Belgian Dubbel recommendations - commercially available

[zorak1066]

just learned that Heineken now has the rights to produce my fav DUbbel Affligem's. ($9 a bottle so it's rare I can splurge on it)
I enjoy the dark stone fruit, malty, warming, plum and raisin. I like how it finishes with a hint of deep purple plum.. to me at least. are there other dubbels you have tried that kind of match these qualities? recommendations anyone?

ive written Heineken US and they surprisingly told me that they would be happy to contact their EU branch to see if they can tell me what malts they use. this will be my first attempt at all grain whenever I can finally afford to brew again. i'll toss together a recipe and hopefully run it past someone for opinion. if I can make 3 gallons of almost as good dubbel for the price of a couple bottles... I hazard to say it out loud... but.. I think I would be a happy camper.

anyway.. what Dubbels do you like if any?

[mashani]

St. Bernardus Pater 6 or Prior 8 are both very good. Westmalle Trappist is also. You would probably like any of those. They all have the stone fruit/malty/dark fruit vibe going on. They all use Westmalle yeast, which is my favorite and you can readily get your hands on (Wyeast 3787 or WLP530). Westvleteren 8 is awesome but you probably can't get your hands on that unless you go to Belgium and buy it at their door. Ommegang Abbey is good stuff too.

To make a good dubbel with that yeast is simple - mostly pilsner or pale malt, with a small amount of special B and aromatic malt (at most about 1/4# each in a 5 gallon batch ... at most... at 3 gallons I'd personally use maybe 2-3oz of special b and 2oz of Aromatic or there about), or (what I prefer) leave out the aromatic malt and replace 10% (or even 20%) of the bill with Munich. Aromatic malt is nothing more then amped up Munich. I don't bother with it because I do not fear my Munich and always have it around. If you use the special B then add at up to 20% of your bill of D-90L candi syrup to compliment it and dry it out. I personally don't use special B anymore and instead use D-180L or a mix of D-180L and D-90L, and go up to 20% sugar to dry it out. D-180L gives you the most authentic dark fruit flavors. D-90L compliments it or the special B nicely. Don't use the sugar rocks, they suck. Use good candi syrup, or good Belgian granulated amber/dark soft candi sugar (Brun Fonce). OG can be anywhere from 1.064 to 1.80ish... I usually brew them under 1.07 because I do quads sometimes as the really big 'uns. If you use more special B then I suggest then you could dry it out with clear/cane sugar, however the dark fruit it gives you quickly gets "not right" if you use more, so IMHO its best to use it sparingly or not at all and go with darker candi sugar for lots of the flavor.

If you use Westmalle yeast, then let it free rise up into the upper 70s during fermentation, then let it finish in the lower 70s. It is best for that yeast to ramp in temps during fermentation to develop all the flavors. It is also best to feed the candi sugar during fermentation at say day 3 or 4 when the krausen starts to fall. This helps keep the yeast from being stressed up front by gravity and makes it really happy when you add it - helps it dry out the beer even more. You still get the malt sweetness from the munich.

You only really want/need around 20-27 IBUs, and I would suggest it come from a German noble hop or Saaz or Styrian Goldings. You don't need any late hops. A small amount can be interesting, but it has to be small if you want the authentic vibe. Except for some beers, where there actually are quite a bit. (Belgians are weird like that - absolute rules do not exist).

One of the reasons I brew my own Belgians is as you say. I can brew a case of it for the price of a couple of bottles. I can't beat that cost benefit ratio.

[Foothiller]

I have had both Westmalle Trappist Ale Dubbel and St Bernardus Pater 6 Abbey Ale, and found both to be world-class or close to it.

[mashani]

FWIW, you can make a pretty close approximation of Westvleteren 8 with nothing but a 55/45%ish blend of Pils/Pale, D-180L, and WLP530/3787 if you do a decoction mash or pseudo-decoction (boil down some wort to a dark amber syrup without burning it, then re-add it to the main boil, or boil the entire wort at very high flame for an hour or so, so that it caramelizes to some extent in the pot). Halleratuar for bittering and a touch more for aroma, and a bit of Styrians for flavor. The munich/aromatic are simply there in my suggestions above to make up for the lack of this process. You should either slightly underpitch the yeast (IE just use a 2 month old smack pack without a starter) or if using a starter then not overly concern yourself with oxygenating the wort as much as you might otherwise to stress the yeast a bit and let it rise into the lower 80s (it will still ferment out, it just makes more flavor).

(as I said Belgians don't follow the rules LOL).

[Brewbirds]

I love the bookmark feature.