Belgian Strong Golden
by the numbers
OG: 1.070–1.095 (17.1–22.7)
FG: 1.005–1.016 (1.3–4.1 °P)
SRM: 3–6
IBU: 22–35
ABV: 7.5–10.5%
Duvel is considered the ultimate example of Belgian strong golden ale and I think they also have the best description of the style on their bottle label. It reads, “Refreshing and golden like a Pilsner but with the flavor, depth and complexity of an ale.” It continues with this advice, “Enjoy chilled (40–50 °F/4–10 °C) with discerning friends or good-looking strangers.”
I’m not sure about the “strangers” part, but Duvel is a great example of the style. It is golden, complex, effervescent, strong with a fruity start and a crisp, dry finish. Belgian strong golden ale ranges from 7.5 to 10% ABV with significant fruity esters, some spicy notes from fermentation (and sometimes hops), and subtle, warming alcohol notes supported by a delicate malt character. Good examples are crisp and dry with a moderately bitter balance. Carbonation is high and the body ranges from light to medium. Even though hops and malt play a role in the character of this beer style, fermentation is really the centerpiece.
One thing to keep in mind, while Belgian strong golden ale has a higher than average alcohol concentration, that does not mean it should be hot or solvent-like. Hot or solvent is never an appropriate beer character regardless of its alcoholic strength. The alcohol should be subtle and warming.
The base malt for this style is continental Pilsner malt. Pilsner malt lends a slightly sweet, grainy malt character to the beer. If you can source it, Belgian Pilsner malt is ideal. If you cannot, do not worry, even the Belgian brewers use other continental Pilsner malts. If you are an extract brewer, try to use an extract made from Pilsner malt. While it may seem like it isn’t worth the trouble, a beer like this does not have a lot of specialty malts to hide behind, so it is important to use a good quality Pilsner malt extract. Pilsner malt and some table sugar is all you need. While you
might find recipes with oats, wheat, CaraPils®, aromatic, Vienna, Munich, crystal malts and more, it really isn’t the way to go. Specialty malts in this case (especially crystal malts) tend to make the beer heavier and fight the crisp, dry character that you are trying to achieve.
I prefer to keep it simple and stick with just base malt and sugar. If you are going to experiment, focus on the grainy/bready malt flavors (such as biscuit, aromatic, Vienna or Munich) and not the sweet ones (crystal/caramel malts). In any case, do not add more than 3% of any specialty malt. If you can taste the specialty malt in the beer, it is too much.
Since this is a bigger beer with high starting gravities, all-grain brewers should target a mash temperature around 149 °F (65 °C). For extract brewers, most light colored extracts are not fermentable enough on their own, but with a portion of simple sugar (table sugar), it should attenuate enough. You will still want to buy an extract that attenuates well or you will need to make your extract-based wort more fermentable by replacing more of the extract with table or corn sugar. When all-grain brewing you can use up to 20% of the grist weight as table sugar (the percentage by weight is higher when brewing with extract, as much as 30% of the weight when using dried malt extract) with good results.
The dryness and firm bittering of a good Belgian strong golden ale comes from alcohols, phenols, carbonation and hops. I prefer to stick with noble hops such as Saaz, Hallertau, or Tettnang. Traditionally, breweries also use Styrian Goldings and in a pinch other varieties such as Mount Hood, Liberty or Kent Goldings are fine as well. I prefer a single large charge of low alpha hops near the beginning of the boil. With the light malt character, the flavor of that early addition will carry through and will provide a subtle hop character. Nowadays more brewers are experimenting with increased hop character in these beers, but it takes a deft hand to avoid overdoing it. A single, small addition near the end of the boil is about all you should add if you still want to consider the beer a “traditional” example. If you go with much more than that, you might find some judges marking you down in competition for excessive hop character. The bitterness-to-starting gravity ratio (IBU divided by OG) ranges between 0.25 and 0.5, although most brewers will want to target approximately 0.4 unless you are getting a very dry finish from fermentation.
The characteristic fruity/spicy flavors and aromas of this style come from fermentation, not from the addition of fruits or spices. While some brewers may add spices, the problem is that spices will never really take the place of proper fermentation. The subtle complexity that comes from fermentation can’t really be faked by spice additions. It is better to focus on perfecting fermentation.
