I was thinking of maybe making a sessionable/low OG Belgian style red ale but have little experience in making reds. I have a vial of WL Trappist that I want to use, anyone want to throw out some links, ideas, suggestions, etc. I have a decent amount CaraRed and was wondering if that would have a place somewhere/
I made a Belgian IPA a few months ago and I used some Weyermann Abbey Malt 16L. It gave the beer a nice amber/red color and I really liked the taste. You could also use some Carared.
I made something similar a few years back using Castle Pils, Caramunich, Caravienne, Biscuit, and White Wheat, finished with Hallertau, and for yeast, WY1214. For a summer party I believe. Around OG 1.060 IIRC. Came out really good.
This is what i came up with so far, plan on pitching WL Trappist
Belgian Session Red
Belgian Specialty Ale
Type: All Grain Date: 6/12/2013
Batch Size (fermenter): 6.00 gal Brewer: Opposition Brewing Co.
Boil Size: 8.28 gal Asst Brewer:
Boil Time: 60 min Equipment: My All Grain Setup
End of Boil Volume 7.28 gal Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00 %
Final Bottling Volume: 5.80 gal Est Mash Efficiency 75.8 %
Fermentation: Ale, Two Stage Taste Rating(out of 50): 30.0
Taste Notes:
Ingredients
Ingredients
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
6 lbs 8.0 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 56.2 %
3 lbs 4.5 oz Munich 10L (Briess) (10.0 SRM) Grain 2 28.4 %
1 lbs 1.2 oz Carared (20.0 SRM) Grain 3 9.3 %
6.4 oz Caramel Malt - 120L (Briess) (120.0 SRM) Grain 4 3.5 %
4.8 oz Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 5 2.6 %
0.40 oz Nugget [13.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 6 15.8 IBUs
Beer Profile
Est Original Gravity: 1.044 SG Measured Original Gravity: 1.046 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.011 SG Measured Final Gravity: 1.010 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 4.4 % Actual Alcohol by Vol: 4.7 %
Bitterness: 15.8 IBUs Calories: 151.6 kcal/12oz
Depending on how “Belgian” you want it to taste vs. how much you want it to taste like a red ale, I’d use Special B and/or dark Candi Syrup to get your red color from instead of the roast barley. I brewed a small dubbel with lots of late hops over the winter that was one of my best brews ever.
I make a Belgian red ale with cara red that turns out really nice. It’s a little over “session able” at 1.060 bit it’s a deep red and very quaffable. I use a lot of cara red and some sugar to dry the beer out. LMK if you are interested in the recipe.
I’d like that recipe, MV, if you still have it ten years later. PM if that’s better than posting to a way-dead thread.
Also, DannyJed, same for your Belgian IPA using Weyermann Abbey Malt. If you still have/remember the recipe, I’d like to see that too.
I don’t have that recipe on hand anymore, but I remember most of it.
Grains-Pilsner, Weyermann Abbey Malt, and possibly a small amount of Crystal
Hops- American hops like Columbus, Chinook, Cascade, Centennial, and Amarillo
Yeast- Wyeast 3522 Belgian Ardennes
Probably should try and brew this again this summer.
Thanks, DannyJed. Can you recall a rough ballpark for the percentage of Abbey Malt? I see 3%-5% as a typical range for Aromatic malt (which is sort of where I’d categorize Abbey) but I’ve also seen people use a ton more than that, even 20%-30% which sounds like an awful lot. (I even saw some dude say he used it at 50% and claimed it produced an excellent beer!)
It’s one of those weird malts that seems to defy a simple categorization, or at least has more malleable usage guidelines.
i used abbey malt at 4%, 1/2 a lb in a beer last year and i couldnt easily identify it bringing anything in a beer that was otherwise 75% vienna, 20% munich. maybe some breadiness/maltiness i guess but yeah you could likely go up to 10% without causing any issues at all and possibly much higher. not sure.
I remember I used a high percentage like 20-30% and thought afterwards that I might have made a mistake. However, this beer was fantastic with the malt/American hop interplay with the Belgian yeast character of Ardennes.