Hajimasabi
Member
While bottling last night we cracked open a Maredsous 10 Triple. We may just be easy to impress, but this beer raised some eyebrows and got me thinking about brewing a clone. Online searches brought up not much, so I've put together a recipe (5gal partial mash) and would like some input. What we liked about M10: high alcohol w/o really tasting it (well masked couldn't believe it was 10%!), complex spicy/fruity flavors bringing to mind cloves, cinnamon and the like, nice head, beautiful almost amber color.
Here's what I have so far:
5 pounds Belgian Pils DME
5 pounds Light DME
.5 pound wheat malt
1 pound Carapils malt, crushed
.25 pounds Belgian aromatic malt, crushed
1 pound table sugar, caramelized into amber syrup
2 ounces Hallertau hops - 60 minutes
2 ounces Styrian Goldings - 60 minutes
2 Liter starter of liquid Belgian Strong Ale yeast (570) or Wyeast(1388)
1 wirlfloc tablet
Questions:
1: Will the wheat malt add anything to head retention if I already have carapils? Would I be better off with flaked wheat or omit it altogether?
2: Will the aromatic malt give me the amber color I'm after without caramelizing the sugar? Will caramelizing add any substantial flavor? Is there a better way to get the amber hue?
3. I have plenty of organic Fuggles. Could they be substituted?
4. Any reason to use both Pilsner and Light DME rather than just 10lb of pils? Most recipes I found seemed to use both.
5. Would I be better off with a Belgian Tripel yeast instead of the strong ale? Which will give the spicier profile?
Many thanks!
Here's what I have so far:
5 pounds Belgian Pils DME
5 pounds Light DME
.5 pound wheat malt
1 pound Carapils malt, crushed
.25 pounds Belgian aromatic malt, crushed
1 pound table sugar, caramelized into amber syrup
2 ounces Hallertau hops - 60 minutes
2 ounces Styrian Goldings - 60 minutes
2 Liter starter of liquid Belgian Strong Ale yeast (570) or Wyeast(1388)
1 wirlfloc tablet
Questions:
1: Will the wheat malt add anything to head retention if I already have carapils? Would I be better off with flaked wheat or omit it altogether?
2: Will the aromatic malt give me the amber color I'm after without caramelizing the sugar? Will caramelizing add any substantial flavor? Is there a better way to get the amber hue?
3. I have plenty of organic Fuggles. Could they be substituted?
4. Any reason to use both Pilsner and Light DME rather than just 10lb of pils? Most recipes I found seemed to use both.
5. Would I be better off with a Belgian Tripel yeast instead of the strong ale? Which will give the spicier profile?
Many thanks!