November 25, 2002
Westvleteren Abt 12° Clone Update

A few people have asked about how the Westvleteren Clone has been going so here's the scoop. I tasted it a week or so ago and it's... um... interesting. The large percentage of candi sugar has given it a slightly cidery flavor with a strong alcohol aroma and flavor and possibly some acetaldehyde. It's also a little on the sweet side. It has attenuated down to 1.040 so far (63%). I'd like to see it get down to around 1.030. I roused the yeast to wake it up a little. I think that the finished beer will probably be pretty good but will need a lot of time to age. It's still extremely young. As to how close to Westvleteren Abt 12° this beer will come, that's yet to be determined. Based on how the beer tasted going into the fermenter and how it tasted last week, if I were to brew it again, I'd probably eliminate the light candi sugar altogether, use 1/2 lb of amber and 1-1/2 lbs of dark sugar and up the grain bill to account for the difference. More updates in the weeks and months to come...