Yeah. I rarely use just Pils malt as the base for any of my Trappist series.
I mix Pils/Pale Ale from Weyermann at 50/50 or Pils/Vienna from Weyermann at 70/30 to form my “base” malt.
When I make triple, I stick with just pils and sugar, a la Westmalle. After all they invented the style.
For me, mixing base malts just makes a modified base malt. Not all that out of the ordinary but if I want to clone Westmalle I’d probably stick with Pilsner/Pale Ale. My inspiration is always Westmalle Tripel but I also add some CaraHell. For Singles and Tripels I don’t use Vienna in the blend.
For Dubbel and Dark Strong I blend in Vienna for my custom base malt and use a few select specialty malts: CaraBelge, CaraMunich II, CaraBohemian and Special B. Not all in the same recipe obviously.
I really love using 3787. It’s probably my favorite yeast.
EDIT: With all that said, I don’t go nuts with any of these four beers (All I brew anymore is Single, Dubbel, Tripel, and Dark Strong) and pay extra attention to fermentation. I really just use 3787, 1214, and 1762 based on what I want, although I have used 3787 exclusively for all of them for a while.
I limit lighter beers to Pils/Pale Ale/CaraHell, with Singles getting light spices (Coriander and Sweet Orange) and Tripels getting sugars.
For Dubbel and Dark Strong Pils/Vienna as my base, sugars in both, with Dubbel getting a mix of 2 lighter Cara malts, and Dark Strong getting Special B. I don’t use anymore than 2 specialties and only in Dubbel.
I use the Florida Crystals in my Tripels, and they always finish plenty dry (last one was 1.007). I’d be interested to try their invert syrup though, if I can find it.
Pils, a blend of pils and pale, or either of those with a touch of torrified wheat makes for a nice one in my opinion (with an ample does of sugar).
Have you ever tried 3864? I tapped a keg of Belgian Blonde about an hour ago that was fermented with it, and the yeast character is great - probably a bit too high for the style even though I kept the temp below 68° in an effort to subdue it a bit.
As much as I really enjoy Unibroue and thier great beers, when I brew it’s really Trappist inspired and more traditional. I mainly make changes in ingredients but stick to the “Big Three”: 3787, 1214, and 1762, with occasional forays with Duvel yeast.
I guess it’s a bit difficult to explain, but while I love Ommegang and Unibroue and think they are the best North American Belgian style beers there are, I don’t want to replicate those yeast derived flavors in my own.
At the risk of a derail, I 'd be curious, Monk, what you think of Allagash, especially in regards to how American brewers adapt/take inspiration from Belgian brews.
Well, let me start by saying that I enjoy Allagash. In particular, I really enjoy thier Dubbel. Thier Tripel suffers from the same flaw I see in most North American versions: it has a lot of Hefe like yeast character, which is not only distracting given my benchmarks are Westmalle and Chimay, but generally unappealing to me. I get the same general flavor profile, albeit with some nuanced differences in Golden Monkey, Pranqster, Merry Monks, etc.
Pranqster is the least offensive American Tripel IMO. I enjoy North Coast immensely and am a big fan of a brother Thelonious, and in general, I think North American breweries do better with darker Belgian styles.
Unibroue and Ommegang seem to exist outside of the other North American breweries for me.
Are you still on hiatus or are you brewing again now?
I’ve brewed a few times in the past year.
I’m looking to sell my Braumeister and setup to get something smaller and do micro batches.