Trouble with Tripples or How I learned to brew a Westmalle Clone without worries

TrickyDick said:

Also, 3.0 or 3.5 volumes?

TD

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I'm botteling my tripel tomorrow and was wondering the same thing. What did you end up doing?

-Mike

LaFinDuMonde said:

I'm botteling my tripel tomorrow and was wondering the same thing. What did you end up doing?

-Mike

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Heh, I'll let you know... I still haven't bottled mine! DOH!
Planning to do it today, and thinking that I'll go with 3 volumes because I don't have enough Belgian bottles for all of it, or else I'd go between 3.25-3.5. I think I've read 3.0 is correct for style.

Also planning to bottle some other brews that've been kegged.

TD

NTexBrewer said:

Just finished bottling. Decided to carb to 3.75 volumes. Using NB priming calculated that was 6.5 oz. of sucrose for 4.5 gallons at 72 degrees. I used beet sugar to prime. I also pitched one pack of wyeast 3787. Smacked it when I got up this morning (boy that sounds bad). The yeast pack had about 5 hours to activate. Not too many problems using the corker and getting the cages on. Ended up with 20 750 ml, 5 330 ml, and one pony!

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This got buried but this is what I did with bottling. I did have the bottles to handle the pressure. Last week I opened one of the 750's and it gave a nice "POP" sound as I wiggled the cork out.

I used 3787 at bottling to carbonate the beer. The sediment seemed to stay packed at the bottom of the bottle and I did not notice it swirl into the last few pours.

I think anywhere at 3 volumes or above will work fine. Maybe drink from the non belgian bottles first if you carb higher. I have also noticed that some companies use heavier bottles than others. Maybe check and see if you have some bottles that are heavier and use those.

DOH!

was actually going to bottle this today. I had bought the wrong number of 375ml cork bottles (60), and didn't have enough 750ml bottles to cover the rest. Now that I do, I do not have enough corks!!!! DOH!

Well, looks like another weekend goes by without bottling....

TD

TrickyDick said:

DOH!

was actually going to bottle this today. I had bought the wrong number of 375ml cork bottles (60), and didn't have enough 750ml bottles to cover the rest. Now that I do, I do not have enough corks!!!! DOH!

Well, looks like another weekend goes by without bottling....

TD

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Ha! Same here. Was getting things ready last week and noticed I didn't have enough corks. I ordered some and hope to bottle this weekend.

Did you ever fix your cork issues that you posted about in another thread? I had the same 'stuck cork' issue in a few batches.

-Mike

Nothing to contribute here, just stopped by because the thread title amused me.

Are you sure Klingons didn't poison your grain supply?

Thanks!

Yeah on the cork problems, no, I haven't fixed. I suspect I need to carb to higher level.

I hate the formula for determining the dissolved co2. There is no account of the TIME the wort has been at the temperature you pick. Anyway, I may be able to bottle this weekend, and I think I'm going to do a little research on this. I don't expect to find much. I am going to be using some smaller cork finish 375ml bottles and some 750ml bottles. Will see how these turn out.

I think my last Belgian, a dubbel, that the priming sugar was incompletely mixed. I had some bottles a bit flat. 12 left from that batch. A real winner after 9 months it really improved compared with 3 and 6 month tastings.

TD

Cool. My plan is to try and not set the corks in too deep. I have research the hell out of the cork issue and that's about all I can come up with. Good luck, man!

So how deep do you set them? Half in / half out? I have only corked two other brews to date, and seems that I set the corks in about 2/3-3/4 leaving just enough of a cork to get your thumbs onto for prying out.

TD

TrickyDick said:

So how deep do you set them? Half in / half out? I have only corked two other brews to date, and seems that I set the corks in about 2/3-3/4 leaving just enough of a cork to get your thumbs onto for prying out.

TD

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Honestly, I did 1/2 in and 1/2 out on the last two batches and they were still tough to get out. I have adjusted my floor corker with a #7 bung and I am hoping for a 1/3 in the bottle and 2/3 out.

Bottled today. I used 5.2 oz. of table sugar for 4.75 gallons of beer, hoping for 3.0 volumes of co2. Used corked 750ml bottles and my floor corker. Keeping at 70 degrees for one month. Fingers crossed!

-Mike

p.s. sample was amazing! :rockin:

This thread has me thinking I need to brew a tripel next month., and you've gotta love the puns :rockin:

I re-read all ten pages a couple times just now and have two questions. First, when lagering, are you leaving the beer in the primary, on the yeast? Or racking to a secondary fermenter?

