Abbey and Trappist Beer

September 26, 2013 By K. Florian Klemp

Here are a couple of generic recipes for a pale and dark Belgian brew with modifications for strong versions.

Honey Blonde

(All-grain, 5 gallons,
OG 1.055, 27 IBU)

Mash 7# pilsner malt and 2#
Vienna malt for 1 hour at 150ºF

Hop schedule:

1 oz East Kent Goldings,
60 minutes

1 oz Styrian Goldings, 20 minutes

1 oz Czech Saaz and 1# orange blossom or clover honey at knockout

Ferment with Wyeast 1214,
3787 or 3522 or White Labs WLP500, 530 or 550

To make a tripel from this recipe, OG 1.085 and 35 IBU, use 11#
pilsner and 3# Vienna malt,
increase hop additions to 1.5 oz and use 1.5# of honey.

Dubbel

(extract/specialty grain, 5 gallons,
OG 1.070, 30 IBU)

Steep 1# Caramunich 80, 0.5# Aromatic and 0.25# Special B for 20 minutes at 155º F
Rinse grains to collect wort and add 4# extra light DME and 3# Munich or Amber LME and bring to a boil

Hop schedule:

1 oz Perle, 60 minutes

1 oz Styrian Goldings, 20 minutes

Add 1# turbinado, demerara, piloncillo, dark honey or jaggery during the last 10 minutes of the boil

Ferment with Wyeast 1762 or White Labs WLP540

For all-grain, mash the specialty malts with 8# pilsner and 4# Munich malt for one hour at 148ºF. To make a quadrupel (OG 1.090, 40 IBU), increase extract to 10# total and increase specialty malt, hop and sugar additions by 1.5X.