Belgian Tripel Belgian Trippel (2006 World Beer Cup Gold Medal: Dragonmead Final Absolution clone)
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CSI - CandiSyrup
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WLP500 (Chimay) will be a little fruity at 69F for 21 days, although with bottle conditioning over time it may tone down a little. We experimented with this strain for a number of years, (and arrived at near-identical temps to Denny's advice). In deference to the White Labs temp brackets we tried 65-69F and it was a little too fruity. At 63-64F it resulted in a nice balance between fruit and spice.
Primary duration with the right pitch should be somewhere in the range of 7-10 days, (14 days is ok). If the pitch is nutrient-healthy and well oxygenated it will also flocculate beautifully in secondary. If not then the flocc could take a while
WLP500 (Chimay) will be a little fruity at 69F for 21 days, although with bottle conditioning over time it may tone down a little. We experimented with this strain for a number of years, (and arrived at near-identical temps to Denny's advice). In deference to the White Labs temp brackets we tried 65-69F and it was a little too fruity. At 63-64F it resulted in a nice balance between fruit and spice.
Primary duration with the right pitch should be somewhere in the range of 7-10 days, (14 days is ok). If the pitch is nutrient-healthy and well oxygenated it will also flocculate beautifully in secondary. If not then it could cause an extended wait
thanks again for your advice - all is welcome. however, what i'm after is my procedure with the all grain brew:
Strike water (155 degrees?): 4.5Gallons
Sparge (170 degrees?): (1.5x's strike?) ~6.75Gallons
Hopefully will yield in 7gallons preboil?
Does 155 degrees/4.5 gallons, 170 degrees/6.75 gallons sound correct for this grain bill?
12.8lbs Pilsner
1.6lbs Munich Malt (2row)
1.6lbsCandy sugar
1.8oz hallertauer mittelfruh
.4oz styrian goldings
.8 chzech saaz
CSI - CandiSyrup
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My pleasure.
4.5 + 6.75 gallons will yield 8.3-8.4 gallons of pre-boil wort based on the absorption factor. Mash out a gallon less.
If 155F is the strike temp (probably too low unless the grist is almost hot).
If 155F is the mash temp then it is too high for a Tripel style. It should be closer to 148F.
Thank you! just the answer I was looking for. I will scale down my water.
I plan to mash in at 148-149 for 90 minutes (after doing some research yesterday). Grain temp is probably 65 degrees. After playing with some online calculators, I will temper my mash tun (10gallon rubbermaid) to about 157 and add hot/cold water to reach my mash temp of 148.
CSI - CandiSyrup
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Thank you! just the answer I was looking for. I will scale down my water.
I plan to mash in at 148-149 for 90 minutes (after doing some research yesterday). Grain temp is probably 65 degrees. After playing with some online calculators, I will temper my mash tun (10gallon rubbermaid) to about 157 and add hot/cold water to reach my mash temp of 148.
Sounds right on to me.
crusader1612
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RobanyBigjobz
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Made up an extract batch of this as my first adventure in doing something more complicated than a kit. Thanks to HuRRiC4Ne for the recipe I love Belgian tripels but living in the UK I'm never likely to see any real Final Absolution.
Made up a starter with a single smack pack of Wyeast 1214 (LHBS doesn't stock White Labs) then followed the recipe as well as I could. Boil done and cooled it had was 1.090 OG but kinda darker than I was expecting from the description. May have mucked something up but not sure what.
Fermentation started fine and I'm very pleased I chose to follow the advice of folks here to use a blow-off tube not an airlock. Smells amazing. Now on day 16 in primary and the gravity has been stuck at 1.020 for 4 days. Ferm temps between 64 and 69F. I was hoping for lower after reading the thread and am not sure exactly what, if anything, to do.
Leave it longer and hope something happens? Move it to somewhere warmer? Lob in some champagne yeast? Rack it to bright tank for clearing and bulk aging as it's done? Sorry if these are daft questions, I'm new at this.
