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Chimay Blanche (White), or Chimay Triple, 8% abv golden tripel. In the 75 cl bottle, it is known as Cinq Cents. This crisp beer bears a light orange colour, and is the most hopped and driest of the three. Add sugar at the end of the boil - 15 minutes Named Cinq Cents in 75 cl (25.4 fl.oz.) bottles, this beer with its typical golden colour, its slightly hazy appearance and its fine head is especially characterised by its aroma which results from an agreeable combination of fresh hops and yeast. The beer's flavour, as sensed in the mouth, comes from the smell of hops: above all it is the fruity notes of muscat and raisins that give this beer a particularly attractive aroma. The aroma complements the touch of bitterness. There is no acidity, but an after-bitterness which melts in the mouth. This top fermented Trappist beer, refermented in the bottle, is not pasteurised. They denied they use wheat starch. They use wheat flour, between 10 and 15%, for head retention. This is a problem of translation, for the labels clearly state starch. Denis and Degraux say they would like to correct this but fear that if they change the labels they will be accused of further tinkering with the recipes. They are bemused by critics who accuse them of using candy sugar. It was phased out 40 years ago. Pure dextrose is used in the brewhouse while liquid invert sugar is used for secondary fermentation in bottle. Sugar accounts for 5% of the fermentable materials. As for malt extract, Dominque Denis picked up a large felt-tip pen and wrote in huge letters on a display board: "0.1%". He said the extract is added purely for colour adjustment as the main malts used, pale and caramalt, can vary slightly in colour. He said the brewery plans to buy caramalt to a better specification and will phase out malt extract. I sat in on the daily tasting of beers. We had samples of: Red (7% ABV), White (8% ABV) and Blue (9% ABV) that were two months old and were rich with malt, spicy, peppery hops, and earthy, berry fruits. 66% Malt, 22% Wheat Flour, 12% Dextrose Chimay's DominiqueDenis stated that the amount of wheat flour is in the range of 10% - 15% -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chimay White (Blanche) is like “beer champagne”. The beer is light, very carbonated, and slightly bitter. The balance in the beer demonstrates the monks drive for perfection. It is one of those beers that you want to share with all your friends, but not at $9 a bottle. (maybe your really good close friends) If I wanted to introduce this beer to friends, I needed to find a way to make it myself. I searched a long time for a good recipe; unfortunately the recipe wasn’t covered in any of the clone books. I did find this recipe a few years ago, and I’ve found it to be a very close clone of the Chimay White. The Recipe 10 lbs of Belgian Pilsner malt 1 lb of Belgian Wheat malt 0.25 lbs of Rice Hulls 1.5 lbs of sugar Lemon juice (tablespoon) 2 oz East Kent Goldings (5.8% AA) 1 oz Hallertrau Hersbrucker (1.3% AA) White Labs WLP500 or Wyeast 1214 OG 1.071 FG 1.010 You can substitute very light dry malt extract (DME) if you are an extract brewer. I’d use 8 lbs of extra light DME. You might have troubles matching the color or Chimay with anything darker than DME. If you use extract, omit the grain and rice hulls from the recipe. Prepare the sugar before starting the boil. The main difference between Belgian candi and table sugar is that Belgian candi is inverted. Belgian candi is also made from beets instead of cane, but I do not believe anyone can really taste much difference. Heat the sugar with a small amount of water (enough to make a syrup) and a teaspoon of lemon juice. The lemon juice will help invert the sugar into simpler sugars. After about 15 minutes the sugar will turn a very light yellow color. Mash the grains for at least 90 minutes in a converted cooler at 150F (I batch sparge). Add 1.5oz of the East Kent Goldings and 0.5 oz of the Hallertrau at the start of your boil. Also at the start of your boil, add the sugar syrup that you created earlier. Boil the wort for 90 minutes. 5 minutes before the end of the boil, add the last of your hops, 0.5 oz of East Kent Goldings and 0.5 oz of Hallertrau Hersbrucker. You can culture your own yeast from a bottle of Chimay, but I think it is easier to just use the White Labs WPL500 yeast. You could also use Wyeast 1214. These yeasts were cloned from the Chimay yeast, and you’ll get great consistent results using either of these yeasts. Give the yeast a good chance to ferment the wort as much as possible. You want this beer to be very dry. That is why Chimay White can taste like dry champagne. Start it at the higher end of the temperature range (70F). Once it’s started, move it to a location where it ferments at the lower end of the temperature range (65-60F). For carbonation, you could use 1 cup of corn sugar. If you are kegging, you’ll want 2.0 to 4.0 volumes of CO2. I would plan for an even 3.0 volumes. This beer will have a large head if you pour it too fast. ---------------------------