A Belgian sugar primer
In the past couple of weeks I’ve read several references that would indicate Belgian brewers the use “candi sugar,” the most recent being in The Naked Pint: An Unadulterated Guide to Craft Beer
I’d like you to buy Brew Like a Monk, but even more I’d like it if I didn’t have to keep reading “candi sugar” when we’re just talking about plain old sugar, so here’s an excerpt from Chapter 7:
To boost alcohol, fermentability, and produce what Belgians refer to as a “more digestible” beer, plain sucrose―the stuff you can buy at your local grocery store―works just as well as clear candi sugar (rocks). The dark, rummy character that comes from caramelized sugar is harder to duplicate, and certainly not by using American brown sugar. Here is a quick sugar primer:
Candi sugar: References to “candi sugar” when Belgian brewers began using such an ingredient most often described caramel syrup, not the clear to dark rocks sold in the United States as “Belgian candi sugar.” The rocks you liquefy by tossing into a kettle are made by lowering cotton strings with seed crystals into hot solutions of sugar. What we really care about is the sugar itself.
Today, when brewers at Westmalle and Orval refer to candi sugar, they specify using it in liquid form. Most other brewers, Trappist and secular, who once used “clear candi sugar” have replaced it with sucrose or dextrose. As well as adding white sugar to the kettle, Rochefort includes cassonade brune in its recipes. While that translates to “brown sugar,” Candico in Antwerp produces something much different than Americans think of in making “candysugar” (its term) and cassonade brune: “granulated crystals, obtained from cooling down strongly concentrated sucrose-solutions boiled at very high temperatures.” Most of Candico’s sales to confectionary producers, biscuit factories, and breweries are “candysugar” in syrup form.
Sucrose: The basic white sugar you buy at A&P comes from sugar beets or sugar cane; both produce the same end product. They are crushed, dissolved in water, and the raw syrup is boiled down to concentrate it to a point where some fraction crystallizes. The remaining syrup is separated from what is now 95% pure sugar. The crystals are further processed several times to increase its purity, eventually yielding the pure white crystals.
Brown sugar: To produce brown sugar in North America, the crystals are left much smaller than for white sugar, and the syrup or molasses is not washed off completely. Many producers have in fact instituted processes in which they make brown sugars by blending refined white crystal sugar with molasses.
Dextrose: The “righthand” version of glucose, a monosaccharide derived from converted starches, much as what happens when mashing malted grain. Dextrose can be made from a variety of cheap sources, including corn, wheat, rice, and potatoes. Belgian brewers used glucose by the nineteenth century.
Invert sugar: Glucose and fructose together make up sucrose. When fructose is “inverted” by hydrolysis, the resulting invert sugar is theoretically easier for yeast to ferment.
Caramelized sugar: Caramelization occurs when a sugar molecule is heated to a high-enough temperature to begin to break down and create the characteristic flavors of caramel. Sugar producers are extremely careful not to subject sugars to temperatures high enough to cause caramelization, because it would introduce these flavors and cause product loss (any sugar that is caramelized is no longer sugar, so it can’t be crystallized). Caramel syrups are sold in Europe, giving brewers a variety of choices not available in the United States. Many American brewers use dark candi (rocks) as a substitute, but while the darkest provide a rummy, unrefined character, they don’t come close to replicating the caramelized flavors found in darker Belgian ales.
January 26th, 2010 at 2:00 am
[...] December 12, 2009 Leave a comment Go to comments http://www.brewlikeamonk.com/?p=88 says To boost alcohol, fermentability, and produce what Belgians refer to as a “more [...]
January 29th, 2010 at 11:53 pm
Hi, I want to say that I love your book. It has inspired me to strive to recreate my own beers in the Trappist style. I have a question for you about the use of corn and wheat starch that you described Rochefort using. Is it possible for you to describe how exactly they use it? I am trying to replicate Rochefort 10’s “thickness” and I am under the impression that it is the wheat starch which does this. Please correct me if I am wrong. Thank you.
January 31st, 2010 at 10:15 am
Thanks for the kind words, James.
They are used in the kettle. I’m not so sure if wheat starch adds anything to the Rochefort 10 mouthfeel, and neither is Gumar Santos (the engineer who oversees the brewery).
January 31st, 2010 at 5:53 pm
Thank you Stan! I was unsure as well if the wheat starch added to the mouthfeel. I am slowly working my way through recipes, adding this or taking away that, in order to discover what makes a good Trappist style beer. Any bit of knowledge I can find always helps my journey.
