Belgian Tripel
 

8# extra light DME @ beginning of boil
1.5# clear belgian candi sugar @ 10 min

6 oz. aromatic malt
4 oz. carapils malt
4 oz. crystal 20L

0.50 oz. UK Challenger, 8.3% AA @60 min
1.18 oz. Styrian Golding, 3.8% AA @60 min
0.79 oz. Styrian Golding, 3.8% AA @20 min
0.39 oz. Styrian Golding, 3.8% AA @0 min

0.25 oz. Sweet Orange Peel @ 10 min
1 tablet Whirlfloc @ 10 min

WLP500 - Trappist Ale Yeast, with 1L starter

Steep malts in 3 gal water for 30 min. Bring to boil and follow additions listed above. Cooled wort to 65F, topped off to 5 gallons, pitched yeast, fermented for 4 weeks, let temp rise naturally to room temp of 70F.

Bottled straight from primary after 4 weeks with 4.5 oz. corn sugar, conditioned for 6 weeks.

This is probably my friends favorite recipe and I figure it's good enough to share. In my opinion and the opinions of my friends, this is a good Tripel, with lots of fruity sweetness (from yeast I think, could use 530 I think for less fruitiness, but I think it goes well with the recipe). It's on the low end of the style in terms of IBU's, so pass on this one if you want a lot of bitterness, however there is good hop and malt aroma and the orange peel adds a nice flavor and aroma but isn't overwhelming. Light to medium in body, good malt character.
Enjoy.

This sounds very tasty.

Do you think this would work well with "light" DME instead of "extra-light", possibly with a few pounds of amber DME substituted?

How different are Styrian Goldings from Kent Goldings? Do you think the Kent would work ok here?

(Guess what I have left over in the closet :) )

thanks

Replacing the extra light DME with light or amber would make the beer darker and might give the beer a little more body. Probably wouldn't qualify it as Tripel by the strict style guidelines, but it'd still work. I've never made this particular beer with the EKG's, but I know people that say they're a good substitute for each other.

Overall I'd say with your changes it'd still work out well, it just wouldn't be identical

Back in the day I made a triple with 100% wheat DME and was probably my best triple to date (haven't attempted 100% wheat AG yet).. the wheat added a good sweetness for the alcohol content :mug:

wheat extract is only 40% wheat, and the rest pale malt