The How My Averagely Perfect Dubbel Turned Out Thread

Wrote up a brief post about this beer (or my bastardized version of it) for my blog: https://brew4fun.wordpress.com/2019/10/20/averagely-perfect-belgian-dubbel/

 

Not at all!

I'd definitely like to brew it again with a more classic Trappist yeast.

 

I tried (perhaps foolishly) to make a session version of this by mashing at a higher temperature and cutting the pilsner malt down from 10.7 to 8 lbs. Mine tasted . . . a little bit like cola? I'm guessing that the D-90 syrup dominated the flavour after the base malt was cut down?

(1) What else might have caused a cola-like flavour to this beer?
(2) What would you try to do if you wanted a 5% abv dubbel-like beer?

 

(1) Cola flavors include citrus oils, vanilla, cinnamon, in an acidic matrix. Candi syrup might provide some vanillin. One of the flavors often attributed to some Belgian yeasts is clove, which is to say the yeast produces eugenol or eugenol-like compounds. In addition to being the prominent scent in clove, eugenol is also found in cinnamon. Beer is somewhat acidic. Dubbel is also colored somewhat like cola. Between the potential flavors and the power of suggestion, I am not surprised that you might find this to be cola like.

(2) I would start with reducing the base malt to hit my gravity. I might also reduce the D90 by half. Or I might swap with D180 but keep to half the amount.

 

I homebrew a Dubbel twice a year (spring & fall) and my fall batch is at day 6 pf primary fermentation right now. For the past 10+ years I have solely utilized WY3787 (the reported Westmalle strain) and I have never experienced any issues with this yeast dropping out. My process is always the same:

• Two weeks of primary
• Bottle Conditioning

After 2 weeks of bottle conditioning the beer is fully carbonated and the yeast has settled out to the bottom of the bottles.

@dmtaylor posted on the AHA forum:

“I prefer 530. The two (WY3787 and WLP530) are supposedly equivalent... but really aren't. Not sure which one is the "real" one.”

https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=33161.0

Perhaps a difference between WLP530 vs. WY3787 is that WLP530 does not flocculate as well?

Cheers!

 

With results kind of all over the place, my latest yeast master list still considers WLP530 and 3787 to be approximately equivalent. Perhaps *both* are just kind of finicky once in a while, maybe not always, but if there are temperature fluctuations or who-knows-what, if the yeast ain't happy, it misbehaves. I've used neither one enough times to discern the differences yet. I think I might start using WLP550 a lot more in future so it may be a while before I personally run any side by side experiments with the others. If you all want to run experiments, please report back with your results, I think we'd all greatly appreciate it.

My living document for anyone interested, with the caveat that I'm sure this is only approximately 80-90% accurate, or as I like to say "good enough, for most intents & purposes":

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1nwVema5Y8kuGbTR_vlz6gzU-KCngFYWjrAJO44xjwfA/edit?usp=sharing

 

I brewed this for my annual Christmas brew, and am pretty happy with the results. I unintentionally departed from the script because of a couple of brain farts: I used D-180 instead of D-90, and added 7 oz instead of .7 lb (11.2 oz). Still hit 1.065 because my efficiency went up a bit. I also backed off on the IBU's to about 19.5, based on Vikeman's earlier post. Finished up at 1.011, so just a bit over 7%ABV. Can't taste the alcohol... it just sort of creeps up on you.

Fermented with WLP-530, and also found it to be slow to clear. Still a little hazy after three weeks fermentation and two weeks bottle-conditioning. Carbonation set to 3.5 vol CO2.

Initial impressions: I'm getting good levels of phenol at the start, with esters showing up later in the tasting. Good mouthfeel and I really like the color. Getting dates/figs in the aroma and also the flavor. Having backed off of the recipe's IBU's, I'm glad I did because it seems well-balanced based on the perceived sweetness. Head retention is OK, but to be honest, I've been pouring this carefully. It might be a bit better and a little more aromatic if I were a little more vigorous in the pour, which I will certainly try.

I'm naming it "Abbey Something... Abbey Normal"... LOL.