Make Your Best…
It’s one thing to follow a beer recipe, but it’s an entirely different beast to know the whys and hows and everything in between for the type of beer you’re brewing.
Belgian Pale Ale
Belgian beers are easy to overdo in terms of the complexity of the recipe and flavor profile. “Complex” doesn’t have to mean “loud,” though, and here we look at what might be the least-belgian of the Belgian styles: the Belgian pale ale.
Style: Belgian pale ale (BPA) relies on its grist to carry the flavor, with the other characteristics (hops and fermentation character) transitioning from leads to supporting roles. When properly balanced, this beer should be a showcase of bread, toast, biscuit, and caramel. It is not pale, but rather, a nice, rich amber. It can also be bitterer than most other Belgian styles. This is a great entry-level Belgian beer for those who are a little overwhelmed by the more common dubbels and tripels, and it’s the style I recommend when people tell me they “don’t like Belgians.”
Ingredients: Start with a healthy dose of Pilsner and Munich malts, about 50 / 50 for the base (about 6 lb/2.7 kg of each). Then I like to add 4 oz (113 g) each of Crystal 80 (or Fawcett Dark Crystal), Caramunich, and biscuit malt. Your starting gravity should be around 1.058, but resist the urge to go higher. Anything more than 6 percent ABV will mean losing some of that drinkability.
For hopping, I like the earthy character of Fuggles blended with the light fruity flavor of Glacier, and I add them both at 30 minutes left in the boil (you want 25 IBUS’ worth). I also reserve a small bit (about twenty-ish pellets) of the blend to throw in at flame-out.
So far we have the caramel and the toast and the herbal/earthy flavor—but what about the fruit? That’s a job for your yeast. For me, there’s only one: Wyeast 3522 Belgian Ardennes/white Labs WLP550 Belgian Ale. This strain is going to do two things. First, it provides an almost bulletproof level of esters and phenols— adding noticeable-but-not-domineering pear, orange, and apricot notes and a very light peppery flavor. And second, this yeast is a very high-flocculating yeast that ferments fast, even at relatively low temperatures.
Process: Your normal mash (152°F/67°C) will be fine to get a well-fermented wort. Take note of the hopping procedure above—i like that it ensures there’s just a whiff of the hops in the aroma, but the focus should be on generating a moderate level of hops flavor rather than mere bitterness. Like so many beers, this one is made in the fermentor. I ferment this beer at 67–68°F (20°C), and I’ve never found the need to ramp up the temperature to get a complete fermentation or limit diacetyl, but if it’s part of your process, I’m relatively sure it will do no harm. It should finish and flocculate out quickly, and 14 days after pitching you should be good to package it up and drink it!