Ziggy, I have some liquid hops that I bought late last year from the homebrew store in Belgium and I added about 1 or 1 1/2 tablespoons. It doesn't take much of this stuff to make alot of bittering and you put it in at bottling only, no boiling it is necessary. I used the 1/2oz just for keeping the bugs at bay. As far as the recipe, I have yet to brew someone else's recipe except for a Pumpkin Ale that was really good that I got off the Cat's Meow a few years back. I do try quite a few belgian ales from the industry plus mine. I've made 7 so far. I guess it's yes to were the ingrediants just laying around. What I tend to do is to buy grains that I've had good look with in the past and a few I've never used before. The Morris Otter is new to me and I'm liking the results so far in my first Imperial Stout I bottled last week.
I bought some "whiskey" malt too in Belgium. Has anyone used this before? I have done some searches, but I'm not getting back any info on this malt. I guess I could try the homebrew store website too since it is in English.
I do like to formulate my own recipes. The very first Belgium style I brewed back in about 2003 was stated by the brewer and owner of Elmwood brewery in Illinois and being the best homebrew he had ever tasted. That beer had 6 row, 2 row, crystal, Belgian aromatic, caramalt, special "b" and vienna. I can post that one too if anyone's interested. I think the next beer I'll make will go against my normal brewing and try something from this forum. I want to start using this vast library of knowledge and see where it leads.