February 2nd, 2010 at 4:11 pm
So I suggested to a fellow brewer that he make his own caramelized sugar for his next batch of Dubbel. He proceeded to tell me I’m wrong and that they just use sucrose (which I know from reading your book, they in fact do). So I read him a quote from your book on page 241 about the different types of ingredients the Belgian use compared to the Americans. So who is right in this instance?
February 3rd, 2010 at 2:36 pm
John,
There is no point in using the clear rocks sold in some homebrew stores as candi sugar. Just plain sucrose will do the job. In that case you want include sugar to boost gravity yet end up with a “digestible” beer (well attenuated, like in the high 80s apparent).
Unrefined sugar will add rummy, dark fruit notes in dark strong beers (such dubbels or Rochefort and Westvleteren beers). You can make your own caramelized sugar or use the products from Dark Candi Inc. (which come from Belgium).
So I guess I’m voting with your friend. And at the same time pointing out that Caracole’s Nostradamus is made with sucrose and then four different dark malts.
February 18th, 2010 at 9:26 pm
Stan,
Your Brew Like a Monk is virtually my brewers bible when it comes to brewing Belgian and Belgian inspired beers. No other even comes close. I also just ordered Brewing with Wheat and can’t wait to read it over and over again.
So I’ve tried my best to find this information on the boards before I bothered you, but there still seems to be some gaps in my knowledge of exactly what the monks use for their sugar additions in their dark beers (dubbels and most importantly dark strong ales).
I’m trying to make my own that resembles the D2 Syrup as closely as possible (that stuff is awesome, but a little too pricey).
1. Is cane an accurate substitute for beet sugar? Do the monks actually use beet sugar?
2. Is the syrup the entire volume of water and sugar, or the substance left over after crystallization?
3. Is an acid used by the monks for the inversion process, or is it straight heat?
I imagine I’m making this more difficult than it needs to be, but in brewing with the spirit of the monks, I’d like to refine my process to be the most efficient and cost effective as possible. (Sorry for the long post!).
Regards,
Brody Nasse
February 20th, 2010 at 1:01 pm
Brody – First, thanks for the kind words.
For a dark syrup the monastery breweries now use something similar to D2 rather than making their own. Since they don’t all order from the same place I can’t say for sure whether the source is cane or beet. That doesn’t really matter in white sugar, since you get refined sucrose. It might make a small difference in the syrup, because part of the point is the “impurities” and these will vary. But I wouldn’t sweat it.
I think you’ll find that D2 and the recipe Randy Mosher provided for making your own work equally well and both are true to the monastic spirit.
The key when using your own syrup or D2 is to consider what percentage of fermentables it contributes and the color. You get your final color with the addition of dark malts (but think about the flavors they add) and make sure sugar contributes ~15% (very roughly – some go higher and make great beers) by adding plain sucrose (refine sugar).
Does that simplify or confuse things?
March 19th, 2010 at 3:36 pm
Stan — First, I am about halfway through the book, and loving it, thanx! I came here trying to find a concise definition of “digestible beer”…I know it has something to do with attenuation, FG, and flavor, but just don’t feel like I could explain it to someone of they asked. While looking for that, I found this conversation on sugar, which I am really trying to also understand better. So the candi sugar I have been using is just sucrose disguised, I get that… and this nugget I found online was an eye opener as well “When heated in an acidic solution (such as wort) the sugar is inverted to make D-(+)-glucose and D-(-)-fructose. Yeasts will invert the sucrose if it is not already in that form before using by using invertase.” I was using it because I thought the whole point was I needed invert sugar…but this says if I boil sucrose in the wort, I am making it invert anyway…is that right? Then the only sugar question I would have would be, what about when I want the dark, caramelized flavor…can I just melt down and caramelize some sucrose in a pan and add that to the wort?
Sorry for the long post, but it all ties together in my head. Thanx!!
David
April 1st, 2010 at 10:32 am
Hi Dave – Sorry not to respond earlier. Somehow your comment ended up in the spam folder . . .
Yes, you should get the same flavor – although you aren’t looking for much in the way of sugar flavor in pale beers – whether you go to the effort of making invert sugar before the boil or add sucrose to the boil.
On pages 168 and 169 of the book you will find a recipe for making your own caramel syrup.
August 17th, 2010 at 11:28 pm
Following up on John’s posting of February 2nd, what type of sugar is used in Westvleteren? I am leaning toward making caramel for the complexity anyway, but It is not clear in the dark strong ale recipe whether this is carmelized or white.
