Belgian Pale Ale

I would just add some caravienne for a simple BPA.

 

You want to keep your "sugary" malts to a minimum but you can use caravienne as Wolfsdenbrew suggested or carramunich - I wouldn't use more than a half pound of these malts, if that. You can also use Munich, Aromatic, Wheat, etc. Like most Belgians a simple grain bill will let the yeast shine through (as long as you pitch correctly and temperature is right).

 

My impression is that the clear candi sugar (which I'm assuming is what you'd use) is a bit of a waste of money, and you're just as well off using table sugar.

 

It is a waste of money. If you want to replace extract with sugar, go with the cheapest you can find. It doesn't matter.

A Belgian pale ale, even using Brett, needs little more than pilsner malt, noble hops, and a Belgian yeast strain. You could go with 5% or less Munich, Aromatic, or similar. I would consider a little wheat, if anything. I find the 1# wheat DME container from Austin Homebrew to be very convenient for this.

Your BPA +Brett sounds tasty.

 

my recipe, which has been fermenting for 1 month with bret brux and cantillon dregs added after primary slowed down/finished:

Grains: 10.4 lbs Pilsner malt

Hops
-----
1.00 oz. German hallertauer (Pellet 6.2 % AA) @ 60 min.
1.00 oz. German hallertauer (Pellet 6.2 % AA) @ 5 min.
Others:
1.75 cups Corn Sugar @ 10 min
servomyces 1 capsule @ 10 Min.
1.00 Whirlfloc @ 8 Min.
Yeast: abbey ale yeast wlp530 (white labs)
Secondary yeast: Brett bruxellensis WLP650
Mash temp: 155 F
Sparge temp: 168 F
Boil time: 60 min

OG: 1.054
Gravity when i added brux: 1.008

smelled amazing. developed a nice pellicle which stayed for 3-4 weeks. now, its pretty clear. other than smelling it, i don't touch a thing in it. i won't check the gravity for another 2 months (no point, in my opinion)

 

I'm assuming you aren't intending a 100% brett fermentation and will be pitching brett in the secondary or doing a mixed fermentation from the start. Is this the case or were you planning 100% brett? If the former, I wouldn't add any sugar in order to leave more for the brett. Unless you feel that the extracts you are using aren't very fermentable. What are your OG and FG targets? This sounds like it will be a tasty brew.

 

In that case adding sugar may help you get to the attenuation you would want.

 

you may want to snoop around. from what i understand, you'll need at least 2 vials of Bret Lambicus for primary (maybe three?). for 2ndary, 1 vial is fine. for primary, you either need one hell of a made-in-advance starter or go for multiple vials.

 

I would make a big starter (lager rates) Brett L from WY will give you lots of nice fruity esters when pitched like this, and an ever so slight hint of tartness as well.

I havent done it with a Belgian pale, but Ive done it with a malty brown base and it turned out great. My suggestion would be to keep the OG fairly low (1045ish) higher Grav brett beers seem to need much more time to come together. Ive also found that a tiny bit of acid can really help the fruity flavors of L to really pop, so you might taste a bit before bottling/kegging and add a pinch of citric acid to see what you think. It shouldnt be sour though, its akin to adding acid to a flabby wine, it helps the flavors to pop

For grains I would suggest adding some unmalted wheat to give yourself some body and creaminess to mesh with the brett

 

For a lager starter I would simply use the Mr Malty yeast pitch rate calculator, plug in your OG, yeast date and what type of starter you will use. I know that program is assuming regular smack pack cell counts, hence why you use lager pitch rate (grows up cell #'s adequately)

Good luck and let us all know how the beer turns out.

One last thing to note is that with a high pitch rate the beer should ferment out to completion in about 2-3wks, and be ready to go

 

when using bretts as the primary, do you have to worry about the FG?

 

They generally perform like sacch when they are the lone yeast. The FG is usually in the normal sacch range with 70-80% attenuation usual. Long term your likely to maybe have 1pt come off, but we are talking 1yr+

Ive had several all brett beers I brewed like this and carbonation is fairly stable, I think though if I could taste a bottle from when they were fresh (2mos old) vs aged (2yrs old) its likely that it would be a bit more noticeable, but its not really something to worry about as far as bottle bombs (doest superattenuate with pedio/lacto/etc)