Belgian Tripel Belgian Tripel

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

iamjonsharp

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
576
Reaction score
21
Location
Cincinnati, OH
Recipe Type
All Grain
Yeast
WLP510 - White Labs Bastogne Belgian Ale
Yeast Starter
2 qt starter
Batch Size (Gallons)
6
Original Gravity
1.075
Final Gravity
1.015
Boiling Time (Minutes)
90
IBU
25
Color
5 SRM
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
21 days @ 66F
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
30 days @66F
6 gallons - 65% efficiency
O.G. 1.075
F.G. 1.015
IBUs ~25
SRM ~5
ABV ~8%

11 lbs. Briess Pilsner Malt (65% of grain bill)
3 lbs. Briess Vienna Malt (20% of grain bill)
2.5 lbs. Invert Sugar (15% of grain bill)

2 oz. Liberty Hops 4.9% (60 min. boil, bittering)
0.5 oz Hallertauer Hersbrucker 3.5% (15 min. boil, flavor)
0.5 oz Hallertauer Hersbrucker 3.5% (flame out, aroma)

0.25 oz Bitter Orange Peel (flame out)

WLP510 - White Labs Bastogne Belgian Ale (2 qt starter)

Used 6.5oz of Corn Sugar to bottle condition to ~3 vol CO2

Single Infusion Mash @ 150F for 75 min
Mash Out @ 168F for 5 min

Primary Fermentation @ 66F for 3 weeks.
Secondary Fermentation @66F for 4 weeks.

This was fermented on the low end for the yeast strain. Fermentation was sluggish, like a wet sponge. After 10 days in primary, the OG had only dropped to 1.025. The yeast was aroused and it fermented down to 1.015.

This brew turned out great. The Trappist yeast really shines through, but its not overpowering like WLP500 White Labs Trappist Ale Yeast. This is my favorite Belgian beer I've brewed.

I inverted table sugar to make the invert sugar. Dissolve the table sugar in water and bring to a boil. Add a pinch of citric acid and boil for about 10-15 minutes. The cooled invert sugar was added straight to the primary fermenter prior to pitching yeast.

I also used a slighter thinner mash than typical (1.5 qts/lb grain instead of 1.25 qts/lb).
 
Did you lose alot of the ester character because of the low fermentation temp?
 
I inverted table sugar to make the invert sugar. Dissolve the table sugar in water and bring to a boil. Add a pinch of citric add and boil for about 10-15 minutes. The cooled invert sugar was added straight to the primary fermenter prior to pitching yeast.
(1.5 qts/lb grain instead of 1.25 qts/lb).

So how much water to you boil in.. and at what temp?

What do you mean by a pinch of citric?

Could you put it in the boil like Belgian Candi Sugar?

This looks great btw, Im looking to do a good Tripel. Thanks
 
1) So how much water to you boil in.. and at what temp?

2) What do you mean by a pinch of citric?

3) Could you put it in the boil like Belgian Candi Sugar?

This looks great btw, Im looking to do a good Tripel. Thanks

Thanks! Here are your answers:

1) I probably used about a quart of water, maybe a bit more. You need enough to dissolve the sugar, and enough so that too much water doesn't boil off over the 15 minutes making the sugar start to darken (unless you want to make dark invert sugar).

In this instance, temperature isn't much of a factor, you want to keep the water/sugar solution boiling. The temperature rises as the water is boiled off, so as long as the sugar isn't starting to carmelize/darken or burn, you should be fine. If too much water is boiled off, you can always add more.

2) Sorry, there's a typo in there, should be "a pinch of citric acid." If you don't have citric acid, a squeeze of lemon juice will do.

3) You can certainly add it into the boil. If I separately invert the sugar, I like to add it straight into the fermentor, as I don't lose any of the sugars into the hops/trub.

Some people don't even invert the table sugar, they just add the sugar straight into the boil, and haven't noticed any difference. So there's a bit of a discussion of whether or not inverting the sugar is necessary. Regardless, I don't see any point in paying $6 a pound for the clear candi sugar.

I've found to make a good light Belgian Tripel, keep the grain bill very simple, focus on getting the beer to finish very dry (with an OG of 80, a FG of 15 is good, 12 is even better), and pick your favorite Belgian or Trappist yeast, as the yeast should end up being the showcase of the brew.
 
Did you lose alot of the ester character because of the low fermentation temp?