Second, how much less fermentable is caramel at different degrees of carmelization?
Lastly, what is the purpose of the ammonium carbonate or DAP that Randy Mosher mentions in his recipe?
Thanks,
Colin
August 30th, 2010 at 9:19 pm
Colin – Sorry I didn’t see this before. It somehow got flagged as spam.
Westvlteren uses both white sugar and caramelized sugar in the 8 and 12.
I don’t know how much less fermentable carmelized would be. Perhaps not any different. The key is the unrefined flavors.
I apologize, but I don’t know the answer to the questions about Randy’s recipe. You could visit his site: http://radicalbrewing.com/
This is just my opinion – I don’t get a kickback or anything ;>) – but the D2 you can buy works very well and is a fair price. Just not as much fun.
September 12th, 2010 at 3:22 pm
Hi Stan,
I’m a big fan of your book as well. I am American but moved to Belgium in January and am really enjoying myself. It’s been fun to re-read your book in this new context.
Interestingly I found your site while searching for information on the Candico brand syrup, which I have seen in groceries here. Their website also mentions its use in breweries. My technical question to you is if you know how this syrup translates to sugar content i.e., how might I calculate a bottle’s influence on gravity.
Keep up the great work!
Kind regards,
Karl
September 14th, 2010 at 9:46 pm
Hi Karl,
According to the DarkCandi.com site, and this makes perfect sense, about 1.032 PPG.
Thanks for the kind words. Pretty wild to find what you thought was exotic on the grocery store shelves, huh?
October 26th, 2010 at 7:24 pm
Hi Stan,
I’m an Italian homebrewer and I’ve just finished to read your “Brew Like A Monk”, I think it is the most interesting and exciting homebrewing book that I’ve ever read (obviously, I love Belgian beers!)
Now, I’m going to brew my first Dark Strong Belgian Ale and I want to follow your advise to use caramelized sugar, in particular I think to make caramel using cane sugar.
But what I don’t know is how much and when introduce this caramelized sugar.
What do you think about the possibility of introduce a part of sugar during fermentation? Wyeast says that 3787 strain benefits from incremental feeding during fermentation and I think that introducing a part of caramel in the last phase of primary fermentation could also increase the caramel aroma in the finished beer in comparison to add it only in the boiling kettle.
Now, my idea is to use (for a 5.5 gallons batch size) these sugars:
- 1 lb. caramelized cane sugar in boil kettle
- 2 lb. white sugar in boil kettle
- 1 lb. caramelized cane sugar in the carboy during primary fermentation
Which is your opinion about this plan?
Thanks a lot!
October 27th, 2010 at 9:02 am
Thanks for the kind words, Maurizio.
All the sugar is introduced during the boil at monastery breweries, but I have talked to several homebrewers (and also know of other Belgian breweries) that add a portion of sugar during fermentation. So your plan looks solid.
That looks like a pretty good-size amount of sugar for a 5.5-gallon batch. Certainly some Belgian brewers top 20% (of fermentables), but you might be better staying in the teens – at least while you experiment.
October 27th, 2010 at 7:41 pm
Ok very well Stan, I can limit the sugar to 14-15% of fermentables
And what about the division of these sugars?
For example, if I will use sugar for a total amount of 14% of fermentables, is it a good choise to divide it in 7% of simple sugar (sucrose) and 7% of caramelized, or in your opinion for a Dark Strong the proportions among the sugars must be different?
Thank you again for your precious advises!
October 31st, 2010 at 1:10 pm
Hi. The commercial caramel syrups have become hard to find (especially the D2 everyone is so fond of), and a perusal of the internet chatter on the subject suggests a considerable degree of disagreement, if not outright confusion, so I humbly offer a technique that has worked quite well for me for producing the darker syrups, in case anyone might be interested.
