American Dark Beers with Belgian Yeast

[sleepyjamie]

I want to start making some more belgian beers, in particularly with american base malts but with belgian yeast. I'd like to make a belgian stout and belgian brown. Typically I read BYO, books and BJCP styles for most stuff before making a recipe for the first time. The guidelines seem hard to find for these, especially the belgian brown.

Any advice is appreciated!

[Lucas]

A couple of things:

I very rarely like new world hops with Belgian yeasts - more often than not I find they clash. Obviously some people disagree given the popularity of Belgian IPAs. I stick with European hops when I use Belgian yeast.

The recipe and grain build will really depend what you are going for. I would think that you could use any grain build for a stout or brown that you have had success with before. Keep in mind that the Belgian yeast will likely attenuate further than an American yeast all other things being equal, so if you want to maintain body and sweetness you might want to mash higher than normal.

See the discussion about a Belgian Imperial Stout recipe that I was working on:
(Belgian) Imperial Stout

[sleepyjamie]

Yeah I agree, the classic "C" hops will likely clash with Belgian yeast, however I am thinking some of the new aroma focused varieties such as Galaxy, Acca and others might play well as whirlpool/late hops.

I'll check out the recipe. Thanks!

[Hobbitfu]

Yah dank resinous hops not necessarily great with Belgian yeast, but tropic fruity ones I have used and tasted great.