Denard Brewing

Io Golden Strong Ale is my house ale. It never lasts more than a month when I make it. The beauty is in the simplicity and what I don't add. 

Most Belgian golden ales are a bit over hopped for the pilsner malt/candi sugar combo in my opinion. So I use about half the IBUs normally found in golden ales. I also load it up with aroma hops. This results in everyone drinking it like a bunch of fish despite its respectable 10% ABV. 

I've only ever had 1 bottle make it past 2 months. One got lost for 6 months. At that point, it had lost most of the aroma hops and become a completely different but equally fantastic beer.
It's really like making two beers in one if you drink some young and some aged!

One note about Wyeast 3787: this yeast is good for warm or cold ferments, but the beer will turn out very different (Cold is defined as less than 70ºF.) It will be very clean at this temperature. Hot is defined as greater than 70ºF up to 80ºF! This temperature will make it fruity with some Belgian style phenolics. Both are good, it just depends on what you want! Also, this yeast requires substantial cold crashing to clear. I generally don't bother because it tastes good when it's cloudy!

Io Golden Strong Ale - 5 gallons 

1. Steep the following specialty grains at 150 F for 30 minutes in 4 gallons of water.
Specialty Grains
-4 oz Carapils
-8 oz Caramel 10L
-8 oz Caramel 20L
2. Kill heat and add 12 lbs Pilsner LME, 1 lb of light Belgian candi sugar, and water to 5 gallons. 
3. Bring to a boil and add hops according to the following schedule:
Hop Schedule
-0.5 oz Sterling for 1 hour. 
-0.5 oz Sterling for 30 minutes. 
-Whirlfloc tablet at  15 minutes. 
-1/2 tsp Wyeast Beer nutrient at 10 min. 
-2 oz Fuggles at flameout. 
-1 oz Sterling at flameout. 
4. Add water to a SG 1.08.
5. Add a  2 liter, 3 day old starter of Wyeast 3787. 
NOTE: Be warned! You need a large blow off tube for this! Wyeast 3787 is a true top cropping yeast. The first time I made this, it blew the lid off my fermenter 3 times like a volcano! Much of it was on the ceiling... I named it after the moon Io because that is the most volcanic body in our solar system!

Specs
SG = 1.080
FG = 1.014
5.5 Lovibond
19 IBU
ABV = 10.0%