Anyone made the "westvleteren 8" clone by csi?

[Kharnynb]

http://www.candisyrup.com/uploads/6/0/3/5/6035776/westvleteren_8_clone_-_041.pdf

anyone tried it, going to brew it this weekend, just wondering if anyone did it before and has any insight.

 

[Kharnynb]

hmm...noone...I guess I have to document this quite well then

As I prefer the 8 over the 12, it will be fun to see how close i can get.

 

[BackMountainBrewer]

I made this a few years ago. Like you I also prefer 8 over 12. It was one of my first all grain batches and I unfortunately didn't keep very good notes on it. From what I remember it turned out well. It wasnt a dead ringer for Westy 8, but was fairly close and a good Dubbel. Friends and family liked it, I left it age about 6 months in a keg before tapping it around the holidays and it didnt last long at all.

I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts if you do make it.

 

[Kharnynb]

Thanks, will be doing it today, my only change will be that I use normal sugar for priming, didn't get the syrup for that as it was out.

 

[Kharnynb]

Recipe i'm going with, missing brewer's gold, so subbing Northdown.

westvleteren 8 (Belgian Specialty Ale)

Original Gravity (OG): 1.076 (°P): 18.4
Final Gravity (FG): 1.009 (°P): 2.3
Alcohol (ABV): 8.78 %
Colour (SRM): 25.1 (EBC): 49.4
Bitterness (IBU): 35.0 (Tinseth)

67.52% Finland - Pilsner Malt
16.08% Belgian - Pale Ale
10.93% D-180
5.47% Brown Sugar

0.2 oz/Gal Northdown (8.6% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil)
0.2 oz/Gal Hallertau Mittelfruh (3.8% Alpha) @ 30 Minutes (Boil)
0.1 oz/Gal Styrian Goldings (3% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes (Boil)

0.0 oz/Gal Irish Moss @ 5 Minutes (Boil)

mash in at 149°F for 60 Minutes.
step at 162°F for 10 minutes
Mash-out at 170°F for 15 minutes

Boil for 90 Minutes

Fermented at 68°F with Abbey Ale Yeast WLP530


Recipe Generated with Brewer's Friend

 

[Mer-man]

Recipe i'm going with, missing brewer's gold, so subbing Northdown.

westvleteren 8 (Belgian Specialty Ale)

Original Gravity (OG): 1.076 (°P): 18.4
Final Gravity (FG): 1.009 (°P): 2.3
Alcohol (ABV): 8.78 %
Colour (SRM): 25.1 (EBC): 49.4
Bitterness (IBU): 35.0 (Tinseth)

67.52% Finland - Pilsner Malt
16.08% Belgian - Pale Ale
10.93% D-180
5.47% Brown Sugar

0.2 oz/Gal Northdown (8.6% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil)
0.2 oz/Gal Hallertau Mittelfruh (3.8% Alpha) @ 30 Minutes (Boil)
0.1 oz/Gal Styrian Goldings (3% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes (Boil)

0.0 oz/Gal Irish Moss @ 5 Minutes (Boil)

mash in at 149°F for 60 Minutes.
step at 162°F for 10 minutes
Mash-out at 170°F for 15 minutes

Boil for 90 Minutes

Fermented at 68°F with Abbey Ale Yeast WLP530


Recipe Generated with Brewer's Friend

In my experience, if you mash that low and have 15% simple sugars then 530 may take you a couple points lower. Not a bad thing, mind you! A fully-attenuated belgian is lovely and drinkable. Let us know how it comes out!

 

[Kharnynb]

I expect it to, the software is rather conservative in attenuation.

 

[imasickboy]

I have everything to make it, but haven't quite gotten around to it. Maybe later this week. We shall see.

 

[Kharnynb]

Beer is bubbling away like a machinegun...doing first ferment for 14 days @ 77 degrees.

2 points under OG, might be some badly dissolved sugar though...

not going to do secondary, prefer to bottle age, but will do a "cold finish" at 55 for a week or so.

 

[Kharnynb]

beer has been sitting in the cellar for a week now, will do another week, but it already hit 1.008 SG, sample tasted raw but quite close.

 

[Kharnynb]

First bottled sample, as I had a not quite full bottle that i didn't want to age due to excess oxigen.

nice flavours, should age out really well.

 

[Jocke0Knifen]

Any recent taste notes? Really like the 8 and thinking of pulling the trigger on some ingridienter per your recipe

 

[Kharnynb]

It's getting there, comparison with a bottle of the real thing will not happen till a month or 2 from now, but it's very very close in my opinion, maybe a few more months to round out the flavour.

 

[Kharnynb]

so, after a good aging of about a year, this is pretty close to the real thing, at least compared to a 2015 bottle from the abbey.

mine is maybe slightly less complex with a bit more toffee.