homebrewandbeer.com

Hi there, I was wondering if anyone has come up with something like a Grimbergen recipe? I've searched and no-one's posted anything yet.
I'm a basic kit and hops/grains brewer for the last 12 months, love the site.

Well, after 111 views and ZERO replies,
Just wondering if anyone has tasted Grimbergen, I reckon it's sensational. Drank it on tap at "the bended elbow" in Geelong I think it was the "tripel" as it was rocket fuel, (close to 9% I think) VERY very nice though.

According to the http://www....
The beer was once brewed by monks but was sold under license to a brewery who kept the style alive. Double has undergone two fermentations, which gives this ale a chocolatey, toffee taste with a warming brandy-like finish.

I found an interesting page here for apparently closely guarded "tripel" recipes. It is an American site so measurements are in imperial...

http://www.hbd.org/mbas/aug97.html#Tripel

Should I be learning more about candy sugar? Heard about it but never tried it. Does anyone know of a simple recipe where I could try a first use of candy sugar?

Swiped the following from http://www.craftbrewer.org/.

Now, how to make it. Well you need a good high temperature thermometer. Mercury thermometers that go up to 350° C will be very accurate, but are clumsy to use, and can easily break as you plunge them in and out of a hot sugar solution. Spilt mercury is not something you really want to have to deal with. Still they do work. But I have found the proper candy thermometers that clip on the side of the pot are ideal. You get them from kitchen supply shops and they cost only about $10.00.

Now any good cook will tell you there are certain temps you boil sugar water at for different lollies. Basically, this is the temperature that the boiling syrup will reach as the water evaporates concentrating the sugar and hence raising the boiling point of the solution.

So let's say you want to make 500 grams of candy sugar. You weigh 500 g of white sugar and into a small pot. Add enough water to make thick syrup. Add a pinch of citric acid (I will explain why later). Now bring to a boil and keep the temperature between hard ball and soft crack (127-135°C). As evaporation will cause the temperature to rise, have a small amount of water and add a tablespoon every now and then.

The colour will gradually change from clear to light amber to deep red as the boil proceeds. Light candy sugar is a very light pee colour (yes, that type of pee). This can take only 15 minutes. Dark candy sugar is very deep red. This can take hours. Once you are at the colour you desire (and a lot of that is on taste), you let the temp go to hard crack (150°C). Once it hits hard crack, turn off the heat and pour it into some greaseproof paper. As it cools it will go rock hard. I then put it in the freezer until I'm ready to use it.


Now why add citric acid? This is to 'invert' some of the sugar. Simply put, cane sugar (sucrose) is made up of two other sugars (glucose and fructose) joined together. Yeast must spend time and effort breaking the joining bonds to allow them to get at the simple sugars they need for metabolism. This can also be done chemically in an acid environment with heat. The citric acid supplies the acid, and the heat is there when you make the candy sugar. Invert sugar tastes a bit sweeter than regular sucrose. This is all just so easy there is no reason not to give it a try. It will make your Belgian beers really special.

Cheers,
Greg

Thanks Greg, sounds simple enough to follow.

Which brings me to my next question,

Do most home brewers make their own candy sugar, or buy it from the home brew shop?

Hey Bellboy......
I am one of those who make their own candi sugar. Im glad i do...it really helps in making Belgian style beers. I think the one thing you get most from homemade candi sugar is that classic belgian lace. But if you are really chasing that belgian taste, i think you will need belgian malt as well as a good belgian liquid yeast.

Here are some links to get you closer to what you are searching for:

http://groups.google.com/group/rec.craf ... um=7&hl=en

http://forum.northernbrewer.com/viewtop ... grimbergen

Or have alook through the extract and extract/grain recipes on this link, it might get you somewhere close to what you want.

http://hbd.org/cgi-bin/recipator/recipes?group=20

If you find an AG recipe, someone more expert than me might be able to convert it to extract or extract/grain.

Which one are you after? Hard to make up a recipe for a range of beers!

http://www.alken-maes.be/PRODUCTEN/EN/grimbergen.php

Hey Kev,
Being a can and kilo brewer , I've also used torrefied wheat, orange, coriander, hops, honey, other bits and pieces, I'm not up to grains just yet but am willing to give them a go if they improve my beers.
I'm looking for a recipe for something close to the Grimbergen Tripel. I'm always keen to be sent in the right direction re: simple kit and kilo recipes utilising candy sugar, hops etc... Love the strong belgians. Thanks for the links warra.

Bellboy

Well at 9% this is a fairly expensive K&K brew so I suggest you do a 12L half brew first go to be sure you like it.

Now lets first see what they have to say about this beer:

TRIPEL
The pale malts give this tripel its deep colour.
Alc. 9% vol.
Flavour: Amber-coloured abbey beer, with a crisp, very full bitter-sweet flavour and a lingering aftertaste. The typically crisp Tripel flavour is caused by the blonde candy sugar and the subtle mixture of mild and bitter hops. The rich flavours obtain their perfect harmony owing to the continued fermentation after bottling.

I would do something simple like:

Coopers Lager Kit
Morgans Master Malt Chocolate
500g DDME
500g Amber Candi Sugar

Flavour with 20g of Hallertau or Tettnang in a 4L 15 min boil with the DDME and candi sugar.