a tablespoon of Irish moss at 15 minutes left to help with clarity.

Note that if you elect to add your sugar to the fermenter instead of the boil, the target OG should be 1.047. I forgot this, and it freaked me out for a few minutes when I pulled a 1.049.

Be sure to make a nice, big starter!

Ferment at 64 degrees for the first couple of days. When the beer has reached 50-75% attenuation, add your sugar.

I personally split mine into two additions. I did a pound and a half boiled with about a cup of water, which yielded a nice golden styup (sticky as heck, though). Once fermentation slowed down, I did it again.

As fermentation finishes, ramp up the temp. Jamil suggests going as high as 82 degrees; I got mine to 78-79, and kept it pretty steady until final gravity was reached. Beware that the last few points can take as long - or longer - as the first 90% did. I wrapped my carboy with a heating pad.

Also beware that this yeast is a really poor flocculator. Mine dropped out after about 3 weeks in the fermenter, but I've read numerous reports of it taking as long as six weeks.

I bulk aged mine for nine weeks in primary followed by two in secondary. You don't have to do that, but do understand that long bulk aging often reduces the time that you have to bottle age to get to peak flavor.

I bottled with table sugar (boiled in water, of course). Taste at bottling was excellent, was really not expecting that.

Plan to bottle condition for at least a month or two, and do try to save some for several months. Big Belgians undergo miraculous transformations with some time on them. I won't be opening my first bottle before about 4 months after brew day, and I don't expect it to yet be as good as it will get.

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lowtones84 said:

If you can do the mashing and all, that will definitely be a better way to do this recipe. Using the right yeast will be important as well, which I believe is White Labs WLP 570 or Wyeast WY1388. This one will definitely take some time to smooth out, when is your buddy getting back?

Also, I would not bottle at 4 volumes if you're going to be using standard bottles. Most American craft beer bottles aren't made to stand up to that kind of pressure. Not trying to discourage you by any means, just trying to give what info I can. Good luck!

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