Devil's Dubbel

Source: David Campbell
Recipe added: 01/11/01
Email: d.campbell@po-box.esu.edu

The Trappist yeast produced a lot of phenols and esters at first but the cold lagering, which isn't really appropriate for this style, calmed them a bit after 6 weeks. I decided on that route after sampling the young beer out of the primary. The end result is a very tasty Belgian ale at around 7% alcohol. It was rich, malty, sweet, and caramelly tasting--copper brown in color--maybe a hair light on the color for a true dubbel. The hop presence is negligible and the carbonation seems perfect. I haven't had a chance to let it age more and I am sure it will taste even better after a few more months.

Specifics

Recipe type: Extract
Batch Size: 5 gallons
Starting Gravity: 1.063
Finishing Gravity: 1.013
Time in Boil: 60 minutes
Primary Fermentation: 1 week in plastic
Secondary Fermentation: 6 weeks in glass

Ingredients:

-5 lbs. Muntons light DME
-1 lb. CaraMunich malt
-1/4 lb. Paul's Special B malt
-1 lb. Belgian amber candi sugar
-1 cup corn sugar
-1 ounce Sytrian Golding hops
-1 ounce Hallertau hops
-Wyeast Belgian Trappist Ale yeast (#3787)
-3/4 cup corn sugar for priming

Procedure:

-Prepared 1.5 liter starter for yeast on day in advance. Steeped grains at 160 degrees for 30 min in 2 gallons of water. Sparged with two pints. Discarded spent grains. Added 1 more gallon, and brought to a boil. Dissolved DME and candi sugar. Added 1 ounce of the Goldings and 1/2 ounce of the Hallertau hops. At 30 min, added remaining Hallertau hops. At 45 min, added corn sugar. Cooled with ice in sink. Pitched yeast starter at 70 degrees. Fermented at 70 degrees for 1 week. Transferred to glass carboy at variations of 40-60 degrees for 6 weeks. Primed and bottled.

Back to previous Table of Contents