Chimay Red, what next?

[farmer brown]

Hello again.. Sorry, Im really bombarding this forum at the moment!

I brewed a strong Belgium ale last week based on a Chimay Red recipe, it comes in at 9.8% and I have about 5 gallon. What I normally do is separate my homebrew into single 1 gallon demijons and experiment with different hops/fruit etc

Im very much new to Belgium ales and was wondering if I should

A) Just leave the 5 gallon alone to condition for a few months before bottling
B) Split and experiment with recommendations.. Fruit, Spices etc?

Cheers

 

[phettebs]

I vote for A)

Chimay Red is a Belgian dubbel. 9.8% is a bit high for a dubbel though. I wouldn't do anything else with it as dubbels aren't really fruited or spiced. But if you are trying to make a specialty ale, then go ahead and split it up. It all depends on what you are looking for in the beer. If it's an authentic interpretation of a dubbel, I'd just leave it.

Baz

 

[Dieseljockey]

+1 with Baz....if it was me, leave it alone. :thumb:

 

[farmer brown]

Ok, well I guess Ill put it away for a few months and forget about it. Itll be interesting to see how it develops over 6 months or even a year..

Just 1 last question, Ive always taken my ale off the sediment within 10 days to prevent any off flavours. I read that its good to leave this style of ale in the primary for a month before siphoning into secondary to condition, is this because of the low flocculation yeast? Im using Belgium Abby 1214? Does a month sound right? Its stopped 3 days ago at 1010 and is now sitting at around 15c. Im then hoping to leave it in the secondary for a good 3 months before bottling. Ill add a little yeast before to help with the bottle conditioning, does this all sound correct?

Thanks again

 

[phettebs]

I have a few bottles left of my last Belgian dubble that I brewed in early 2011. It tastes fantastic. Very rich and caramely tasting.

I leave my high gravity beers in the primary for a month. I want to give the yeast plenty of time to clean up after itself. Even my lower gravity beers I leave for 2 maybe three weeks. Never had an off flavour from it. If anything, removing it too quickly can lead to off flavours because the yeast hasn't had sufficient time to clean up any fermentation byproducts that it could have, given time.

 

[farmer brown]

Some good tips there, Its pretty cold out so the basement is a good place to let it do it's thing.. Just have to try and forget about it now !

 

[Dieseljockey]

Just out of curiosity, I take it the brew was an AG?...if it was what recipe did you use?? :wha:

 

[farmer brown]

It was an all grain yes, I found a few recipes online but I didn't have Tettnang hops so ended up going for this:

6000g Pale Malt
500g Munich Malt
250g Caramalt
250g Special B
100g Cara Aromatic
100g Biscuit Mal

70g Hallertau Hersbrucker 3.3% 60mins
30g Hallertau Hersbrucker 3.3% 5 min
12g Bobek 6.6 % 15 min
800g Candi Sugar
200g Dark Brown Sugar

Belgium Abby 1214

OG 1086
FG 1010

 

[Dieseljockey]

Looks good...you could enter a bottle or two in the Spring Thing..

 

[farmer brown]

Well lest see how it goes, its my first strong ale so I'm a little hesitant! I feel like Ive dived into the deep end but fingers crossed it'll be drinkable in 6 months :wha:

 

[Dieseljockey]

Keep the faith brother...the force will be with you...