So I was looking through the list of water profiles in Bru’n Water and noticed a few that might have already been there (some of the Belgian profiles are listed by geographical area and not brewery) but that I did not recognize.
I ended up adding my own profile, Achel, Westmalle and Westvleteren. The Trappist profiles were pulled from BLAM and one thing that struck me after rereading the chapter on the Trappist breweries was how intense the Westvleteren profile is.
An interesting thing occured to me when I read their section from the book: They claim to use only Dingeman’s Pilsner and Pale malt plus plain sugar.
Is this possible given the colors of their beers? A long boil would certainly help in darkening the wort and even some caramelized sugar would help too but the 12 in particular seems so dark. Can you get that kind of color with base malts and table sugar?
“The brewery only uses two malts, Dingeman’s Pale and Pilsner, in all it’s beers, with plain sugar added to each…The monks won’t reveal how the dark beers obtain their color, as well as the the intriguing flavors normally produced by darker malts and/or dark candi sugar. However, Jackson and others report the use of caramelized sugar. A longer boil also adds color.”
Unless the monks are pulling a “Heady Topper” and perpetuating their own mystique, there is something fishy (or magical) going on.
You of course have to take the above excerpt at face value.
I think it’s just as simple as pale malts + simple sugar + monk’s secret ingredient (really high quality dark candi syrup(s) that they won’t disclose). Makes me wish I had some on hand to sample ! I had it a few years ago, loved it but didn’t love the online price much.
I’m betting they mash the pale malts and adjust pH accordingly, then add the sugar and syrups somewhere near the end of the boil, or even incrementally, after fermentation has started.
Yeah I get that, but in the context of the book that’s conjecture. I guess I meant that if you take the monk’s word at face value, they mash pale malts and use table sugar and a long boil to get that color. You made the natural extension that I would have: It just ain’t possible without some syrup.
I guess boiling the water beforehand would do a lot to get those high numbers Westvleteren has down significantly. Then I can see salts and acid doing the rest. Good point.
Agreed. I played with that profile in Bru’n Water. Even after associating an estimated factor for pre-boiling, it was tough to try and reduce that profile to something reasonable for brewing with just base malts.
Maybe I’m missing something, but isn’t dark candy syrup just basically table sugar plus some water, heated to a certain temperature to caramelize to the desired color?
I believe sometimes it’s Beet sugar but ultimately your assessment is accurate. That is part of the Westvleteren mystique I guess. Secret water treatment regimen. Secret candi sugar/syrup recipe. I’d love to try one. I’m trying to get the boys in on maybe a mixed 12 pack. Very expensive though.
In the end I would say they are an example of how minimalism thrives in brewing. 2 malts, sugar and hops.
