#110 Affligem Noel

Affligem, in the hop growing area of Aalst, is the oldest abbey in Flanders, founded in 1074. It is said that the Benedictine monks of this abbey introduced hops to Belgian brewing. Their brew house was destroyed in World War II and the brew master asked a nearby brewery, Brouwerij De Smedt to brew their beer. Because De Smedt had modern brewing equipment, the abbey s brew master, Friar Tobias tailored the Affligem beers to be brewed the modern way. This is called Formula Antiqua Renovata , (Ancient Recipe Renewed).

The Christmas Ale, brewed once a year is a potent, warming beer, dark and chocolately like the Dubbel, buttery and full of honey like the Tripel. It enters with a creamy, tightly beaded head with Belgian lace and a lovely deep garnet color. The nose, a complex blend of alcohol, malt, subtle hops, spice (cinnamon) and chocolate promises the flavor, which mimics the aroma. It finishes dry, with a hint of chocolate and cinnamon. A wonderful Belgian beer to celebrate the holiday season.

The following is based on the recipe from Beer Captured by Szamatulski.

Ingredients

Steep 155 for 45 minutes
1.75 lb	Belgian Pale Ale Malt
4.0 oz	Aromatic Malt (26.0 SRM)
4.0 oz	Biscuit Malt (26.0 SRM)
2.0 oz	Chocolate Malt
8.0 oz	Cara Munic Malt
2.0 oz	Honey Malt
Boil (60 min Boil)
7 lbs	Extra Pale Extract
1 lbs	Clear Candi Sugar
2 lbs	Extra Light DME
4 oz	Malto Dextrin
60.0 min
0.75 oz	Styrian Golding (some suggest .93 oz)
0.50 oz	Challenger (some suggest adding this at 90 mins instead)
15.0 min
2 lbs	Extra Light DME
0.50 oz	Styrian Golding some suggest 1/8 tsp cinnamon
5.0 min
0.50 oz	Styrian Golding
Fermentation
1.0 pkg	White Labs Trappist Ale 500 WLP545

BV: 9.1%, IBU: 26



Belgian Strong Ale

#99 New Glarus Brewing Wisconsin Belgian Red

This is a great fruit beer that is worth trying if you ever get to Wisconsin.  This is the top rated fruit beer on Beer Advocate. Wanting to make this at home, I have search the internet for the best recipes and have brought the information from those site here to allow other to compare.  I make no claim of ownership of these and have given proper reference to each of these so that you can also use the original sources in your desire to make a great beer.

My 1st batch didn't really have the amount of Cherry flavor that I was hoping.  It is still a nice drinking beer.  I will probably try to add some dried sour cherries to the next attempt.

1st Batch		2nd batch
3.00 lbs	Wheat Malt	3.00 lbs	Wheat Malt
2.50 lbs	DME Golden Light	2.50 lbs	DME Golden Light
6.0 oz	Crystal 40L	6.0 oz	Crystal 40L
0.5 oz	Roasted Barley	0.5 oz	Roasted Barley
1 oz	Hallertauer pellet (60 min.) aged 2 hrs 150*	1 oz	Hallertauer pellet (60 min.) aged 2 hrs 150*
1 ea	Trappist Ale WLP 500	1 ea	Trappist Ale WLP 500
32 oz	Cherry Juice Concentrate	49 oz	Vintners Harvest Sweet Cherry Puree
		80 oz	Kirkland Tart Montmorency Dried Cherries
Steep @ 150ºF - 20 minutes
Fermentation		Fermentation
Ferment at 65ºF - one week. Secondary cherry juice concentrate Secondary fermentation at 65ºF  Add oak chips during the final week to 10 days.		Ferment at 68ºF - 14 days. Secondary Cherries -  14 days Add oak chips during the final week to ten days.

Included below are the the best Wisconsin Belgian Red recipes that I have found to date:

• Zymurgy July/August 2007 by Amahl Turczyn Scheppach
• BitBucket from Kirkland, Washington on ratebeer
• Michael from the Brewing Network

Microbus Brewery has a good write up from brew day.

Zymurgy July/August 2007
All-Grain			Extract
5.0 lb	Two-Row Pale Malt		4.0 lb	Light Malt Extract
2.0 lb	Wheat Malt		1.5 lb	Wheat Malt Extract
6.0 oz	40L Crystal Malt		6.0 oz	40L Crystal Malt
0.5 oz	Belgian Roast Barley		0.5 oz	Belgian Roast Barley
1.0 oz	Hallertau aged hops (1 year)		1.0 oz	Hallertau aged hops (1 year)
4.0 qt	Knudsen Just Tart Cherry Juice		4.0 qt	Knudsen Just Tart Cherry Juice
0.25 oz	Boiled, toasted oak chips (optional)		0.25 oz	Boiled, toasted oak chips (optional)
	Belgian Wheat Ale or Ale Yeast			Belgian Wheat Ale or Ale Yeast
Directions
Mash @ 156° 60 min Sparge and Lauter - 4.5 gal			Steep @ 150° 30 min
Fermentation
Secondary with cheery juice and ferment for 1 week Chill to 32-35 and lager for 4-6 weeks Oak Chips during last week
Bottling
Heavy champagne-styl 750ml bottles with .75 cup of corn sugar/ 5 gallons

BitBucket from Kirkland, Washington on ratebeer

3.50 lbs	Pale 2-Row
1.50 lbs	Crystal 20L
2.00 lbs	Wheat
0.50 lbs	Special B
1 oz	Hallertauer leaf hops* (60 min.)
1 ea	Abbey Ale yeast - White Labs WLP 530 - or - Wyeast 1762
32 oz	Montmorency Cherry Juice Concentrate
8 oz	Black Cherry Juice Concentrate
.25 oz	French or Hungarian Oak Chips
Note
* The hops should be aged. If aged hops are not available, substitute by heating new hops in an oven over low heat (150 degrees) for 2 hours, then let them rest for 24 hours before use.
Mash
Mash @ 154ºF - 60 minutes Don’t run off more than 5.25 gallons. You’ll need headroom when you add the concentrate.
Fermentation
Ferment at 65ºF - one week. Secondary cherry juice concentrate, avoiding any aeration. Secondary fermentation at to 65ºF until fermentation is complete Add oak chips during the final week to ten days.
Total concentrate should be enough to make 2.5 gallons of juice. This translates roughly to the pound of Door County cherries in each 750ml bottle. You could bump the malt up a bit if you want a higher alcohol brew.

Michael from the Brewing Network
6 lbs	Pale Ale malt (your choice) or use 100% Breiss Wheat extract
4 lbs	Wheat Malt (your choice) or use 100% Breiss Wheat extract
8-9 HBU hopping (I use Crystal and Willamette)
1 oz	Crystal @ 20 min
1 oz	Willamette @ 20 min
1 tsp	kettle finings at 10-15 @ min
1 oz	Crystal @ 7 min
1 oz	Willamette @ 7 min
	Close lid at KO for 15-20 min, then chill to 60°F
	Wyeast 3787 Belgian Trappist Ale yeast (at least 5-6 oz per 5 gal)
Secondary
20# of dark red cherries per 5 gallons *OR* 1 can Oregon Fruit Co. Sweet Cherry Puree  Age 1 month

Wisconsin Cherries