Cheers
Rob
I love Belgian tripels but living in the UK I'm never likely to see any real Final Absolution.Made up a starter with a single smack pack of Wyeast 1214 (LHBS doesn't stock White Labs) then followed the recipe as well as I could. Boil done and cooled it had was 1.090 OG but kinda darker than I was expecting from the description. May have mucked something up but not sure what.
Fermentation started fine and I'm very pleased I chose to follow the advice of folks here to use a blow-off tube not an airlock. Smells amazing. Now on day 16 in primary and the gravity has been stuck at 1.020 for 4 days. Ferm temps between 64 and 69F. I was hoping for lower after reading the thread and am not sure exactly what, if anything, to do.
Leave it longer and hope something happens? Move it to somewhere warmer? Lob in some champagne yeast? Rack it to bright tank for clearing and bulk aging as it's done? Sorry if these are daft questions, I'm new at this.
Cheers
Rob
CSI - CandiSyrup
Well-Known Member
Made up an extract batch of this as my first adventure in doing something more complicated than a kit. Thanks to HuRRiC4Ne for the recipe
Made up a starter with a single smack pack of Wyeast 1214 (LHBS doesn't stock White Labs) then followed the recipe as well as I could. Boil done and cooled it had was 1.090 OG but kinda darker than I was expecting from the description. May have mucked something up but not sure what.
Fermentation started fine and I'm very pleased I chose to follow the advice of folks here to use a blow-off tube not an airlock. Smells amazing. Now on day 16 in primary and the gravity has been stuck at 1.020 for 4 days. Ferm temps between 64 and 69F. I was hoping for lower after reading the thread and am not sure exactly what, if anything, to do.
Leave it longer and hope something happens? Move it to somewhere warmer? Lob in some champagne yeast? Rack it to bright tank for clearing and bulk aging as it's done? Sorry if these are daft questions, I'm new at this.
Cheers
Rob
Do you have the estimate on pitch cell count used? For a big ale like this to attenuate down dry for the Tripel style one would need something to the tune of about 260-270 billion cells. Just a guess on why the gravity stalled.
One smack pack, (100 billion cells), inoculating a 2.6 - 2.7 Liter starter at 10P would be about right.
Handy doc on pitch rates per gravity below:
http://www.candisyrup.com/uploads/6/0/3/5/6035776/pitching_rates_-_rev_1.10.pdf
RobanyBigjobz
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Thanks CSI, that link's very helpful. If I've done the maths right on my swirl-as-I-walk-by starter I pitched only about 200 billion. Starters are more complicated and important than I thought. Still, learning new stuff is good
Is there anything I can/should do to get the gravity to where most folks seem to get it or should I chalk this up as a learning experience?
Is there anything I can/should do to get the gravity to where most folks seem to get it or should I chalk this up as a learning experience?
CSI - CandiSyrup
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Thanks CSI, that link's very helpful. If I've done the maths right on my swirl-as-I-walk-by starter I pitched only about 200 billion. Starters are more complicated and important than I thought. Still, learning new stuff is good
Is there anything I can/should do to get the gravity to where most folks seem to get it or should I chalk this up as a learning experience?
You could try the big pitch re-starter (3000ml stir plate decanted re-pitch). It's a Jamil method that does work but it's a last resort. More info if needed.
RobanyBigjobz
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I'll give that a go and cross my fingers, thanks
I brewed the extract version on Friday the OG was 1.085. Yesterday evening I noticed very vigorous activity in the air lock so I had to improvise a quick blow off tube using some tubing and a bowl of sanitized solution. It worked perfect disaster avoided.
sweed
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Nice, this is the only brew I've done to date (15+ brews) that has ever caused a very aggressive fermentation, causing the krausen to blow into the blow off tube.
Only a few weeks into the bottle, and it's great, my brother who was up for Thanksgiving was loving it.
RobanyBigjobz
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The prescribed second starter did the trick. The gravity's down to 1.017 now so it looks like I'll be racking to bright tank soon for some bulk aging
CSI - CandiSyrup
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The prescribed second starter did the trick. The gravity's down to 1.017 now so it looks like I'll be racking to bright tank soon for some bulk aging
Outstanding!
