Beer Style: Belgian Strong and Abbey Ales
Corsendonk Monk’s Brown Ale clone
Corsendonk is an Abbey beer, not a Trappist beer. This designation means the beer is brewed not at an abbey, but under license from — or at least in the style of — a Trappist monastery. In the case of Corsendonk, the name is taken from an Augustine priory that produced beer from the 1600s until the 1780s. Whether the Augustine brothers brewed anything remotely resembling modern Corsendonk is debatable, but they have licensed their name to the beer since 1982.
– Brouwerij Bios, Ertvelde
Brouwerij Westmalle’s Abbey Tripel clone
The quintessential Trappist tripel, Westmalle is very pale, very strong, and wonderfully smooth. One of the brewhouse techniques that makes the Westmalle beers unique is the use of direct gas flames on the copper kettles. This creates hot spots that may caramelize the wort slightly, giving a faint burnt-sugar taste to the beers. The beers are also brewed with very hard water, which certainly contributes to the character of the tripel.
Yeast Strains for Belgian Strong Ales
Yeast strains play a defining role in shaping the character of Belgian beers. Learn how to select the right yeast strain and take control of your fermentation by varying your pitching rate, aeration level and fermentation temperature when brewing Belgian strong golden ales, trpels, dubbels and others.
Brewing Belgian-Style Beers: Tips from the Pros
Make the most of your Belgian-style beers with expert advice from the brewers at Ommegang, Allagash and Boulevard.
Tripel the Light Fantastic
Light colors and dry finishes don’t go along with most big beers, but that’s exactly what makes a Belgian tripel great. The road to homebrew heaven is littered with failed tripel attempts, but here’s your path tom salvation — use only light base malts and about 25% clear adjunct (sugar); pitch a big yeast starter and add some yeast nutrients in the boil to supply nitrogen to the yeast.
The 10 Hardest Beer Styles to Homebrew
Witbier. Wee Heavey. Tripel. Schwartzbier. Gueze. Eisbock. Dry Stout. Berliner Weisse. American Pilsner – are these the 10 most difficult styles for a homebrewer to pull off? They won’t be after reading our recipes and tips for success.
The 10 Easiest Beer Styles
It’s Brew Your Own’s Tenth Anniversary and we’re kicking off a year-long series of articles with our list of the 10 most approachable beer styles.
BJ’s Millennium Ale clone
A big Belgian tripel from a California brewpub originally brewed for Y2K.
Belgian Golden
There is no official “Belgian golden” category. Rather, it is “Belgian pale,” but this beer should not be confused with a regular pale ale of any sort. In fact if it were
Dubbel Trubbel
Here is my recipe for a spiced dubbel, not patterned after any one commercial example but rather an amalgam of several but with a bit of a twist. It is moderately strong, medium dark, spicy from both the yeast and the flavorings added. I recommend aging it well, trying it several different times over the course of a couple of years. In effect you will probably find that you have brewed several different small batches in one, as the flavors really evolve over time.
