Facebook
Twitter
Del.icio.us
Digg

Beer Recipe of the Week: Orpheo Roja

This recipe is adapted from Amahl Turczyn's article "Clone Beers: Chimay Red" in the May/June 2000 issue of Zymurgy magazine. For more information on the history and methods of Trappist brewing, check out Brew Like A Monk by Stan Heironymous.

Ingredients for 5 gallons (19 L)

9.0 lb (4.0 kg) Belgian pale malt
1.0 lb (0.45 kg) Belgian aromatic malt
0.5 lb (0.23 kg) 100 L crystal malt
0.5 lb (0.23 kg) Authentic Belgian candi sugar (or white sugar)
1.0 oz (28 g) Belgian chocolate malt
1.5 oz (43 g) Styrian Goldings hops, 5.6% alpha acid (60 min)
1.0 oz (28 g) Styrian Goldings hops, 5.6% alpha acid (30 min)
1.0 oz (28 g) Willamette hops, 4.0% alpha acid (10 min)

Trappist or Belgian Abbey ale yeast*

*White Labs Trappist ale yeast and Wyeast 1214 Belgian Abbey ale yeast. You can also culture yeast from a Chimay bottle, but bottle culturing can be risky in terms of sanitation.

Specifications

Boiling time: 90 minutes
Original Gravity: 15.5 (1.061)
Final Gravity: 2.5 (1.010)

Directions

Use soft brewing water, acidified slightly if possible. Mash grains for 60 minutes at 154°F (67°C). Follow boil schedule. Ferment at 68°F (20°C), transfer, and condition in a secondary vessel for several days before bottling.

Bottle prime with the usual 0.75 cups (177 mL) dextrose, or corn sugar, per 5 gallon batch. Chimay has a slightly higher level of carbonation than usual with the style of beer, so feel free to add a few extra teaspoons of priming sugar. It is also recommended to bottle in heavey-gauge, 750 mL bottles if possible (especially with the high level of carbonation). Standard beer bottles should be fine, but regular wine bottles won't cut it.

When enjoying, pour into a goblet at around 50°F (10°C)

Extract Method

Crush and steep Belgian aromatic malt, 110 L crystal, and chocolate malt in 150°F (65°C) brewing water for 30 minutes. Strain, add extract and sugar, and bring to a boil.

Photo © 2012 Puamelia Flickr CC