Blanche De Chambly Clone

The basement project is finally wrapping up which hopefully means I'll have time to brew more. Yesterday I brewed a clone of Blanche De Chambly from Unibroue. My wife and I had the opportunity to try this beer last summer at Uva Bar located in Downtown Disney in Anaheim, CA. The brewer describes this beer as:

"Blanche de Chambly has an alluring pale golden color, effervescent foam and a subtle bouquet of spice and citrus notes. It is a mildly malty, sightly sweet and refreshingly thirst-quenching."

I searched the net for a clone recipe and ended up combining a couple.

• 5 lbs Pilsen (Dingemans) (1.6 SRM)
• 4 lbs 8.0 oz White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM)
• 1.00 oz Hersbrucker [4.25 %] (60 min) Hops 14.5 IBU (my LHBS was out of Hersbrucker so I substituted Strisselspalt)
• 0.13 oz Ginger, Grated (Boil 10.0 min)
• 0.25 oz Coriander Seed, crushed (Boil 10.0 min)
• 0.25 oz Orange Peel, Bitter (Boil 10.0 min)
• 8.0 oz Candi Sugar, Clear (0.5 SRM)
• 1 Pkgs Belgian Wit Ale (White Labs #WLP400)

I mashed in 3 gallons of water at 152 for 70 minutes. I sparged with 5 gallons at 169. In hindsight I think I should have increased my water to grain ratio because I was barely able to collect enough wort.

The brew showed active signs of fermentation this morning and by the time I got home from work today it was going like crazy. The fermentation was so active that I ended up swapping the airlock for a blow-off tube.

Update: I didn't do a side by side tasting, but I'd say this is very very close in appearance and flavor to Blanche De Chambly. This will be one that I will brew again for sure, so I highly recommend it. We've had it on tap for a few weeks now and my wife commented that it's like "summer in a glass". We also had some friends over for a beer tasting party and everyone raved about it. I'd rate this an A

Update 8/9/2010: I brewed this one again today. The LHBS was out of Hersbrucker and Strisselspalt this time, so I went with Mt. Hood.