Belgian Amber Strong Ale

Beer Recipes
1

So I’ve decided to give WY3864 (Canadian/Belgian - aka Unibroue) a run as my house yeast for a while. It ferments remarkably clean at lower temps with a sizeable pitch of yeast. It plays nice in both hoppy and malty styles. But it always leaves a distinct character in the finish that I can pick out as “yep, that’s Unibroue”. I’ve always enjoyed blending styles a bit, so this should be fun to adapt some of my favorite recipes to make best use of this yeast.

I have a Belgian Pale Ale going now, so this one is destined for that yeast cake. I don’t have a spare fridge at the moment, so I didn’t get to brew a 'fest this year. This recipe is inspired by that rich base malt complexity that I get from my fave Ofests, but amped up to strong Belgian levels.

Title: Belgian Amber Strong Ale

Brew Method: BIAB
Style Name: Belgian Dark Strong Ale
Boil Time: 90 min
Batch Size: 3.5 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 4 gallons
Boil Gravity: 1.055
Efficiency: 80% (brew house)

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.088
Final Gravity: 1.020
ABV (standard): 8.86%
IBU (tinseth): 31.4
SRM (morey): 12.34

FERMENTABLES:
3 lb - German - Bohemian Pilsner (31.6%)
1 lb - German - Vienna (10.5%)
2 lb - German - Munich Light (21.1%)
1 lb - German - Munich Dark (10.5%)
0.5 lb - Belgian - Aromatic (5.3%)
0.5 lb - Belgian Candi Syrup - Amber - (late addition)  (5.3%)
1.5 lb - Cane Sugar - (late addition)  (15.8%)

HOPS:
0.8 oz - Sterling, Type: Pellet, AA: 7.1, Use: Boil for 90 min, IBU: 31.4
0.5 oz - Sterling, Type: Pellet, AA: 7.1, Use: Boil for 0 min

MASH GUIDELINES:

  1. Infusion, Temp: 153 F, Time: 75 min, Amount: 18 qt, Sacc Rest

YEAST:
Wyeast - Canadian/Belgian Ale 3864

2

Yummy yum yum!  What a tasty idea.

3

Looks really good.  I’ve got a BDSA coming up in the rotation soon, loosely in the Rochefort vein (ala WY1762).  I think you have a winner there.

4

Looks good.  You may want to up the IBUs to around 40, IMHO, just to keep it balanced, but I’m sure it will be good either way.  I like the Unibroue character, too.

5

That looks like alot of sugar for a 3.5 gallon batch!

6

My SOP for big Belgians is the 20% ballpark for simple sugars (I’ve pushed it as high as 25% and still have been happy with the results). I have a rough rule of thumb that starting at about 1.060ish I do at least 10% sugar and above 1.075 or so I go up to 20% to get my Belgians to finish as dry as I’d like. In smaller Belgians I may use Candi Syrup, but the primary goal in those cases is flavor.

7

good rule. My house ‘saison’ is only 1.048 and that includes 1 lb of honey in 5 gallons. dry is nice.

8

Is 3864 still available anywhere? Can’t believe I’m just finding out about this now… I’d love to try it.

9

It’s easily cultured from the bottle if you can’t find it anywhere else.

10

Well, now I know what I’m doing this week. Thanks!

11

It is currently not a year round strain. It was last released last fall. I emailed Wyeast to see if it was set to be released again sometime soon, but nothing is scheduled right now. If you want to see it shoot Wyeast an email to let them know. That’s the type of feedback that would encourage them to release it again or even make it a year round release.

12

That’s a great suggestion and I will do so.  I love this yeast.  I have a tripel on tap right now that was fermented with it and it’s flat out delicious.  I’ve also got some slurry I cultured from the bottle so I need to do a side-by-side ferment and see if there’s any noticeable differences.