Is a Belgian Tripel too ambitious for a second brew?

My first brew was bottled on Sunday, and I am already thinking about my second brew. My kit came with a secondary carboy, so I figure I should try to brew something that would actually utilize it. I am really into Belgian strong ales right now, so I found two extract kits: one from Northern Brewer and one from Midwest Supplies.

Northern states that the beer will be drinkable in three month, where Midwest calls for 9-12 month in a secondary. Why is there such a huge difference in fermentation time? Which one of these kits would you recommend? Am I biting off a little too much?

They are no different than any other beer other than the time involved in fermenting. I would say go ahead and brew it but have another one in mind to brew while you wait for this one.

9-12 months in secondary? That's ridiculous.

It's not too ambitious as long as your techniques are sound. You really need to pitch the right amount of yeast, and the ability to ramp up temperature will help considerably to get the right degree of attenuation.

My tripel was more than drinkable after a couple of weeks and took a medal in the state fair at two months old.

only thing with triples is that they are usually fermented a lot warmer, like 75F - 80F

so if you can hit that, you should be fine. i'd say go for it.

@logan3825, I know I'll brew something else before I drink the tripel.

@smizak, Since I would be buying a kit, won't it come with the correct amount of yeast?

@motobrewer, thanks for telling me. My current brew closet is at around 65, so I will have to reconsider.

oh no, kits usually supply one vial/pack of yeast. if it's dry yeast, it's usually fine to just use that, but liquid are different. you usually have to use a starter for liquid yeast.

here's a calc that'll tell you how much yeast you need:
http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html

Ah, thanks for the info about the yeast.

regardless....i'd say brew it up. it will probably still be good beer.

@motobrewer, which one of the kits would you recommend?

@pixelated Go for it! The only thing it will really test is your patience.

@BenjaminBier, I plan to brew something else right after my primary is free again.

I hate to go against the grain here, so to speak, but I would say brew something else until you gain more experience. The kit is not cheap and brewing higher gravity brews can be a bit more challenging. Particularly when it comes to pitching the right amount of healthy yeast. Then again, you could brew it and it could turn out great...Just my 2 cents worth...

i'm not a triple expert, but I don't think you could go wrong with either.

i've never ordered from midwest but i have use northern brewer's kits before and have been happy.

@sjbeerman, what will the challenge be? How hard is it to pitch the right amount of yeast?

I don't think it's too ambitious, my first batch is a Belgian strong ale from Austin Homebrew and it's really only tested my patience. Make a starter or at least double pitch and have your blow-off tube ready to go.
I'm far from being an expert on anything but drinking tripels, but I don't see a problem with starting at 65 degrees ambient. I only just got an aquarium heater and large cooler, myself.

I would just make sure you use a yeast calculator, such as mr malty, then make a starter and pitch that. It just takes a little advanced planning. It took me a long time to start making starters and I saw a huge difference in the final results. I was just speaking from my experience because I started making bigger brews at first too then got a lot of stuck fermentations then I had go backwards and start making lower gravity brews to get my process down first. However, that was before I started making yeast starters. If you pitch the right amount of healthy yeast, then I would say go for it!!

@weagle05 and @sjbeerman, thanks for the suggestion. I will read more about starters before I attempt this brew.

pix, take a read here:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f73/be...dal-dragonmead-final-absolution-clone-137219/

@pixelated Making the starter can be as easy as boiling 1/2# DME in 1/2 QT water, pour into your growler and cover, let cool in the freezer/fridge, pitch your yeast and put on the airlock.

24 hours later (or so) it's ready.

Did this on my first tripel (now in secondary at 8 weeks) and it is sampling very well.

I wouldn't ferment a tripel at 75-80, that's for sure. Also, I wouldn't do one for my second batch. It's a big investment of time and costs more than most styles.

