Dubbel brewing question

[Brian Riordan]

I want to try brewing a dubbel, but most of the recipes I've seen for
dubbels, look like a trippel recipe with a little less candi sugar,
and some crystal malt added. The dubbels I've tasted had a really
neat plum flavor, but the trippels didn't. Are there any differences?
Can anyone recommend a recipe that's close to Grimbergen? And how
well does the White Labs Trappist yeast work for this style?
Thanks,
Brian

[Ullrich]

On Fri, 14 Jan 2000, Brian Riordan wrote:
> I want to try brewing a dubbel, but most of the recipes I've seen for
> dubbels, look like a trippel recipe with a little less candi sugar,
> and some crystal malt added. The dubbels I've tasted had a really
> neat plum flavor, but the trippels didn't. Are there any differences?

Try a touch of belgian special B malt for that plum/raisin flavor.
I use lots of munich malt, too, on the order of 50%.

> Can anyone recommend a recipe that's close to Grimbergen? And how
> well does the White Labs Trappist yeast work for this style?

I think White Labs Trappist is the Chimay strain and it works great.
Fruitiness is soft and higher alcohols were low in the belgians I made
with it this summer.

Phil

[Mike Uchima]

Brian Riordan wrote:
>
> I want to try brewing a dubbel, but most of the recipes I've seen for
> dubbels, look like a trippel recipe with a little less candi sugar,
> and some crystal malt added. The dubbels I've tasted had a really
> neat plum flavor, but the trippels didn't. Are there any differences?

The trick is to use dark *Belgian* crystal malts -- Cara-Munich and/or
Special B. I believe that will give you the signature Dubbel
plum/raisin character that you are looking for.

> Can anyone recommend a recipe that's close to Grimbergen? And how
> well does the White Labs Trappist yeast work for this style?

I've used Wyeast 1214 for Dubbel in the past, and it works fairly well.
I believe White Labs Trappist is supposed to be a similar (same?)
strain.

--
== Mike Uchima == uch...@pobox.com ==

[Warren Place]

On Fri, 14 Jan 2000, Brian Riordan wrote:

> Can anyone recommend a recipe that's close to Grimbergen? And how
> well does the White Labs Trappist yeast work for this style?

> Thanks,
> Brian
I made a dubbel that turned out well
(http://www.jps.net/swarren/wplace/dubbel.html). The tasting notes need
updating. It has mellowed very much in the nearly 6 months it has been in
the bottle. The banana flavor is hardly noticable and the green apple and
plum-brandy flavors really come through. I haven't had Grimbergen in a
while but it is obvious by the flavor profile that my beer is a dubbel.

Recipe
Mash =
10 lbs pale ale malt
1.5 lbs light crystal malt
Single-step infusion mashed at 155F for 1 hour and 10 min.

Boil =
1 lb sucrose
1 oz. Hallertaur hops (3.7%)
0.5 oz. Saaz hops (3.7%)
Boiled 1 hour and 5 min, collect 5.5 gal. at 1.070 OG

Ferment =
Wyeast 1214 (Belgian Abbey Ale)
Fermented at 72F in the primary, 60F in secondary.

Warren Place