In my experience, the first step to producing successful caramel syrup is to invert the sugar (I believe the Belgians use beet sugar because it’s cheaper, but pure cane sugar will work at least as well and is what I would recommend). To do this add sugar to a saucepan and turn the heat to a medium setting. Add water (but only just enough to moisten the sugar crystals well—probably not more than a cup per lb should be required). If you’re using an electric range burner then a wire diffuser is recommended to reduce the possibility of scorching, and a good stainless steel pot with a heavy bottom should also be used. I also recommend a saucepan with a greater height/width ratio for a given capacity (one that is narrower and taller as opposed to wide and shallow). Keep gently stirring the sugar as it heats up. At some point it will begin to boil and the sugar will go into solution (will dissolve). At this point add 0.1% w/w citric acid and stir it in (regular stirring should no longer be required after this). In other words, if you used one pound of sugar (454 grams), then 0.45 to 0.5 grams (0.02 oz) should be added, or approximately 1/10 tsp. I recommend a good, accurate balance and using metric units. Place a candy thermometer or a good digital probe into the solution and keep it there, making sure it is about halfway into the solution and not resting on the bottom of the pan. At this point you may want to turn down the heat slightly (with my gas burner I go from the mid setting 4 to 3 at this point). When to temperature reaches 110 to 120 degrees C (230 to 248 degrees F) turn the heat down more (I go from 3 to 2 on my gas burner, but bear in mind there will be differences between stoves so you need to experiment). Don’t allow the temp to go over about 122 degrees C (about 252 F). When that figure is reached then add a small amount of water (about 1 tbs). The temp should not fall below 110 C and should not rise much beyond 122 C, and this should be maintained for about 30 minutes, after which time your sugar should have a nice, golden color and should be mostly inverted (perhaps up to 85%). Fructose normally inverts at 110 C and glucose at 160 C, but the addition of an acid catalyst allows inversion to occur at lower temps. At this point turn off the heat and allow the temp to fall to below 100 C (212 F) or so.
In step two, turn the heat back on to a med-low setting (I use three on my gas burner) and add 1% w/w ammonium carbonate (this can be purchased online, and I believe Amazon, for example, has this—look for baking ammonia); that is, 4.54 grams (0.16 oz) per pound sugar used. There are two reasons for adding this: first, to provide a nitrogenous source to create positively charges molecules (beer contains positively charged proteins, and without ammonia a negatively charged caramel will result which can agglomerate with the proteins—opposites attract, remember—and cause them to precipitate from solution, thereby losing color and flavor compounds over time), and second, to add nitrogen to allow what is essentially a partial Maillard reaction to take place along with the “browning” reaction of caramelization. A corollary benefit is that with ammonia good, dark color and flavors can be achieved using lower temperatures. The result will be a beer-stable class III caramel syrup. Mosher recommends 2% w/w ammonium, but he uses ammonium bicarbonate (or phosphate), which has a lower content of ammonia (and nitrogen) per unit mass than ammonium carbonate (chemical formula (NH4)2CO3). I find that 1% works well, but 2% could be added if one wishes. Stir the ammonium carbonate into solution as the syrup heats up. Allow the temperature to climb to about 120 degrees C (248 F) and then turn down the heat slightly (I go down to 2). When the temp reaches 130 C (266 F) add about 1 tbs water. At this juncture you do not want the temp to exceed 130 C by much and do not want the solution to thicken further. Continue this process, keeping the temp between 120 to 130 degrees C, until the desired color and flavors are attained, and you can take a bit of the syrup and place on aluminum foil or a white porcelain dinner plate, say, to cool and taste as you go along, one sample per heat cycle say. I find that 4 cycles (that is, heating to 130 C , adding water, and heating again 4 times) gives the syrup a nice, deep, dark reddish-black color that would be good for dubbels, but you can go further. Once you have arrived at the desired endpoint place the pan into a tub (or sink) of cool water and stir up the thickening portion on the bottom. As it cools and thickens, add enough water to maintain the consistency you want (when it has cooled it should be something like molasses, and can be heated before using to reduce the viscosity). After it has cooled it can be placed in a jar and kept until needed (probably best to refrigerate). Again, you will need to experiment with your own equipment, as there is bound to be some variation here, and I give these figures merely as an approximate guide.
Happy Halloween.
October 31st, 2010 at 9:45 pm
A note to correct my egregious error stating that the inversion temperatures of fructose and glucose are 110 degrees and 160 degrees C respectively. Those are the caramelization temperatures. I just made a batch of syrup for an ale I’m planning, and I am reminded of a few points I should have mentioned. First, when adding the ammonium salt it will begin to bubble into a froth and release a slight ammonia vapor, so it would be best to do this under a fume hood or vented stove hood, and you might wish to remove the thermometer or thermocouple probe before the addition as well. The vapor will dissipate quickly, as the salt decomposes rapidly.