There are several great yeast strains for brewing this style, but two of my favorites are White Labs WLP570 (Belgian Golden Ale) and Wyeast 1388 (Belgian Strong Ale). Other excellent choices are White Labs WLP500 (Trappist Ale), WLP540 (Abbey IV Ale), WLP550 (Belgian Ale), Wyeast 3787 (Trappist High Gravity) and Wyeast 1214 (Belgian Abbey). When selecting yeast, keep in mind that this style is more about the fruity notes than spicy phenols.
One question that many brewers have about Belgian beers is fermentation temperature. Often homebrewers will say, “Brewery X ferments their beer at xx °F, so that is the fermentation temperature I use.” That most likely won’t be the right temperature for you if you are trying to make a beer like theirs. There are many other factors than temperatures. For example, fermenter height plays a role in flavor development, with very tall fermenters (like big commercial cylindroconical types) suppressing ester and fusel alcohol production. The shape of the brewery’s fermenters, their pitching rates, their oxygen levels, their yeast collection and repitching methods may all be different than yours, changing the production of esters, fusel alcohols and other aspects of fermentation. Do not let “how the classic brewery does it” determine your process unless you are using the same equipment and methods. Instead, get to know the beer style intimately and work on adjusting your process until you are making an outstanding example.
With most of these yeasts I recommend pitching at a rate of 0.75 million cells per milliliter per degree Plato (see the pitching rate calculator at www.mrmalty.com for help in calculating this for your beer). Pitch the yeast and allow 12 to 36 hours for the majority of yeast growth, then ramp up the temperature for the rest of fermentation to ensure good attenuation. For example, pitch the yeast at 64 °F (18 °C) and at the end of the next day slowly begin raising the temperature each day. Try to end up at 82 °F (28 °C) by the end of one week. You may find a higher or lower temperature or a faster or slower rise in temperature gives you the ideal result, so do not be afraid to tweak the parameters until you get it right.
One concern when brewing this style is getting enough attenuation. Many brewers go with lower and lower mash temperatures in an attempt to achieve this, but that is not always the problem. It isn’t that you need to get rid of all of the long chain dextrins to make a dry beer. Those dextrins are not very sweet and they can be present in a nice, dry beer. The important thing is to make sure you ferment out all of the simpler sugars completely. If you leave a lot of unfermented maltose, then the beer is going to taste sweet, even though it might attenuate well.
Oxygen is important to yeast health and is necessary for fermentation to reach terminal gravity in a reasonable amount of time. However, too much or too little oxygen can have unintended consequences, so adding the right amount of oxygen is important. That is difficult for many homebrewers, but you should try to control the amount of oxygen added by measuring timing and flow rate. The amount of oxygen required is a balancing act and can result in excessively high or low esters and fusel alcohols. If you are using air, there is no chance of over-aerating your wort, but there is a chance of under-aerating. If you are using oxygen with a sintered stone, a good starting point for 5 US gallons (19 L) is a flow of 1 L per minute for 1 minute. If you find yourself getting stuck fermentations when brewing high gravity beers, you can add a second dose of oxygen between 12 and 18 hours after pitching. The second dose should be about 1⁄2 to 3⁄4 the normal amount of oxygen. This will give the yeast the ability to rebuild their cell membranes after having replicated.
If you are having trouble getting a dry beer, one trick is to wait until fermentation has started to slow and then add the sugar. Adding the sugar after the yeast have consumed the maltose is like telling your kids to finish their dinner before they can have dessert. When I do this I dissolve the sugar in just enough boiling water to make a thick syrup. Once it cools, I add it to the beer.
If all else fails and you still are not getting full attenuation, you can pitch an actively fermenting lager yeast into the stuck beer, which will consume some complex sugars that the ale yeast will not. Do not add this extra dose of yeast if they are not in an active fermentation state, because they will just settle out in a high alcohol, low sugar environment. Make a small starter and wait until the yeast are at high kräusen before you add it to the beer.
If your beer is attenuating properly but still tastes sweeter than it should, it might be fermentation-related compounds that are making it seem sweet. If that is the case, revisit your fermentation parameters and/or try a different yeast strain.
