So a local brewery makes one of my favorite beers, a 10% ABV belgian strong ale they call DNR. I love the stuff. I was reading a thread on HBT and they talked about writing breweries and asking for recipes. So I did just that. I got a wonderful response and my email was forwarded to the head brewer. I wrote him with my ideas on what I thought the recipe had and I got an email back this morning. I was close on my idea of the recipe!! He didn't divulge the recipe in full BUT gave me some helpful hints on how to get close. Both of the guys that emailed me were super nice and gracious.

When I get home and get on qbrew I'll work up a recipe and go from there. I got a couple more brews coming down the pipe but this one will get started soon, prolly in March.

So, feel free to write your local breweries about the beer you like!! don't just ask for the recipe, show that you put some work into tasting it and trying to figure it out. The worst that can happen is they don't give you any feedback, oh well, nothing lost.

I played around on BMW to see where I got with this. Here is the recipe I sent him:




Here is the info I got back:



Using that and my knowledge of this beer, I put it into BMW.

http://www.brewmasterswarehouse.com/recipe/3d5307f2/

I made a few guesses on things (styrian goldings for the hop, c20 for the lower crystal malt) and the wheat and candi sugar amounts are based on the percentages given.

I plan to do a tripel with the same yeast and just pitch this beer onto that yeast cake. BMW shows the FG too high but if I can get it down to 1.020, I will be right on as far as ABV. My pipeline is full enough that I can wait these two out pretty easily.

that is really cool. I have heard of people on the BN (brewing network) podcasts doing just this and getting varying degrees of responses. some are really cool and give you the exact recipe, and other don't divulge squat.

personally, I think the effort you put in makes all the difference. how neat is it (IMO) for a brewer to have a fan like his beer so much he is trying to figure it out down to a granular level? seems like a huge compliment to me.

what brewery is it BTW?

The brewery is Coop Ale Works. Love nearly everything they make!!

http://www.coopaleworks.com/index/

The beer is DNR - http://www.coopaleworks.com/beers/dnr/

They finally put it in bottles but at about $15 a pop it's hard to convince the wife it's worth it lol. This was the beer that got me off the BMC stuff and convinced me there was good beer out there.

i just realized there will be no way I can mash this lol. My 5 gallon pot barely fits 7# of grain and 4.25 gallons of water. I may try a dual mash, one with the pot and the other with my bottling bucket or something. Either that or make this a mini mash and add 1# or 2# of DME to get where I need.

hmmm...that is a huge grain bill! bigger pot in your future?

I think scaling back the base grains then adding the DME would be the most practical way to hit your target though. totally doable, and a lot cheaper than $15 per bottle

does your wife like it? I was pleasantly surprised when mine liked Chimay, so we treat ourselves with some of that from time to time. but if I was the only one that liked the beer...well, let's say it definitely needs some convincing to go over even $10 for a bottle!

What about just using less water and doing a sparge? Might take some finagling, but should be doable.

natty, she isn't a fan. she doesn't really like belgians at all. It makes me sad.

Jon, that's an idea. I could fit the grain with a 1.5qt/lb ratio and just sparge to get the needed volume. I would need to mash in a different vessel though as my other large pot only holds 1.5 gallons. Can I sparge one gallon at a time and heat more water inbetween?

Hey cardinalsfan. That is pretty cool. Good luck with the brew.

Cards, that's really excellent. It's a truly inspiring story - maybe I'll try to get an email translated to Italian and ask Teo Musso about his recipe for Baladin Nora

thanks guys (and girl)!! I almost wish I didn't have my next 2 brews planned so I can jump on the tripel and the DNR clone. I still need to try some more DNR and see if I can't get a little closer on the recipe.

I am brewing a Belgian Dubbel on Monday, in-fact we are doing 15 gallons of it.

updated recipe - http://www.brewmasterswarehouse.com/recipe/3d5307f2/

posting this mostly so I remember later - 1.75 qt/lb ratio - 15.75 quarts total = 4 gallons.

time for a question - with almost half of the grain bill being belgian pilsner malt, do I need to do a 90 min boil? I just need to plan it out if I do so I will have enough wort.

I would. I think pils is pils as far as the potential DMS...each maltster will give the grain their own unique characteristics, but stick with the 90 to be safe

Yes, to avoid DMS a 90" boil is a good idea.

got my grains and hops now. I need to post pics of the grain, the crush doesn't seem fine enough. luckily I have a mill I can run it through if needed.

ill post pics tonight

I've also found a website for brewing big beers. It's worth a look. I'm going to try some of the suggestions for this one:

clicky

Something else to consider is re-aerating 12-24 hours after you pitch your yeast. It'll really help the yeasties to grow up big and strong so they can really push down the FG.

yeah, I plan to do that. anything that i can do to help it out

Ok, should be bottling my tripel this saturday so the yeast will be ready to go for this one. Recipe first:



Going to do a step mash. 4 gals of water and I'll start the mash at 150* and hold for 45-60 mins then move to 155* and hold for 45-60 mins. So the mash will be anywhere from 1.5-2 hours. Then, I'll check volume and pre-boil OG. If it all looks ok, I'll just do a mashout at 170 for 20 mins. If not, I'll do a batch sparge to get more volume/sugars.

Planning to do a 90 min boil (thanks to the pilsner malt). I'll follow the hop schedule in the boil. Chill and pitch onto the yeast. I do plan to wash the yeast. I'll do all that on saturday and let it clear in the fridge saturday night.

I fully expect the yeast to take this down lower than qbrew thinks. I think I'll get down to 1.010, which gets me 10.3% abv, which matches the commercial version.

The only issue I have is the crush on my grain. It doesn't look right to me. I can always throw it through my corona mill if needed. I have a pic below, what does everyone think?

Also, when should I add the candi sugar in the boil? Beginning? End? It's the little rocks of sugar.

Wanted to add this, according to the head brewer, he says they ferment on the warmer end of things. I plan to start out around 67 or 68 and slowly raise temps over the first few days until I get to 75ish, kinda the same I did with my tripel.

With belgian pilsner, which may (depending on the maltster) be undermodified, I'd consider doing a protein rest at 122° or so for maybe 20", then heat (while stirring) to 149° Give it a solid hour at 149, then slowly heat to 163° before pulling and draining your bag (assuming that this is a big enough grain bill that you'll need a sparge). 163° is warm enough to thin out the sugars a bit, but not enough to stop all enzyme action. Ifyou do need a sparge, I'd then put it in 163° sparge water and slowly heat it up to 170°, then hold for 10-20"If you're not sure about the crush, feel free to run it through your mill.

I'd add the candi sugar at flameout, no need to increase your pre-boil gravity excessively (since it may or may not effect hop utilization), and let it dissolve while you chill your wort.

Sounds great, and good luck!

I'm gonna run it through the mill I think. Better safe than sorry. Thanks for the idea on the rests as well. This'll be a long brewday...or a normal one for Jon!