Jean-Claudde Van DAYUMM! Brewday 8/15/12

As I was prepared to keg my Belgian Pale Ale last weekend, I had two thoughts.  One was that I should re-use the Belgian yeast, and the second was that with three session strength, pale beers on tap, I could use some dark flavor to mix things up a bit.  So with that, and the fact that I recently drank and enjoyed Allagash Black, I decided to make a black Belgian Stout.

After trying to think of a notable black Belgian to make another celebrity pun-named beer, I realized the only well known Belgian person is the Mussels from Brussels, Jean-Claude Van Damme.  Sure, he's white, but I can bring this thing all together with the following clip that came forward from the depths of my memory:

Since I found an excuse to bring up the great Jean-Claude in a beer blog, I might as well post a clip of his finest work; a fight to the death with a penguin-suited mascot in the 1995 classic Sudden Death:

The Beer:

I wanted this stout to be big at 7.5% ABV but with a dry mouthfeel of a Belgian ale.  The recipe has big stout characteristics with oatmeal, roasted malts, and a high O.G, but is mashed low at 148 and dried out further with table sugar and D-180 Dark Candi Sugar Syrup.

D-180 Dark Candi Sugar syrup.  Taste is really sweet, with a dark, fig-like sweetness that tastes distinctly Belgian.  

For hops, I decided to add a small amount of Serebrianka for the fruity, tobacco complexity I blogged about before.  I used just a small amount, so if I can adjust the level through dry-hopping when I keg it. The yeast is Wyeast 1214 Belgian Abbey, which I used last week for my Belgian Pale Ale.

Recipe (5.5 gallons):

Malt/Fermentables:

9.5# Belgian Pilsner Malt (67%)

1.5# Torrified Wheat (11%)

12 oz. UK Chocolate Malt (5%)

8 oz. Roasted Barley (4%)

8 oz. Oats (4%)

1# Candi Syrup 180-D (7%)

8 oz. Table Sugar (4%)

Mash:

Single Infusion, 148 degrees, one hour. 1.25 qts/lb.

I always love drinking the first runnings of a dark beer.

Hops (41 ibu's)

.75 oz. Nugget, 15.1% AA @ 90 minutes

.25 oz Nugget, 15.1% AA @10 minutes

.5 oz Serebrianka, 3.5% AA @10 minutes

Yeast:

Wyeast 1214 Belgian Abbey re-pitched from previous batch.