Whoops, sorry for the delayed response. There was still plenty of ester character fermenting it at the low end of optimum fermentation temps. I haven't fermented it on the high side before, so I'm not sure how to compare. Definitely recommend the yeast though (Platinum strain to be available in May/June of 09).
 
iamjonsharp..

I've got another question for you.. when you say 2.5lbs invert sugar.. could I use 2.5lbs Belgian Candi..

or more specifically I was thinking of making my own Belgian Candi and using that.
 
iamjonsharp..

I've got another question for you.. when you say 2.5lbs invert sugar.. could I use 2.5lbs Belgian Candi..

or more specifically I was thinking of making my own Belgian Candi and using that.

Yup, you can make your own belgian candi sugar and add it in, would work fine with this recipe as long as you use a clear or light colored candi sugar. There's a couple of threads floating around here with instructions on how to do so (basically just candy making).
 
I'm shooting for a St. Bernardus Tripel with some honey and citrus notes. Would you say you got those in this recipe? I know WY3787 throws off some honey. How did the bitter orange peel come through? How long until it was ready to drink? Thanks!
 
To speed up that sluggish fermentation, try adding the invert syrup at hi krausen. The lower grav of the wort will allow the yeast to take off easier then adding the syrup will feed them when they are the most hungry. You can also start raising the temp of the fermenter after about day 3-4. This will help the yeast but wont increase ester production that would occur if ferment was started at a higher temp.
 
I'm shooting for a St. Bernardus Tripel with some honey and citrus notes. Would you say you got those in this recipe? I know WY3787 throws off some honey. How did the bitter orange peel come through? How long until it was ready to drink? Thanks!

Hmm, it's been awhile, here are my tasting notes from Beer Smith:

"Large frothy white lasting head, with excellent lacing. Hazy yellow in color. Pronounced spicy phenols (clove) aroma, with hints of banana and bubblegum. Medium bodied with fizzy carbonation. Moderately sweet, moderately bitter, and slightly acidic/tart. Spicy hop flavor and fruitiness. (45/50)"

I definitely don't recall any honey notes, there were notes of fruitiness, but in the end I don't think citrus really stood out. You could bump up the amounts of bitter orange peel, although, I've had better results using fresh orange zest (in my Witbiers). I've only used zest from your typical supermarket orange, but I bet you could get some more interesting aroma if you can get your hands on some more exotic type of oranges.

Was drinking this after 3, maybe 3 1/2 months.
 
Hmm, it's been awhile, here are my tasting notes from Beer Smith:

"Large frothy white lasting head, with excellent lacing. Hazy yellow in color. Pronounced spicy phenols (clove) aroma, with hints of banana and bubblegum. Medium bodied with fizzy carbonation. Moderately sweet, moderately bitter, and slightly acidic/tart. Spicy hop flavor and fruitiness. (45/50)"

I definitely don't recall any honey notes, there were notes of fruitiness, but in the end I don't think citrus really stood out. You could bump up the amounts of bitter orange peel, although, I've had better results using fresh orange zest (in my Witbiers). I've only used zest from your typical supermarket orange, but I bet you could get some more interesting aroma if you can get your hands on some more exotic type of oranges.

Was drinking this after 3, maybe 3 1/2 months.

ok thanks. I think I will use 3787. I can get fresh bitter orange from latin market.
 
To speed up that sluggish fermentation, try adding the invert syrup at hi krausen. The lower grav of the wort will allow the yeast to take off easier then adding the syrup will feed them when they are the most hungry. You can also start raising the temp of the fermenter after about day 3-4. This will help the yeast but wont increase ester production that would occur if ferment was started at a higher temp.

Thanks for the good tips. I will try one or the other in the summer when I can get my hands on the yeast again and brew this again!
 
To make the 2.5 lbs of inverted sugar, what was the proportions of sugar (2.5 lbs) to water to acid?

Sorry, that is somewhat new to me so I am curious how you do this and how it affects FG I made a Karmeliet-style Belgian and it was 1.091 and even after a secondary pitch of WLP001 I was only able to get it down to 1.023 (original pitch of WLP550 only made it down to 1.027). It wasn't dry enough IMO. Looking for ways to help bring it down in future Belgian recipes.

Is this process of using inverted sugar (or dissolved candi sugar) as a late addition to the fermenter after initial fermentation is kicked into high gear detailed in any literature that you have seen?
 
Back
Top