Abbeagle Dubbel Ale

Source: Michael Parker
Recipe added: 11/24/99
Email: mparker@caseservices.com

This recipe is a modification from Pierre Rajotte's Dubbel recipe, and is a close enough copy of Chimay that my wife (who has better taste buds than mine) can't tell the difference. The color isn't quite coppery enough, but a 2hr boil would solve that. The use of honey is a bit unorthodox in a dubbel, but it helps give a clean finish that prevents the banana taste from cloying. Together with the two-yeast fermentation, it also improves the complexity.

Specifics

Recipe type: Extract
Batch Size: 5 gal
Starting Gravity: 1.070
Finishing Gravity: 1.009
Time in Boil: 60 min
Primary Fermentation: 5 days
Secondary Fermentation: 10 days

Ingredients:

4 oz dark crystal malt
3 oz chocolate malt
6 lbs unhopped pale malt syrup
1.5 lbs light DME
1 lb amber Belgian Candi
2 cups unprocessed honey
1 cup unprocessed honey
1 tsp coriander seeds
4 slices candied ginger (julienned)
1 oz Kent Goldings pellets (bittering)
0.5 oz Hallertauer pellets (bittering)
0.4 oz Saaz pellets (aroma)
Wyeast 1214 Belgian Abbey
Chimay Red culture
3/4 cup dextrose

Procedure:

brew day - 2: Prepare 2.5 cups of Wyeast starter. brew day: Prepare 2.5 cups of starter from the yeast dregs of a fresh 750ml bottle of Chimay. Relax, enjoy a Chimay. Heck, enjoy two. Prepare the specialty grains in 1qt, then add the syrup, DME, and candi. Bring to a boil, pitch the Goldings and Hallertauer, and once the hot break is through and the foam has redissolved, add the honey and ginger. It will foam again, and you need to skim this foam (honey has wax and bee bits that you don't want). Pitch the Saaz and crushed coriander at 2 minutes. Cool, strain into a 5gal carboy, top up to 4.75 gal with distilled water, and pitch in the Wyeast starter. Ferment at 75 degrees. Once fermentation slows to about 1 bubble/min (about 5 days), boil and skim another cup of honey in a pint of water, and boil another gallon of water on the side. Rack to secondary, and pitch in half the chimay starter along with the boiled honey, and top up the carboy with the boiled water. Fermentation should be over in 1-2 more weeks. Prime with rest of the chimay starter and the dextrose plus 2 tbsp honey, and hold the bottles at 75 degrees for two weeks.

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