Belgian Single

Today I'm brewing a Belgian Single, sometimes known as a Patersbier. I brewed a Patersbier years ago and, while I don't remember many of the details, I do remember enjoying it.

Belgian Singles are generally pale, dry, highly attenuated beers with relatively low alcohol compared with the better-known Belgian Dubbel, Tripel, and Quadrupel styles. Despite the lower gravity, a good Single can still have plenty of character from the yeast, hops, and malt.

I'm primarily brewing this batch to enter into a Belgian beer competition. I also wanted to revisit the style since it's been a while, and obviously I don't remember much about that last one. Depending on how it does, I may enter it in other competitions as well, but we are getting towards the end of competition season, and I have a couple other heavy hitters (Florida Rum Barrel Imperial Stout, and MOAR Cherries! Fruit Lambic) that I will definitely be entering.

The BJCP Guidelines describe the style as follows:

A blond, bitter, hoppy table beer that is very dry and highly carbonated. The aggressive fruity-spicy Belgian yeast character and high bitterness is forward in the balance, with a soft, supportive grainy-sweet malt palate, and a spicy-floral hop profile.

Often not labeled or available outside the monastery, or infrequently brewed. Might also be called monk’s beer, Brother’s beer, or simply a Blond (we don’t use this term to avoid confusion with the very different Belgian Blond Ale style). Highly attenuated, generally 85% or more.

Here's the recipe as I'm making it today:

Target OG: 1.052

Target FG: 1.008

IBU: 30

ABV: 5.7

4.66# Solstice Pilsner Malt

4.5# Isaria 1924 Malt

4.8oz Weyermann Acidulated Malt

4.8oz Weyermann Wheat Malt

2.4oz Munich Malt

1g BrewTan B (Mash)

3ml Hopshot (60 min)

28g Sterling (10 min)

Wyeast Nutrient (10 min)

4.66g BCAA (10 min)

Whirlfloc (Flameout)

28g Sterling (Whirlpool @155F for 30 min)

SafAle BE-256

Zinc Buddy

Mash at 151F, 90 min boil, chill to 65°F then raise to 67°F over two days.

Water Profile

Target Water Profile
Ca	Mg	Na	SO4	Cl	HCO3
50	0	5	105	45	0

To 11 gallons RO/Distilled water, add:

• 7.7g Gypsum
• 0.8g Pickling Salt
• 1.1g Calcium Chloride
• 1.7g Magnesium Chloride

Brewing Notes
I was going to brew this beer last night (Friday evening) but I started recirculating my water for heating and noticed a big problem...chunky brown bits in the water. Apparently I forgot to rinse my pump or my RIMS after the last brew, and things had gotten funky. So instead of brewing, I did some intense cleaning and put off the brewing until today.

I added 1ml of phosphoric acid to the mash after the initial reading of 5.43. I used my hop spider this time after running into hop debris issues and kegging my recent NZ Pilsner. Whirlpool hops actually got dropped just shy of 140F.  

I ended up about 7 points over target, putting my brewhouse efficiency just shy of 84%. I ended up getting exactly 5 gallons in the fermenter. Given that this yeast is known to be pretty active, I'm hesitant to add any volume (messy blow-off) by diluting the wort, so I'm just going to let it ride a few points high.  

I was able to chill down to about 60F, but by the time I got the fermenter in the ferm chamber, it was closer to 64F. 
 

Session Readings
Equipment used	10 gal MT
Strike water volume	3.5 gal
Strike water temp	163.3 °F
Mash thickness	1.41 qt/lbs
Beginning mash pH	5.43
Ending mash pH	5.36
1st running gravity	18 (1.072)
Volume into BK	7.0 gal
Pre-Boil gravity	11 (1.043)
Pre-Boil pH	5.39
Post-Boil gravity	14.8 (1.059)
Post-Boil pH	5.27
Aeration	0.5l/min for 2 min
Post ferm gravity	7.1 (1.009*)
Post ferm pH	4.41

*=Corrected

Update 9/14/2026

I filled a few bottles for a competition. I think this beer turned out fairly well, so we'll see what the judges think. When I first tried it on draft, I felt like the bitterness was on the low side and the hop flavor and aroma were more subtle than I was expecting. I tried it again today and I felt like it had improved a lot. Hop flavor and aroma are floral and spicy. Bitterness is there for sure, but seems like it might be towards the lower end of the style guidelines. It's hard to say though because I don't drink commercial examples of this style very often.