Midwest Christmas Dubbel

A great winter brew. I've had everyone that tried it think that I peeled the label off of something else and bottle it.

Brewer:	Chris Husiak		Email:	motordetroit@yahoo.com
Beer:	Midwest Christmas Dubbel		Style:	Belgian Dubbel
Type:	Extract w/grain		Size:	5.5 gallons
Color:	34 HCU (~17 SRM)		Bitterness:	24 IBU
OG:	1.062		FG:	1.015
Alcohol:	6.1% v/v (4.8% w/w)
Water:	1 package burton water salts. Michigan tap water
Grain:	1 lb. British crystal 50-60L 1 lb. British crystal 70-80L
Steep:	25 mins at 122° and 45 minutes at 155°. My temps ran higher than the 155° stated. It got up around 165° for a while and came back down.
Boil:	60 minutes	SG 1.114	3 gallons
	6 lb. 12 oz. Light malt extract 1 lb. Brown sugar 6 oz. Molasses
	1 whirflock tablet in the boil at 15 minutes. Added 2 Tbs sweet orange peel, 1 tsp cardimum and 1 tsp corriander in dry.
Hops:	1 oz. Hallertauer (4.25% AA, 60 min.) 1 oz. Spalt (6.75% AA, 45 min.) 1 oz. Cascade (6% AA, 15 min.)
Yeast:	1 pkg Wyeast Belgian Ale
Log:	Fermented at 77° for 1 week. 2 weeks secondary.
Carbonation:	1 and 1/2 cups DME might be a bit too much we'll see.
Tasting:	A great brew. Nice dark flavor but not over the top. Very subtle notes of orange and coriander. The cardimum gives almost a hoppy flavor but it's great. Also the slightly higher mash temp gave a nice sweet and malty finish to the beer. I will make this again for sure. All in all i'm not totally sure if it's truly a belgian doulbe probably more of a brown but it's still good! I would add mroe orange into the boil at 15 mins next time.

Recipe posted 12/22/09.