Second, after the month of lagering, is there any need to add fresh yeast? Will the 3787 be strong enough to bottle condition after fermentation and extended cold storage?

jeffjm said:

This thread has me thinking I need to brew a tripel next month., and you've gotta love the puns :rockin:

I re-read all ten pages a couple times just now and have two questions. First, when lagering, are you leaving the beer in the primary, on the yeast? Or racking to a secondary fermenter?

Second, after the month of lagering, is there any need to add fresh yeast? Will the 3787 be strong enough to bottle condition after fermentation and extended cold storage?

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In my opinion:

Rack to secondary for cold conditioning (lager).

I've had a batch not carbonate with the original yeast. I now reyeast with original strain at 1e6 cells/mL or use a neutral yeast (Lalvin EC1118 at 1g/5 gallons of beer).

LaFinDuMonde said:

Bottled today. I used 5.2 oz. of table sugar for 4.75 gallons of beer, hoping for 3.0 volumes of co2. Used corked 750ml bottles and my floor corker. Keeping at 70 degrees for one month. Fingers crossed!

-Mike

p.s. sample was amazing! :rockin:

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Have you had a sneak peek yet?

Update-

well I brewed this and then got super lazy. I had been procrastinating on bottling. Mine went from 1.082 to 1.010. I let it sit for far too long on the yeast cake in the conical. I did drain/dump some, but probably not enough. The biggest thing was that I then moved it into the basement out of fridge for what was planned to be a week but turned into a few months before I finally kegged it. Conicals aren't as great as they are made out to seem when it comes to dumping yeast, because in a stainless one, you can't see the yeast, and much appears to cling to the side walls.

Mine has all the flavor of a triple but it is a little bit murkey, and slightly darker than planned, but still within appropriate range. It has a displeasing homebrew "meh" quality to it, which I think must be attributable to the lazy manner of the brewer (me) leaving unpackaged for so long.

A further problems/flaw is that getting the carbonation level right in a keg, while easy to adjust, I cannot control the line length, so I get plenty of foamy pours, and its not the same feel as when popping a corked bottle.

I will brew again, and THIS time I'll bottle it. I bought bottles but had miscounted them and would not have enough to finish the job.

I think with this batch, that I'm considering adding some Brett T to one keg, and Brett C to another, with an oak infusion spiral, and then putting a spunding valve on the keg and let them age for a while. Anybody have any recommendations for the spunding valve pressure setting?
Planning to soak the oak spiral in beer before using, and perhaps also boil in water and cool several cycles so as not to overpower the beer. I think Allagash has an aged Tripel, might turn out a bit like that I hope.

TD

Allagash's Tripel is aged in Jim Beam barrels.

In a keg I'll keep my Tripel at like 3.3 volumes or 30psi but when I serve, I turn the pressure down to 5psi and purge the keg, then turn it back up again once served. Helps alot with foam.

butterpants said:

Allagash's Tripel is aged in Jim Beam barrels.

In a keg I'll keep my Tripel at like 3.3 volumes or 30psi but when I serve, I turn the pressure down to 5psi and purge the keg, then turn it back up again once served. Helps alot with foam.

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Thanks! Yeah, I might try that. My new draft system I can't change lines. I supposed I could add some resistance by adding some line length, but that'd be a huge PITA.

30 psi. Will try that.

TD

My lines are 12' so your mileage may vary.....

Would need to try using a Male Flare nut to female flare nut extension of tubing, but I've never seen a male flare to hose barb connector.


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crusader1612 said:

Have you had a sneak peek yet?

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I have. I opened up a bottle about a month ago and it is heading in the right direction. It still had some sharpness that will mellow in the bottle with some age, but the flavor was right on. My color was also a little 'off'. It was inside the Tripel guidelines, but a touch too dark. Most likely my decoction method was a little off. I've put all of these bottle deep in my beer cellar and will open another at the end of summer, maybe sooner. I'll post results here.
-Mike

Popped the gas in off , and opened the release valve, then poured a glass. Came out great. Thanks for the idea.

My results suffer from my own laziness of not getting off the yeast cake soon enough. I think I'm going to give it some Brett and some oak spirals soaked in whisky, maybe cognac or brandy even. Not sure yet.
How long do you think it'd take for Brett B & C pitched into kegs, to do their magic? Was gonna put spunding valves on the kegs and take them out of fridge. Not sure what PSI to set at either.

TD


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Almost 8 months in the bottle and my Trippel is tasting awesome! The carbonation is spot on, too. It is a waiting game with this beer for sure; this bottle is far better than the one I had a few months ago. It will be interesting to see how it changes over the years.

Cheers,
Mike

Last week I popped my last bottle of tripel. So it was cellared for one year. It was good but I Preferred the couple month old ones. The picture with the bottle is a one month old beer. The other picture was the year old beer. It definitely settled out some!
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Hops/bittering drops out after after a while for me and the sweetness jumps.