Wow… that’s a good beer… anyone have a good Belgian recipe?
Chimay is an awesome brewery. If you tell us which one you had (red, blue, white) I’m certain someone has a recipe that’ll get you nearby.
Denny might have one…
Chimay is a good entry level beer for Belgian style ales. But, as was mentioned, there are 3 produced commercially. Each one very different from the others. Gonna have to let us know which one.
I like the red…
Zymurgy 1991 special issue, page 70 has a recipe for “She Will” which is a clone of the Chimay red.
I’ve brewed it many times and have my starter going to brew it tomorrow.
I do a partial mash with extract, but I can find the issue and scan the page if you want all grain.
Here is what I transcribed in 2005 for a 5 gallon batch
8 lbs light DME
2 lnbs pilsner
1/2 lb munich
1/2 lb wheat malt
7 oz. candi sugar
3 0z Hallertau (4%) 60 min
1 0z Tettnanger (3.8%) 60 min
1 oz Saaz (3%) 30 min
3/4 oz. Centennial (9%) 2 min
Wyeast Abbey II 1762
1762 is the Rochefort yeast. Use 1214 for Chimay. But not too hot, or it will taste like bananas and nail polish remover.
Or WLP500 …
It’s possible that my transcription substituted what I had available for what was originally in the recipe.
I’ll look later today for the actual issue.
Absofreakinlutely! When I see people talk about running this yeast in the upper 60s or 70s I cringe.
I’ll see if I can dig up my Chimaybe recipe.
I start it at around 64 and then finish it off around 68. The first time I brewed it I pitched at 68 and fermented around 72-74 and was not happy with the results.
I try to start it even a bit lower, like 60-62.
62 for me
I read in BLAM that the breweries often use brown sugar…which if I recall right means dark rock candy, but how interesting would that flavor be to put fresh brown sugar in?!
I think you may be misremembering. They use candi syrup, not usually brown sugar certainly not the rock stuff. Using what we think of as brown sugar adds no discernable flavor at all IME.
They use either a dark syrup which is a carmelized inverted sucrose, or a soft “brown” sugar which is the crystallized byproduct of making the syrup. Brown sugar as we know it is just sugar with molasses, a byproduct of sugar refining, so this won’t give you the same result. There are beers out there made with brown sugar or molasses, if you’re interested in what that tastes like.
I looked up the recipe in the old Zymurgy and my transcription was pretty close.
The original recipe was extract with a partial mash. Instead of pilsner, he used 2-row and he used a cultured Chimay yeast. OG of 1.084, 90 minute boil.
From my notes, I’ve made it with both 1762 and 1214. No notes as to which I liked better. As you all noted, the 1214 will make it more true to Chimay.
The original recipe is from the beer that won the “Chimay award” and first place in Belgian-style Specialty at the 1991 NHC.
i’ve got dennys chimaybe in keg right now, haven’t tapped it yet. made it 11/7/10 it came out at 9.7%. should i let it sit and age or drink it young?
My Chimay Be Not recipe is posted in the recipe section. Denny Certified! 