Dauchot
![Dauchot](/content/images/size/w2000/2020/10/dauchot_beer.jpg)
I created this recipe by blending my two favorite Belgian styles (Belgian strong golden ale and Belgian witbier; specifically, I was inspired by two very popular beers, Delirium Tremens and Hoegaarden Witbier), and then, on brew day, not having all the right ingredients I thought I needed and being forced to improvise.
To my dad, this is not only his favorite beer, he calls it "the mistake." I remember the first time I ever poured out a pint - the first for either of us - back at the bar in my house in NC.
Me: "Okay dad, I didn't have two of the ingredients I thought I needed so I improvised, and I apologize if this is gross."
- Dad takes a sip -
Dad: "This is the best beer you've ever made. You wrote down what you did, right? You need to make this. More of this. All the time."
Yes, I wrote it down. In BeerSmith actually.
I chose not to call it "the mistake" but to name it after a Belgian model famous for being "big and tall" - a full figured but beautiful woman named Deborah Dauchot.
![](https://tastynoms.menu/content/images/2020/10/dauchot.jpg)
There's a massive ingredients list. It's a pretty straight-forward brew. The mashing process is a single infusion with a standard sixty minute boil and only ingredient adds at 40 and 55 minutes, the only "non-standard" bit is the two-stage fermentation to take advantage of two completely different ale strains that impart different flavors (and the order of use matters dramatically as well).
Ingredients:
Amt | Name | Type | %/IBU | Volume |
8 lbs | Pale Malt (2 Row) Bel (3.0 SRM) | Grain | 43.80% | 0.63 gal |
4 lbs | Wheat, Flaked (1.6 SRM) | Grain | 21.90% | 0.31 gal |
12.0 oz | Barley, Raw (2.0 SRM) | Grain | 4.10% | 0.06 gal |
12.0 oz | Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM) | Grain | 4.10% | 0.06 gal |
8.0 oz | Acid Malt (3.0 SRM) | Grain | 2.70% | 0.04 gal |
8.0 oz | Aromatic Malt (26.0 SRM) | Grain | 2.70% | 0.04 gal |
8.0 oz | Biscuit Malt (23.0 SRM) | Grain | 2.70% | 0.04 gal |
8.0 oz | Caramel Wheat Malt (46.0 SRM) | Grain | 2.70% | 0.04 gal |
8.0 oz | Special B Malt (180.0 SRM) | Grain | 2.70% | 0.04 gal |
1 lbs 8.0 oz | Candi Sugar, Clear [Boil] (0.5 SRM) | Sugar | 8.20% | 0.13 gal |
12.0 oz | Honey [Boil] (1.0 SRM) | Sugar | 4.10% | 0.06 gal |
1.00 oz | East Kent Goldings (EKG) [5.00%] - Boil 60.0 min | Hop | 13.5 IBUs | - |
0.50 oz | Saaz [3.75 %] - Boil 20.0 min | Hop | 3.1 IBUs | - |
2.00 g | Seeds of Paradise (Boil 20.0 mins) | Spice | - | - |
1.50 tsp | Coriander Seed (Boil 20.0 mins) | Spice | - | - |
1.00 oz | Orange Peel, Sweet (Halos/Clementines) (Boil 20.0 mins) | Spice | - | - |
0.50 oz | Saaz [3.75 %] - Boil 5.0 min | Hop | 1.0 IBUs | - |
8.00 oz | Malto-Dextrine (Boil 5.0 mins) | Other | - | - |
2.00 g | Cardamom Pods (Boil 5.0 mins) | Spice | - | - |
0.82 oz | Orange Peel, Sweet (Halos/Clementines) (Boil 5.0 mins) | Spice | - | - |
0.75 tsp | Coriander Seed (Boil 5.0 mins) | Spice | - | - |
1.0 pkg | Belgian Wit II (White Labs #WLP410) [35.49 ml] | Yeast | - | - |
1.0 pkg | Belgian Strong Ale Yeast (White Labs #WLP545) [50.28 ml] [Add to Secondary] | Yeast | - | - |
2.00 oz | El Dorado [15.00 %] - 3.0 Days Before Bottling for 7.0 Days | Hop | 0.0 IBUs | - |
Process:
- Make a 2 liter starter for the Belgian Wit yeast.
- Mash in the nine different grains to 5 and ⅛ gallons of strike water at 168° F; this will crash the temp from room temperature grains to a steep temperature of 155° F. Use a burner if necessary to keep mash temperature between 150° F and 160° F the entire time.
- After 45 minutes, mash out with 2 gallons at 203° F over two minutes to bring the temperature up to 168° F. Let mash at 168° F for another fifteen minutes before beginning fly sparge.
- Fly sparge with another 2 gallons onto the top of the grain bed at 168° F while slowly draining from the mash tun into the boiler. Should drain off approximately 7 gallons into the boiler.
- Bring to rolling boil and start timer.
- Dump in the candi sugar, the honey, and 1 oz of the East Kent Goldings hops as soon as the timer starts.
- After 40 minutes of boil, add ½ oz of Saaz hops, the seeds of paradise, the cardamom pods, 1.5 tsp of coriander seed, and 1 oz of orange peel (I use one complete orange peel from a fresh small Halo / Clementine orange).
- After another 15 minutes of boil, add the other ½ oz of Saaz, and the remaining orange peel and coriander.
- After five more minutes, remove from heat and crash the temperature as fast as possible.
- Once below 72° F, oxygenate the wort and pitch the Witbier yeast starter, stirring gently and then capping the carboy (or conical). I try to keep the fermentation at 67-69° F, and we're ideally going eight days with the first pitch.
- For the second stage, make a 2 l yeast starter with the Golden Ale yeast, pitch that and float 2 oz of El Dorado hops. Let the beer go another seven days.
- Keg.
- Pressurize at 12.5 PSI for six days at room temperature.
- Chill to 33° F and serve in a Belgian goblet.
- Enjoy!