Is a Belgian Tripel too ambitious for a second brew?
No
A Belgian Tripel is best brewed when temps reach 80-85º (think summer brewing)

I prefer Belgians so that's what I brew. I think you should brew what you like. Perhaps start with a more forgiving style within the Belgian family. Like say a wit beer or Belgian blode or pale. Wheat is very forgiving. I did a triple on my second batch and it didn't turn out so good, but don't let that sway you. If you research enough you can brew anything. I wasn't well prepared for mine. Others advice is spot on as well, make sure your ok with investing the $$$ into the grain bill and perhaps not having a perfect end product. Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

As they say, even if you do a bad job, you get beer!

I just did a strong dark Belgian for my first Brew despite the urging of my LHBS to do something easier to get my feet wet. I would say if you are not in a hurry, then go for it. I spent a ton of time reading and watching everything I could find on the net before I attempted it. It turned out great!
I would say go with the Northern Brewer kit if you don't mind doing a yeast starter. Otherwise maybe check out Brewer's Best. They have a Tripel kit and I am pretty sure they all come with dry yeast.
My recipe was basically the same as Northern Brewer's Rochefort 8 clone (The Number 8). Everything went well and it just carbed up last week. Tasted real good. I highly recommend doing the yeast starter and using a blow of tube for any beer with 1.060 OG or higher and get a wort chiller too, if you don't already have one.
I let mine ferment in the basement which was about 66-68 degrees. I put a sticky fermometer on my Better Bottle in primary and with all the yeast activity it was at 75degrees in the fermentor for many days. The temp in your closet might not be ideal, but I think it would be just fine. Mine tasted great last weekend when I drank my first carbonated one warm! Can't wait to try it after it has conditioned for a few months. The only bad thing about doing this one for my first brew is I have a lot of friends wanting to try one now. I am doing a IPA soon so this one can age.

Dude do it! If thats the type of beer you like, thats what you should brew

I freakin loooove Belgian beer. If i had a my way, I'd drink nothing else Seriously. My current commercial stash is this:




Now regarding your tripel....ok just deleted a big chunk of my post (thought it was AG). The only problem with this kit is that its extract. Extract is all good, done some awesome extract brews. HOWEVER! Extract will end up at a much higher FG than you really want in a tripel. For example Westmalle is basically the beer the style is based on, and finishes at 1.008. To get your extract more fermentable I suggest you get some 2-row malt and a hop bag. You basically want to do a mini mash. chuck your extract in a decent sized pot with some water, and add your 2-row (probabaly german pilsner or something light) in medium sized hop bag once you get to about 70 degrees C (sorry... metric system is the ****). Mash/steep it at 65C for an hour. Then do a short boil. Might sound complicated and long winded, but basically you want to try and get your extract more fermentable, otherwise you will end up with a lower apparent attenuation (higher FG). Alternatively you can skip the grains and use beano or "dry enzyme" at the same temps but i cant suggest any quantities, havent used it. Either way you want to boil it after to get hose enzymes to sod off.

Basically either process will release some enzymes to break down the more complicated sugars into stuff that will actually be used by your yeast.

If you just go with what the kit suggests it will probably turn out fine, but if you've actually had a decent amount of good tripels, you will notice the difference immediately.

Your fermentation temps are kind of important. Obviously, they affect flavour, but also your attentuation. If you can, start it cool at 65F (you really dont want to go much lower). Leave it there for a couple of days, basically until you start seeing it slow down. You then want to try and raise it by about a degree each day till you reach about 75F. This will help keep those yeasties going. As someone has already mentioned... those times mentioned for secondary fermeter/conditioning are rediculous. Just leave it for 3 weeks in the primary then bottle those bad boys. Let them carb then "lager" them till they are popped.

No expert in the style (or home brewing) but i learnt a bit with my last two tripels.

If using the Abbey Ale yeast from White Labs or Wyeast I'd recommend fermenting in the 60-65 degree range. Unless, of course, you want to have a beer that is dominated by banana and bubblegum flavored esters