I can be more specific with temperature fluctuations. When I added 1 tbs water to the syrup the temperature would drop 4 to 5 degrees C. I was allowing the temperature during inversion to reach 124 or 125 degrees C and drop it to 120 or so with the addition of water (the extent of the drop will vary as to water temperature and volume). During the second step I was bringing the temp to 132 degrees or so before adding the water, and 1 tbs would drop it to about 127 to 128 degrees C. I let the syrup go through 30 heat cycles after the inversion step, and using a 4-cycle syrup as a control the 30-cycle syrup is darker, gives a lower preception of sweetness, and has a lot more going on with flavors.
Randy Mosher recommended using corn syrup, which is mostly fructose, so the results might be better using the lower temperatures I have cited (fructose has an initial caramelization temp of about 110 C). Using high-fructose corn syrup would also obviate the inversion step. I have never tried using corn syrup. When using a sugar with glucose it might work better to use temperatures as high as 180 degrees C or so, but I haven’t yet experimented with temps more than 135 C or so. There would definitely be other flavor and aroma compounds created at higher temperatures. The result could be better syrup or a burned mess. I plan to experiment further at some point and will post my results. I also will probably experiment using high-fructose corn syrup as Mosher recommended. The addition of a nitrogen source enables color and flavor to develop via both caramelization and Maillard reaction at a lower temperature, so that’s what I’ve been working with so far.
Incidentally, if you’re in the middle of the process of making syrup and something comes up, you can always shut off the heat and come back to it later, as I had to do today when my laundry was ready to remove from the dryer.
Finally, I have had my copy of Brew Like a Monk for a couple of years now, and it has been a nice, informative read. My first attempt at a dubbel style ale nearly ten years ago followed a “kitchen sink” approach, using lots of various specialty malts and rock candi sugar. I have since adopted a more simplified approach to formulation, using caramelized syrups with fewer specialty grains, and the results have been far more satisfying.
November 1st, 2010 at 2:52 pm
Hey, Kent. Thanks for all that detail.
Maurizio – I don’t have a definitive answer for you. It certainly wouldn’t hurt to go with dark syrup for all your sugar addition. It really depends on how much color you are shooting for how much dark, rummy character.
January 27th, 2011 at 1:13 pm
Mr. Hieronymus – First off, thanks for writing BLAM and Brewing with Wheat. Both are great reads.
Just thought I’d chime in with my experience making my own “candi sugar.” I’ve had good luck with using dextrose and DAP, rather than sucrose. I suspect it’s the higher caramelization temp of glucose that allows a better amount of Maillard reactions before the sugars excessively caramelize. I’m still fine tuning my recipe, but I’ve gotten very close to the dark chocolate flavors found in the darkest of the candi syrups.
January 3rd, 2012 at 12:15 am
Stan,
I was at a beer tasting with the owner of a restaurant/microbrewery who first introduced me to Belgian Tripels and my question was, “Why do I like this so much?” His response, “It is the Belgian Candi Sugar.”
I now know how wrong he was! Thank for for clearing all of this up. Your book is a joy to read and after visiting all of the Trappists last year in person I appreciate your descriptions very much. They are dead on!
I LOVE the book and it has inspired me to actually put together a discussion series for all of my friends who love Abbey Ales and anything in the “Belgian” style.
March 25th, 2012 at 4:58 pm
Stan
I am enjoying your ‘brew like a Monk” along with Michael Jacksons’ Great Beers of Belgium so much that I would like to plan a trip to Belgium with my wife to visit the various Trappist and other breweries mentioned in both books. We like to travel but have never been to Europe and we were wondering if traveling on our own (safety)versus with an organized tour group is advisable? I know they have organized Abbey tours but based on our travels here in the U.S. it is much cheaper if you plan your own itinerary, mode of travel, and where you plan on eating and sleeping. Plus we would like to keep the schedule flexible. What are your views on staying overnight at an Abbey?
We were also wondering if you can you get by with English and what is your recommendation regarding use of public transportation versus renting a car.
When we travel here we don’t always have a rigid schedule as to where we are going to spend the night (i.e., we don’t always make reservations ahead of time). Would that work in Belgium or should each night’s stay be reserved and confirmed?
If you have any suggestions, hints, an itinerary you would like to share or if you have a name of a tourist agency/office that we should contact as afirst step it would be greatly appreciated.
Dennis
Dennis – Check your email. – Stan
March 26th, 2012 at 9:23 am
Hi Stan
Firstly, the book is a terrific read and full of inspiration for all brewers out there. Running with the theme of this thread, you mentioned Candico who produce a number of sugars for the food an beverage industry and also DarkCandi.com who import brewing sugars into the US.
