# 🍺 Top-down Brew: Belgian Golden Strong Ale

## Recipe Variables

Enter the parameters
name: Belgian golden strong ale og: 1.078 malt: Pilsen Malt, 80, 1.5, 80.4 malt: Carapils, 5, 8, 65 sugarferm: Sucrose (white table sugar), 15, 0, 100 ibu: 27 hop: Saaz, 100, 3.75, 90 yeast: ale vol: 5.5 system: US eff: 75 prime: 2.7, 72

### Variations

For steeped grains plus malt extract:

- Delete the pilsner and carapils malt lines.
- For liquid malt extract, add sugar: Liquid light malt extract, 70, 5, 76
- For dry malt extract, add sugar: Dry light malt extract, 70, 3.5, 96
- Set sugar to 30%: sugar: Sucrose, 30, 0, 100

### Explore other malts, sugars, and hops

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## Results

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## Notes

BJCP 25C: Belgian golden strong ale characteristic ingredients: "Pilsner malt with substantial sugary adjuncts. Continental hops. Fruity Belgian yeast. Fairly soft water. Spicing not traditional."

BJCP vital statistics: IBU: 22 - 35; SRM: 3 - 6; OG: 1.070 - 1.095; FG: 1.005 - 1.016; ABV: 7.5% - 10.5%

The malt bill should be simple: Belgian or contintental pilsner malt. Zainasheff recommends no more than 3% total of light specialty grains such as biscuit, Vienna, or Munich. Other sources suggests Carapils and wheat malt as possibilities. The pilsner malt character should not be overwhelmed by specialty malts.

A key to success is fermentability. Aim for final gravity between 1.005 and 1.010. Using a liberal amount of sugar is important for achieving this goal. Also consider mashing techniques that promote fermentability: Longer mash times, stirring, and temperature steps. Aim for the lower range of saccrification temperatures, like 147 to 150F (64 to 66C).

The sugar can be added directly to the the kettle. Another strategy is to make a sugar syrup (hold at 160F, then cool) that is added to the fermenter when fermentation activity is nearly ended.

A 90 minute boil is recommended for eliminating dimethyl sulfide (DMS) that might be present in pilsner malt.

Use classic noble hops such as Saaz, Hallertau, or Tettnang. Styrian Goldings is reportedly used in Duvel, the classic example of this style. American hops bred from noble hops (Mount Hood, Liberty, etc.) are workable substitutes. Zainasheff prefers a single bittering addition. Some recipes have a small late aroma/flavor addition. Dry hopping is not advisable.

The ideal yeast choices would be White Labs Belgian Golden Ale (WLP570) or Wyeast Strong Ale (1388). Any Belgian yeast strain suited towards high gravity fermentations will work well. Do everything possible to promote a healthy, vigorous fermentation to maximize attenuation. These practices include pitching plenty of healthy yeast, oxygenating the wort, and using yeast nutrient.

Check out the Duvel clone for a similar recipe and guidance.

## References

Beer-analytics.com: Belgian golden strong ale

Dornbusch, H. (2006, May-June). Belgian golden ale: The Belgians' classic blond brew. BYO, p. 19-21.

Zainasheff, J. (2011, March-April). Big and Belgian: Belgian golden strong ale. BYO, p. 19-22.