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Based on https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/westvleteren-12-clone-multiple-award-winner.500037/ changes to round quantities and to compensate for unavailable ingredients. Notes from URL (abbreviated): Yeast Ingredients ————————————————— 320 Billion cells or 3200 ml stir-plate starter seeded Mash Steps ——————— Mash at 149.0 F 90 min Fly or batch sparge 168.0 F Boil Steps ——————— Boil 90 minutes Stir-in adjuncts at 10 minutes prior to flame-out, (alternatively, stir in adjuncts at flame-out) Clear wort boil-down notes (Optional Step): ————————— (Optionally) perform a separate boil-down of 1.00 gallon of vorlaufed wort into a syrup using the following steps: 1. Extract 1.0 gallon of wort at the beginning of clear runoff into a 3-5 gallon pot. 2. Boil the wort down until it becomes a dark mahogany brown and is bubbling with large bubbles. 3. Be careful NOT to burn the maltose syrup. 4. The result will be approximately 24-26 ounces of syrup. 5. Re-crash the syrup by adding wort from the ongoing main boil. 6. Pour the dissolved liquid back in to the main boil. Fermentation Pitch Notes: —————————— Chill wort to 63-64F Oxygenate chilled wort to 8-10PPM by diffusing pure O2 via .05 micron diffuser for 90-120 seconds. Pitch decanted yeast starter, adding chilled wort to the yeast flask to clear remaining yeast as necessary. Ramp fermentation temp (evenly over time) from 63 - 80F over 7 days. Fermentation Process Notes —————————— Primary Fermentation (7 days at 63F ending at 80.0 F) Secondary Fermentation (3 -10 days at 78.0 F ending at 60.0 F) Tertiary Fermentation (40 days at 50.0 F ending at 50.0 F) (I prefer Wyeast’s Trappist High Gravity/3787 yeast but it was not available. I am substituting White Lab’s Abbey Ale/WLP530 which appears to be a match. I am also being very concervative on my water adjustments even though I now have all the additions available in the brewery. Based on “Brew Like A Monk”, by Stan Heironymus, pg 159, and since it is a dark ale anyway, I will limit my addition to MgSO4 based on the “Brown Balanced” profile with our own water as a starting point.) 2020-08-22: started the yeast starter yesterday with 1.7L on the stir plate and adding another 1.8L today. 2020-08-24: Brew Day! Started before 0700 today! Allowed starter to start settling yesterday around 2000 hrs and settled it has. We have roughly 3.2L of starter with minimal activity. Will pour off wort today before pitching leaving just enough to suspend yeast. Added MgSO4 (1.9g) to MT before adding water. Treated water at ph 7.54. Added 1.22LB aciddulated malt bringing the pH from 7.8 to 5.29. Subsequent readings went as low as 5.03! Ouch. It went to far. Initial eestimates were based on MPH 3 model. BW model looks more accurate for me. Based on http://brulosophy.com/2017/01/30/water-chemistry-pt-7-evaluating-the-impact-of-low-mash-ph-exbeeriment-results/ I do not expect any impact but should **use the BW model from now on**. Forgot to repower the RIMSRocket and lost about 10 minutes of rise time. Temp recovered quick enough to get nearly enough time at 149°F. I am collecting an extra 0.75G of wort (8.25G). I will remove 1G from that collected and boild it down to 0.25G before redissolving it with wort and returning it to the BK. This is IAW the link above. Note that the target IBUs was 37 but the Alpha Acids of the hops were higher than anticipated. Instead of adjusting I acepted the high values as this ale is expected to age a long time in barrel. 2020-08-25: Ambient room temp is 73°F but thw carboy reads 78°F around 0915 hrs. I’ve applies a wet t-shirt and a fan to bring the temp down, and I am attempting to cool the room further. BTW, good thing I applied a blowoff tube last night - it’s going gangbusters this morning - hence the yeasts are throwing excessive heat. 1305 hra: room temp down to 71°F and carboy at 76°F. It should be a lot lower. Still trying - re-wet the t-shirt. Exhaust and prtable fan still running, both on low. BTW, handheld IR temp meter gives same temp for carboy, 76°F. 1650: Room temp has climed to 72°F and the carboy temp remains at 76°F. Ug. 2020-08-26: Ambient room temp at 71°F and carboy at 72°F. Temps today are to remain cooler. It should drop with out intervention and I may actually need to apply the heat belt before long. 2020-08-27: Bubbling slows some. Ambient at 67°F and carbvoy at 69°F. Back where temp belongs. Might need to add heat later. 2020-08-28: Ambient and carboy both at 66°F. Bubbling is more normal and periodic instead of steady and explosive. Time to get it in the hot box and bring the temp up. Targetting 72°F for now. Expecting to raise it a degree a day. Recorded both temp and SG today. Refractometer read 13.6 which calculated out to 1.029. By latemorning the hot box was reading 72°F. 2020-08-29: Ambient 67°F & hotbox 72°F. Moved hotbox setpoint to 73°F. I will do this each day for a while and only record deviations. 2020-09-01: Ambient dropped to 65°F, hotbox set to 78°F which is my final target for a week or so, and reading 77.2°F kinda consistently. Well, that fine. Plenty close enough. Except that I opened it and did an IR reading directly off the glass and got 81 point something and the carboy tape reads 82°F. Looks like I am going to lower it 4 degrees and let it sit there instead. Hopefully it will still give me maximum attenuation but 82°F is too high… 2020-09-02: 76°F by IR this morning so I turned it up 1. Krausen still in place but bubbling not. I do want it to stay active. 2020-09-03: Hotbox SP = 75°F, Actual is 74.6°F, Carboy is 76.4°F. Refractometer reads 12.4 => 1.021 for current SG. No bubbles but still better than an inch of krausen floating up there. I kicked the temp up 1°F. Taste is fine. 2020-09-04: Carboy via IR is at 77.8°F and setpoint for hotbox is 76°F. Still no bubbling. I judge a can rack to barrel at any time now. 2020-09-06: Just emptied the Balcones barrel of the Aged Stout Porter so it is ready to be racked into. Carboy temp is 78°F when it came out of the hot box. Krausen has conmpletely dropped. Racking to barrel. SG of 1.022 and temp of 74°F. A bit sweet yet and viscous despite reasonable gravity. Taste is otherwise great. Boozy some. 2021-11-21: Racked from the Balcones barrel to keg # 6. Refractometer read 12.6 for a FG of 1.022 and an ABV of 10%. Taste is boozy, rich, thick - very good. Volume is way down - somewhere arouond 4G or maybe even less. The angels took more than their share. Serving this on barn tap 1. Pretty excited for it too.