Do you know of any companies that import and sell similar products in the UK for both commercial and home brew purposes? Do Candico export their products to the UK through a suppler?
Regards,
Sandy
March 21st, 2013 at 1:22 pm
Hi Stan, Fantastic book. I received my copy as a gift some 6 or 7 years ago, and now the binding is starting to go. As I’ve gone from homebrewer to professional brewer each time I pick this book up, (every 3 months or so) I learn something new.
Currently I am fermenting 15bbls of a belgian dark strong ale, that I’ve successfully intended to show characteristics of a tripel rather than dubbel/dark strongs, ie down played caramel character/playing up light fruit aromatics/esters.
My question is if there is any advice out there for the timing of sugar feedings?
I more than likely underpitched (cost of yeast vs production environment) yeast, – starting with a 15bbl pitch. – I was advised by a yeast lab to pitch the 15bbl yeast culture into 20 gallons of wort 24 hrs ahead of time. My understanding is that with out O2 and a stir plate, I am likely just conditioning the yeast to the wort rather than growing cells. I then pitched the 20 gallons of yeast into 410 gallons of 16˚P wort, and then about 28-30hrs later pumped in ~50 gallons of 37˚P syrup made of 100lbs dextrose and ~83 lbs of Hi Maltose Corn Syrup.
This should have equaled ~18.2˚P. about 6 days in the beer has fermented to ~6˚P and is slowing down. Might this be a sign of gluclose suppression/repression? Would there be any benefit to waiting longer ie 36-48 hrs before pumping in sugar syrup? or maybe spliting it into 2 doses?
Thanks for the wonderful books.
Brendan
April 11th, 2013 at 8:29 am
Hi Brendan – Sorry for the delayed reply. You sent this the day we departed for the UK. The honest answer is that I am not sure about the glucose suppression. I did talk to brewers in Belgium (not at monasteries) who add sugar in doses, with the last doses 3-4 days in. Their beers did not finish as low as Trappist beers, but that’s just as likely related to other factors. Not sure how much that helps, but there you go. – Stan
May 11th, 2013 at 2:05 am
Hi Stan,
Thanks for the great books! I am currently reading and re-reading “For the Love of hops”. I am a serious hop head and as such I am thoroughly enjoying the book. A short bit of background before my question. I have been an “on again off again” home brewer for many years (since 1981), but just moved to all grain last year, which has improved my beer tremendously. According to the guys in my beer club, I now brew great beer. Lately I have been having thoughts about brewing a Belgian of some sort, (which is the reason I find myself reading your brewlikeamonk site), the problem is I don’t like Belgians. So why brew one? Well, I really find it hard to believe that with all the Belgian styles, I can’t find one that I honestly like. Guys will tell me that I just need to find the right Belgian and then I will fall in love with them like so many others have done. With all this in mind, can you suggest a recipe for a Belgian I might want to try? I will add that I am not a fan of funk or sour in my beers, and suspect that what I really need to do is find the right yeast and that will go a long way to finding a Belgian I can truly enjoy. If it helps to know, I generally keg my beer and have higher level home brew equipment. (recirculating mash, 15 gal kettles, conical fermenter, etc.) Any thoughts or recommendations on a recipe?
Thanks,
~jim
May 14th, 2013 at 2:11 pm
Hi Jim,
Thanks for the note. Excuse my fudging, but given that there’s no consensus on if “Belgian IPA” is a good idea I hope you can appreciate my being cautious.
Although tripels should be pretty dang hoppy, most abbey and Trappist beers are yeast/fermentation forward. So I’d suggest settling on a yeast, going with a pale beer, then deciding the hops. Here are some options:
- A saison yeast (Wyeast 3711 will be much more forgiving then the various versions of Dupont). If you want to accent fruitiness use a new world hop like Citra. Otherwise something like Styrian Golding (really Fuggle) or Saaz.
- A rather fruity yeast like a version of Westmalle or Achouffe. Think about what you do an do not like in beers brewed with Belgian yeast. If it is the clovelike notes you get in a German weiss beer then make sure to avoid a ferulic acid rest and start you fermentation a little warmer (say 68F v. 64F). I like tripels with SGs lower than most, hopped with a blend of Kent Golding and Styrian Golding. But that is just me.
- Use a less fruity yeast (De Koninck, WLP 515). On the one hand, that sort of defeats the purpose. On the other it eases you into Belgian character.
Hope that helps a bit.