Oh Belgium man! Belgium!

Holy Zarquon singing fish, July is going to be a month of brewing Belgian ales at Cheshire Peaks.

It all started because Andy and I were discussing what to do next, and we decided branching out into some continental beers would be interesting. Our initial thought was a Belgian Pale Ale – a malty, fruity, somewhat spicy, easy-drinking, copper-coloured ale.

The important thing with most beers is getting the yeast right. It’s OK with British ales because we have found some very reliable dried yeasts (mainly Safale S-04). But for a Belgian Pale Ale we need a proper Belgian yeast. Enter Wyeast liquid yeasts. Our recipe calls for Wyeast 3655 Belgian Schelde, but this does not appear to exist anymore. So we decided Wyeast 3522 Belgian Ardennes should be a suitable alternative. I called the Brew Shop in Stockport – they don’t stock it but would see if they could get it.

Yesterday I popped in to see if the yeast had arrived. It hadn’t, so I whipped out my copy of Brewing Classic Styles and looked for an alternative beer to make. After much consideration I settled on a Belgian Dubbel – a deep reddish, moderately strong, malty, complex Belgian ale. The grain bill is much more complex - lager malt, munich malt, Belgian candi sugar, aromatic malt, caramunich and Special B. Phew! But as it happened the Brew Shop had every one. I settled on trying Safbrew T-33 dried yeast.

Sorted. About to leave the shop. Then for some reason Peter looked in a packet which had been recently delivered and was hanging around the shop – it was a bundle of Wyeast Activator packs (not in the fridge, eek!). And lo and behold one was the Belgian Ardennes I had asked him to get.

So I ended up buying the ingredients for BOTH beers. As I said, July is going to be a month of brewing Belgian ales at Cheshire Peaks. Belgium man!