Belgian Ale

[imlne]

I got some ingredients from my brother. He said it should be enough for a Belgium style. This is what he gave me:

Belgian Golden Ale Yeast from WL
1 lb of Candi Sugar
.25 lb milled Munich malt
8 lb Lite Malt Extract
Hops: Magnum and Mt.Hood.
Spices: Coriander and Paradise Seed

What I don't know are few of the specifics.

Should I make a starter?
How much Magnum should I use? I don't want the hops to compete with the spices.
How much of the spices should I use?
Any thought what the OG might be?

Thanks

[Beer4Guy]

Is it Belgian Munich?

No seriously, what type of Belgian Ale are you trying to make? It's kind of hard to figure out by your list of ingredients. Pale Ale, Dubbel, Trippel, Wit, Saison.......?

Guy

[imlne]

That's a good question. A Belgian Munich sounds like a great name.
I did some looking in my log book and saw that I usually get around 10-55 to 10-60 for my OG.
I'll see what happens after I brew it.

[majorvices]

Should I make a starter?

Of course - always make a starter with liquid yeast.

How much Magnum should I use? I don't want the hops to compete with the spices.

You want to keep the IBUs low. Magnum is a bittering hop only so don't use it for anything but a 60 min addition. I woudl target around 12-20 IBUs.

How much of the spices should I use?

Hard to say - use a restrained hand. You don't want to taste the beer and say "that's corriander!". The trick is to add just enough spice to leave the drinker saying "hmmmm, what is that?" Maybe start at around 6-12 grams. A lot of time belgian yeast is spicy enough that you might be better off brewing the beer without spice first so you know what character you are getting from your yeast. You can always add the spice in the secondary, too.

Any thought what the OG might be?

I highly recommend getting a recipe formulator. There's an online one at http://www.tastybrew.com - you need to figure that stuff out for yourself.

Also, if you are really interested in brewing Belgians pick up the book "Brew Like a Monk" - it is an essential guide tot he style.

[imlne]

Thank you, this gives me direction on knowing my beer.