The Pious (Westvleteren 12 Clone) Recipe (All-Grain): 5 to 30 Gallons
An all-grain The Pious (Westvleteren 12 Clone) recipe you can brew at 5 to 30 gallons: 9.7% ABV and 31 IBU, with the grain bill, hop schedule, yeast and step-by-step process.
In this post
The Pious (Westvleteren 12 Clone) at a glance: 9.7% ABV, 31 IBU, OG 1.090. A strong, dark Belgian quad in the style of Westvleteren 12, the Trappist beer often called the best in the world: dark fruit, caramel and spice from Belgian yeast and dark candi syrup, at about 10%.
Recipe credit: The Pious (Westvleteren 12 Clone) by saq on HomeBrewTalk, #6 on HomeBrewTalk’s all-time Top 100. We’ve put it in our recipe card, scaled to 5 gallons at 72% efficiency, and kept the brewer’s gravity and hop schedule. See the original for the brewer’s own notes and the discussion. This is an unofficial homebrew clone; Bräu Supply isn’t affiliated with the Westvleteren abbey.
Bräu Supply recipe · All-grain
The Pious (Westvleteren 12 Clone)
Grain · for 5 gal into the fermenter
| 13.75 lb (6.24 kg) | Belgian Pilsner malt | 86% |
| 1 lb (0.45 kg) | Caramunich | 6% |
| 0.5 lb (0.23 kg) | Biscuit malt | 3% |
| 0.35 lb (0.16 kg) | Aromatic malt | 2% |
| 0.25 lb (0.11 kg) | Special B | 2% |
| 0.2 lb (0.09 kg) | Chocolate malt | 1% |
| 1.55 lb (0.7 kg) | Dark candi syrup, last 10 min | |
| 0.75 lb (0.34 kg) | Amber candi syrup, last 10 min |
Hops
| 1 oz (28 g) | Northern Brewer · 8.5% AA | 90 min |
| 1 oz (28 g) | Hersbrucker · 2.4% AA | 30 min |
| 1 oz (28 g) | Styrian Goldings · 4.1% AA | 30 min |
Yeast and water
| 2 pkg | Belgian abbey yeast (WLP530 or Wyeast 3787), 2 packets or a large starter | |
| Water | Soft water. | |
Process
- Mash: 149°F (65°C) for 75 minutes
- Boil: 90 minutes
- Ferment: Start at 64°F (18°C) and let it rise to the mid 70s°F as fermentation slows
- Condition: Condition at least 2 to 3 months; it keeps improving for a year
- Carbonate: 2.8 volumes of CO₂
Brew it on
Based on 72% brewhouse efficiency and about 5.5 gal after the boil for a 5 gal batch. Adjust the base malt if your system runs higher or lower. Hops scale in a straight line; larger kettles extract a little more bitterness.
About this recipe
The recipe leans on dark and amber candi syrup for the raisin, plum and caramel flavours, with small amounts of Special B, aromatic, biscuit and chocolate for depth. Westvleteren is brewed by monks at the Abbey of Saint Sixtus in Belgium and is famously hard to buy, which is why so many homebrewers make their own.
How to brew it
- Mash at 149°F (65°C) for 75 minutes for a fermentable wort.
- Boil 90 minutes with the hops on schedule, and add the candi syrups for the last 10 minutes.
- Chill to 62°F (17°C), oxygenate very well and pitch plenty of yeast.
- Start fermentation at 64°F (18°C) and let it rise as it slows, to finish dry.
- Condition for at least 2 to 3 months, then package at about 2.8 volumes of CO₂.
Tips
- A beer this strong needs a big, healthy pitch and plenty of oxygen; see strong beer fermentation.
- Be patient. Quads get much better with months of aging.
Frequently asked questions
Is this the real Westvleteren recipe?
No. The monks don’t publish it; this is a homebrewer’s version of the style.
What’s a quad?
A strong, dark Belgian ale, usually 9 to 12%, richer and stronger than a dubbel. See our Belgian dubbel.
Related guides
Belgian dubbel recipe, Belgian tripel recipe, strong beer fermentation.