Belgian Strong Golden Ale
(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.072 (17.5 °P)
FG: = 1.007 (1.9 °P)
IBU = 32 SRM = 3 ABV = 8.5%
Ingredients
9.92 lbs. (4.5 kg) Continental Pilsner malt (Durst or similar) (~1.6 °L)
2.47 lbs. (1.12 kg) cane or beet sugar
6.5 AAU Czech Saaz pellet hops
(1.87 oz./53 g of 3.5% alpha acids) (90 min.)
White Labs WLP570 (Belgian Golden Ale) or Wyeast 1388 (Belgian Strong Ale) yeast
Step by Step
Mill the grains and dough-in targeting a mash of around 1.5 quarts of water to 1 pound of grain (a liquor-to-grist ratio of about 3:1 by weight) and a temperature of 149 °F (65 °C). Hold the mash at 149 °F (65 °C) until enzymatic conversion is complete. With the low mash temperature, you may need to lengthen the rest time to 90 minutes or more to get full conversion. Infuse the mash with near boiling water while stirring or with a recirculating mash system raise the temperature to mash out at 168 °F (76 °C). Sparge slowly with 170 °F (77 °C) water, collecting wort until the pre-boil kettle volume is around 6.5 gallons (24.4 L) and the gravity is 1.056 (13.7 °P).
The total wort boil time is 90 minutes, which helps reduce the S-Methyl Methiomine (SMM) present in the lightly kilned Pilsner malt and results in less Dimethyl sulfide (DMS) in the finished beer. Once the wort is boiling, add the bittering hops. Add the sugar and Irish moss or other kettle finings with 15 minutes left in the boil. Chill the wort rapidly to 64 °F (18 °C), let the break material settle, rack to the fermenter, pitch the yeast and aerate thoroughly.
You will need three packages of liquid yeast or you can make a 4-L starter from 1 package. Pitch yeast at 64 °F (18 °C), aerate or oxygenate, and let the temperature rise slowly to 82 °F (28 °C) over the course of one week. Ferment until the yeast drops clear. With healthy yeast, fermentation should be complete in a week, but do not rush it. It is important for the beer to attenuate fully. When finished, carbonate the beer to approximately 4 volumes and serve at 45 to 50 °F
(7 to 10 °C).
If you have trouble getting enough attenuation in big beers, you can hold off on adding the sugar to the boil. Instead, after the fermentation looks like it has started to slow, mix the sugar with just enough boiling water to make a syrup, then add that to the fermentation.
Belgian Strong Golden Ale
(5 gallons/19 L, extract)
OG = 1.072 (17.5 °P)
FG = 1.007 (1.9 °P)
IBU = 32 SRM = 3 ABV = 8.5%
Ingredients
7 lbs. (3.18 kg) Pilsner liquid malt extract (~2.3 °L)
2.47 lbs. (1.12 kg) cane or beet sugar
6.5 AAU Czech Saaz pellet hops
(1.87 oz./53 g of 3.5% alpha acids) (90 min.)
White Labs WLP570 (Belgian Golden Ale) or Wyeast 1388 (Belgian Strong Ale) yeast
Step by Step
Mix the malt extract with enough warm water to make a pre-boil volume of 6.5 gallons (24.4 L) and a gravity of 1.056 (13.7 °P). Stir thoroughly to dissolve the extract. Bring to a boil.
Once the wort is boiling, add the bittering hops. The total wort boil time is 90 minutes. Add the sugar and Irish moss or other kettle finings with 15 minutes left in the boil. Chill the wort rapidly to 64 °F (18 °C), let the break material settle, rack to the fermenter, pitch the yeast and aerate thoroughly.
You will need three packages of liquid yeast or you can make a 4L starter from 1 package. Pitch yeast at 64 °F (18 °C), aerate or oxygenate, and let the temperature rise slowly to 82 °F (28 °C) over the course of one week. Ferment until the yeast drops clear. With healthy yeast, fermentation should be complete in a week, but do not rush it. It is important for the beer to attenuate fully. When finished, carbonate the beer to approximately 4 volumes and serve at 45 to 50 °F (7 to 10 °C).
If you have trouble getting enough attenuation in big beers, you can hold off on adding the sugar to the boil. Instead, after the fermentation looks like it has started to slow, mix the sugar with just enough boiling water to make a syrup, then add that tothe fermentation.
Duvel Moortgat Brewery’s flagship beer, Duvel, is one of the most widely recognized commercial examples of Belgian strong golden ale.
