I’m planning on brewing a small batch of the Hermann Holtropp Rochefort clone this weekend, but have realised that I don’t have any Carafa special I. I do have special II and III. Rather than having to order some, am I right in thinking that I could just use a smaller quantity of the II or III to produce the same colour addition? Given that it only uses 50g to begin with, I can’t see that being a problem.
What does the hive mind have to say on this?
I would use the Carafa II special, and proportionally decrease the amount based on the Lovibond ratings.
Pretty good recipe. 
I think that recipe calls for Carafa Special (II), not Carafa I.
The recipe calls for Carafa special dehusked 800EBC, which is number 1.
http://www.brewboard.com/index.php?showtopic=49298&mode=threaded
http://www.weyermann.de/eng/produkte.asp?idkat=19&umenue=yes&idmenue=&sprache=2
I think I’m going to go with a proportionally smaller quantity of special 2.
Brewed this today, but got my sums wrong. Ended up with too much beer, and 10 points under my target. Should come in around 7%, so I’ll pretend it was meant to be the 6, rather than 8.
Did you pulverize it or just run it though the mill with the rest of it?
I always pulverize mine, but it has meant I need to adjust the amount somewhat.
In a beer like that, I would have no quams adding back 1-1.5# of dissolved cane sugar (boiled in a small amount of water for 5 min. and cooled) to the fermenter. Not a big deal at all, and in a 5 gallon batch that will gain you 8-10 points (give or take).
Do you think the 1% alcohol with no additional body will have a significant impact on the quality of the beer? (I’m genuinely asking, I never brew stuff that strong so I have no gauge).
Not for Belgian Dark Strong like he is brewing. You want those to finish pretty dry. I would also have no issues doing that for most belgian styles.
Carafa went through the mill with the rest of the grain. Flaked corn was boiled separately into a viscous goop and added to the mash.
Good idea. I might add 500g of sugar or golden syrup in a day or so.
Just FYI, flaked corn (maize) does not need to be boiled separately before being added to the mash. It is pre-gelatinized and can be added directly with your other grains to the mashtun for conversion.
+1. Flaked maize pretty much dissolves into the mash anyway.
Thanks for the info. It’s something I’ve only used for this recipe, so I just followed what it said on the link I posted previously. That’ll save me some time, and washing up in future.