CSI - CandiSyrup
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Capture that krausen! It's the healthiest yeast for running that next starter...
so i have a thick thick pillow of foam-looking krausen at the top of my batch. i pitched about 2.5 weeks ago. should i wobble the carboy around to try to get it to settle at the bottom? should i just rack to secondary trying to leave the krausen behind?
is this normal? it's like a good 3+inches of thick krausen just hanging out at the top.
the yeast can be harvested from the krausen? i've only read about yeast washing that has settled, didn't know it could be done to krausen also.
CSI - CandiSyrup
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Chimay or Westmalle yeast usually doesn't maintain a big raft of krausen for two weeks. Mine usually drops out after a few days leaving a side ring on the stainless but not much more. Could it be hops trub maybe? If the beer isn't sour or infected then it's a floating mystery
Chimay or Westmalle yeast usually doesn't maintain a big raft of krausen for two weeks. Mine usually drops out after a few days leaving a side ring on the stainless but not much more. Could it be hops trub maybe? If the beer isn't sour or infected then it's a floating mystery
thanks for the reply, which lead me to inspect my carboy more closely. upon closer inspection, it's just a very thick/dense layer of krausen that stuck to the wall of the carboy. everything else inside that layer has dropped out. i'll be racking to a secondary this weekend. thanks again!
Reindeer
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I'm brewing the extract version this weekend, using Wyeast 3787 Trappist High Gravity.
Really excited to try this, I love a good tripel.
Really excited to try this, I love a good tripel.
Brewed this a little bit ago. Good recipe. I have a few thoughts.
Pause for full disclosure: I have not read pages 7 through 55. Forgive me for anything that has been changed/optimized since.
My background: I started going to Dragonmead shortly after they opened. I've always loved Final Absolution and remember when they came home with the WBC medal. I also remember when they decided to change the formula to make it "closer to style". (Unrelated to this - I also remember when "Crown Jewels" was called "Big Larry's IPA" and you only ordered "Broken Paddle" when it was out.) That's how long ago I was there. I lived 1/4mi from the brewery for 3 years and came by as often as I could. A lot of my MBA homework was done at their bar. I moved away to Chicago in 2008 and have always tried to visit when I'm back home.
I brewed the recipe above but upped the candy sugar to 2lbs. Don't have fermentation temperature control at the moment, so I let it free ferment in my basement in a KCMO summer, which definitely let it get warmer than it should have.
I had a lot of trouble clearing this one out, even after kegged and cooled. I built a new keezer and held it at 35, which helped a good deal. I also happened to get a filter system at the same time so I filtered through a 5mu then a 1mu.
Experience: This is a really good tripel recipe. Definitely get the fruity sweetness that you want and it's a great color with a nice head. Like I mentioned, it fermented warm, and the hot alcohol is somewhat distracting, but that's my fault, not the recipe.
Cloning: My brother-in-law came to visit us in Kansas City and brought a bunch of Michigan beer, including a 4 pack of Final Absolution. I just did a side-by-side and I have to say I was surprised. The DM FA had a lot more carmel malt flavor and aroma than I remembered. That contrasted sharply to the homebrew recipe that was very traditional to the tripel style. Color was close and the difference in clarity was something I wrote off to a long bottle conditioning vs. a short term kegging. I'm sure mine would clear over time.
Verdict: I have to say I prefer the clone to the bottles that my bro-in-law brought me. Much more traditional to the style, which I like. I love FA, but I prefer the homebrew flavor.
Photo is attached. DM is on the left. Homebrew is in the jar on the right.
photo not showing?
CSI - CandiSyrup
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Second that. Very cool jar...
CSI - CandiSyrup
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antiteam posted a 5.0 gal scaled version of the recipe on this page just above.
Cheers
Thanks for your help. The recipe that antiteam posted appears to be all-grain. I'm planning to do the extract version. I've put the recipe as-is into beersmith and brewtarget and it appears to be very close to the original posters OG with a 5 gallon batch. If I scale it down, the OG appears to be lower than expected.
