Fermentation times for belgian tripel

Hi there,

This topic has been probably widely treated, but I brewed yesterday a belgian tripel (OG: 1090). It was an all-grain kit which included hops and candy sugar. Very nice kit, though.

In order to do things right, i've reading in these forums in advance, and understood that it's going to take a while to ferment and condition. Well, the recipe in the kit calls for 7 days in primary and 7 days in secondary, then bottle . Doesn't it sound like a little too short period for such a strong beer?

Thanks in advance!

My brewers best triple took 3 weeks in primary and 3 weeks in secondary. I bottled and a month later it tasted like crap. Was thick and sweet. Now after 1 year it is pretty darn good. This weekend I am brewing a quad. I plan to add new yeast to the secondary for 3 weeks after the first 3 weeks in primary. Then rack to a 3rd carboy to clear up for as long as I can stand not touching it.

I enjoy making Belgians and have been told i do an excellant job on them.
I prefer to start my ferment temps about 66 then after 4 days raise temp to 70-72. After the beer slows down a bit i rack to secondary and let it sits till finished. Once its done i cold crash beer and then transfer to keg. The keg then gets to sit for 3 weeks before i force carbonate it.
Letting it sit in a closed keg to mature a bit also allows any Co2 to naturally carbonate the beer just a bit and with the 30lb of co2 i put to it for 24hrs gives me a really nice co2 level and a nice thick white lacey head on my pours.
Once the beer is carbonated i also TRY to leave it at fridge temps for a few more weeks before comsuming.
Beer comes out good and as mentioned before the longer it sits the better it gets!
I blended the last half gallon of a tripple i had with a saison i had just brewed and then bottled all of them. After 6 mo the beer was some of the best ive ever done.
You can also make your own candy sugar out of regular table sugar. So much cheaper and its fun

I'd agree with starting out a little cooler (66F) and ramping up a degree or so a day until you get into the low 70s. As far as time, it depends a lot on the yeast you're using and how much you pitch. I've had some smaller Belgian beers finish in under a week. Other beers took closer to 2 weeks. I've got a biere de garde going right now which has been in the primary for 2 weeks and is just now slowing down. I'd go by activity and then, when it seems to be slowing down, check your gravity. If you seem to stall out a little on the finishing gravity just be patient, maybe warm it up a degree or two and wait. I've had more than one go like gang busters for the first week only to appear to stop completely part way through their work and take another week or so slowly knocking off the last 10 points of gravity.

Im using mangrove jacks belgian yeast. The manufacturer calls for temps between 26-32 celsius. Sounds a bit on the warm side according to what I read here, but i think i'll follow the recomendations.

That is a Belgian Saison strain. I am assuming it is similar to the Dupont strain because of the temps listed.

I have never used that particular yeast, but use WY3724 a lot and yes that yeast does like a lot of heat to finish up. Crank up the temp.

Mangrove jacks belgian yeast is good stuff. That was what i used in my tripple i blended with the saison. There temps are very high on that strain. I still kept it on the low side to start then raise it to get that nice fruity finish.

Thank you all for your answers.
So, sounds ok two weeks in primary+ 3 in secondary and then bottle and wait at least 6 weeks to open the first bottle?

Should i add new yeast at bottling time?

I think that temp control and rousing the yeast makes a big difference. Just did a bdsa 1.095og with wyeast 1388. Even though it was kept a bit on the cool side for the strain (72f) it was a champ and got it down to 1.020 without anything fancy in terms of starters (3.5 gallon batch).

Ignoring that I screwed up my mash and had a huge 40 minute protein rest, all I did was take a sanitized spoon and gently stirred up the yeast when it hit 1.020 at around 9 days in primary. At 14 days it was at 1.012 and still fermenting, just transfered to secondary and it will probably keep dropping. Plan to 13 days from now bottle and play the waiting game, since it will be in the 11 percent abv range I think I will add some yeast at bottling.

Edit: I would take out insurance and add some champagne yeast at bottling just to be sure, no harm really.

I don't bottle, so I'm not that sure if you would need more yeast or not. I'd think there should still be plenty of viable cells. If you're going to carb it like a typical triple, though, you're probably going to want to use the heavy duty Belgian style 750 ml bottles. A standard bottle could explode with the pressures you'd need to carbonate a triple to style. Someone else with bottling experience may want to weigh in, though.

Also, if you finish higher than expected, you might want to adjust your priming sugar accordingly. If you pitch fresh yeast and a full dose of priming sugar with a ton of unfermented residual sugar in the beer you might also get some bottle bombs. But again, I defer to the bottlers out there. It's pretty much impossible to blow a keg up and over and under carbonated beers can be fixed pretty quickly so I don't think nearly as much about carbonating as I probably should.

On the timing issue, yeast in general and Belgians in particular don't work on time tables. They might rip away for the first few days, and then slowly chug along for a week or two at slightly elevated temps to get to final gravity. The only way to know that they are done is to get steady hydrometer readings. A Saison I did this fall with French Saison yeast (a real beast by all accounts) took two weeks to get from 1.060 to 1.010, and another week or two to get all the way down to 1.002 like I expected. A big point of "Brew Like a Monk" is that you have to get out of the mindset of two weeks at 66 degrees- you can let the temp rise over time, you might have to let it sit there for a while, but once you get the hang of it, you can produce some wonderful beers.

As for extra yeast at bottling, that Saison ended up sitting around for about five weeks before I had a day to bottle. Bottling day was a bit of a mess, as I had no sugar and had to use DME, which got a little syrupy in the boiling stage. Three weeks later, it has a lovely head. So you may be fine without adding more yeast- even after a secondary and a cold crash, I have had Belgians carb up just fine without adding more yeast.

I brewed a golden strong in August. Started at 68 degrees, and was up to 74 by 24 hours. Held at 74, then at day 4, let it free rise to about 85. Held at 85 for about 3 weeks.

Total time in primary was 1 month, then racked to secondary for 4 months. I just bottled last saturday, and it tasted fantastic. My plan is to leave it in the bottles for 3 months before trying it. I think you'll need more time than you're planning for, especially with that high of a gravity.

My last tripel was the same schedule - 1 month in primary, 5 in secondary, 3 months in bottles. It got me my first ever medal (3rd place). Personally with these big belgians I like to give them more time.

Belgian tripel extract kit with spec. grains. OG 1.075 Primary for 9 days under pressure at 75 to 72 degrees WLP550 yeast, tested before moving to secondary 1.01. How long should secondary take?
Thanks