I would like to make a belgian strong dark ale with my Vienna Grain 14lbs and 4 lbs of Crystal 20. For hops i will use some pacifa and pacific jade. not much mind you. This will be a 5 gallon batch. I will probably use a yeast specifically for this style too. Question. Is Vienna a good base malt for beers of this nature?
Vienna is fine, although pils would be a more traditional choice. 4lbs of c20 is way too much, I wouldn't use it all in this recipe. Most of the dark fruit flavor in a BDSA comes from the candi syrup and a dark crystal malt like special B.
I just did one yesterday using wyeast 3822. The color was beautiful!!! Belg pils Few oz c120, spec b, debittered black, carapils 1 lb d2 belg candi syrup 1081 og Hope this helps..happy brewing!
I brewed a BSDA that was bottled on 5/14/13. I am aging this beer for consumption in October/November but I have cheated a bit and drank a few bottles. It is real tasty even young! My non-base malt fermentables: · Brun Fonce Candi Sugar: 2 lbs. · Table Sugar: 1 lb. · Belgian Caramunich: ½ lb. · Special B: ½ lb. · English Chocolate: ¼ lb. The OG was 1.084 and the FG was 1.010. I used Wyeast 3787 for this batch and it worked beautifully. Make sure you keep the fermentation temperatures at a reasonable temperature (e.g., start in the 60's and let it ramp up to the lower 70s) in order to manage the production of higher alcohols (fusels). And make sure you have a blow off tube handy. I used Fermcap-S on this batch and it kept the krausen low. Cheers!
For our Quad we used Munich, Flaked Wheat, Special B, CaraMunich, caraVienna and a healthy dose of sugar during fermentation.. The base was actually Pale Malt.
I think using Vienna malt ,special B and a bit of wheat malt you are going to get a good grain bill.Some brown sugar could be useful to add complexity.1% of flaked oats will help head retention.I would use orange peel and coriander seeds for sure.WY 1214 yast is a good choice for this style.