CSI - CandiSyrup
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DME will vary with manufacturer and malt. 1.040 - 1.043 (ppg). Sometimes the entries in BeerSmith need tweeking or manual entry. With a Light/Pils DME of 1.042, Munich DME at 1.042, Candi Syrup at 1.032, and an OG target of 1.082 you would use the following for 5 gallons:
8 lbs Pils/Light DME
1 lb Munich DME
1 lb Candi Syrup (we use the candi syrup not the rock)
Cheers
CSI - CandiSyrup
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My pleasure. Good luck.
ahpsp
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I brewed this in September, and bottled the first week of November. It's been a great beer, and keeps getting better.
When I bottled I put one gallon in a jug with the dregs from a couple of bottles of Orval and Rayon Vert, both of which use Brett B added at bottling. It's been aging away in that gallon jug, and I tasted a tiny bit just now for the first time. It was stupendous! It may well be the best beer I've brewed. The straight version is very good, but the bretted version is very very good. It was about 1.010, maybe a bit above when I put it on the brett. I don't have enough to take a gravity, so I'll probably let it sit another couple of months (since brett works slowly) and then add some priming sugar and bottle in heavy duty bottles.
Next time I will probably split the batch so that more is on the Brett.
When I bottled I put one gallon in a jug with the dregs from a couple of bottles of Orval and Rayon Vert, both of which use Brett B added at bottling. It's been aging away in that gallon jug, and I tasted a tiny bit just now for the first time. It was stupendous! It may well be the best beer I've brewed. The straight version is very good, but the bretted version is very very good. It was about 1.010, maybe a bit above when I put it on the brett. I don't have enough to take a gravity, so I'll probably let it sit another couple of months (since brett works slowly) and then add some priming sugar and bottle in heavy duty bottles.
Next time I will probably split the batch so that more is on the Brett.
songe
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So after spending 8 weeks at sea. i finaly tasted my try on this.. i gotta say.. spot on on sugar for carbonating. fluffy good foam. But. Its a light color, tastes ok. but there is a hell of allot of Hop taste to it.. kinda overpowering. Dunno if this will mellow out after a few more months? Kinda impressed how it turned out thoug... since this was my first try on all grain. You cant taste the 9.20% alc in it... so this could go wrong on a night out
CSI - CandiSyrup
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So after spending 8 weeks at sea. i finaly tasted my try on this.. i gotta say.. spot on on sugar for carbonating. fluffy good foam. But. Its a light color, tastes ok. but there is a hell of allot of Hop taste to it.. kinda overpowering. Dunno if this will mellow out after a few more months? Kinda impressed how it turned out thoug... since this was my first try on all grain. You cant taste the 9.20% alc in it... so this could go wrong on a night out
I think this one does come out with strong alphas, (initially). Hops will definitely oxidize in a few months. It gets better each month in bottle conditioning.
songe
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Hmm yeah coz the Halltrauer is really overpowering at the and of an sip... i guess i could have let it stay longer on the yeast aswell to get more flavor... But hey! learning by doing its not bad and its better then before i bottled it! had an buttery taste the. Which has mellowed out. was to cold outside for the yeast and to warm inside. so temp problems are my enemy.
just outta curiosity. How long should it condition before getting enjoying it getting pissed?
its not bad and its better then before i bottled it! had an buttery taste the. Which has mellowed out. was to cold outside for the yeast and to warm inside. so temp problems are my enemy. just outta curiosity. How long should it condition before getting enjoying it getting pissed
?
CSI - CandiSyrup
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just outta curiosity. How long should it condition before getting enjoying it getting pissed
A good Tripel should have a noticeable fresh lupulin and bitter hint on the pallet.
Some say 4-6 weeks before drinking but most Belgians, even Tripels, do best at a minimum of 6 months. We age our Westmalle Tripel clones at a year and they are significantly superior at that age.
The buttery flavor sounds a little like diacytal.
songe
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morganamps
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Brewed this in Dec. 14 days from fermenter to keg. in the keg on the 23rd empty by the 1st. Great beer, even without the time to mature it didn't have a big boozy nose.
