Belgian Trippel 9.1% ABV

I've got a Belgian Trippel in secondary. Primary 2 weeks, secondary 2 weeks so far. When I racked to secondary, the ABV was at 9.1%. I'm wondering how long I need to condition this beer. The taste at 2 weeks was nice, but a bit harsh... alcohol-wise. It was a very nice tasting beer, but I want to get the most out of this one. I've never brewed a big beer like this so I'm not sure how long to bottle condition to get the most out of it. How long should I condition/age this beer before drinking it? I plan to bottle some time this week. I generally use 1 oz priming sugar per gallon, but I'm thinking since I'm going to bottle condition for an extended period, I'll lower that to about .75 oz per gallon.

Thoughts?

Why not let it sit in the 2ndary and bulk age? Time can be on your side. My LHMS clone sat for 3 months. A bit late but I just brewed my Halloween and Christmas brews for them to age. I suggest you let it sit for 3 months and sample monthly if you have means to keep it cool. We are both in FL and it has been a HOT AUGUST.

For quick drinking beers I do dunkleweizens - meant to be drank young.

Bulk age or bottle it and let it sit. Triples need time to mellow, and then they become something magical. I've tried aging in secondary and bottles with triples and didn't really notice a difference, either one works. Good luck and give it time!

Let It ride...be patient. My Tripel recipe I brew is 12.75% and it takes a good four months to start to mellow. You put all the time into brewing it don't drink before its at its best.

I brewed mine last July. Bulk aged until December. Re yeasted and bottle aged until April. It was excellent. 10%. Tripel should also be lagered for about a month before bottling.

12.75%... wow. I thought 9% was good.

I really don't have a way to lager the beer. It'll have to be at room temp which I keep at an average of 70 degrees.

So I'll let it condition for about 3 months. Not sure if I have the patience to wait that long... I'm an impatient person. Brewing a couple of 8% ABV Old Ales today. I'll have to wait for those too I suppose... Maybe I should just go back to session beers... lol.

Thanks for the advice. It was all good.

Racked to secondary August 28th... will bottle late October and start drinking it late November, early December. Wow. That's a long time for a guy like me. I really enjoy drinking the beer that I've brewed, but I knew this would be a special beer, so I'll just let it go the full 3 months. I've got a number of Grolsch bottles that I rarely use. I'll save them for the Trippel.

Good idea.

There's no problem with ageing in bottles either, just that its harder to keep out of them.

That said, you might consider adding some yeast to the beer when you bottle it after letting it sit so long. Depends on yeast though.

I did a 2 Ltr starter and decanted it, pitched it in the beer with Belgian candi syrup to bottle carb. After 6 months in the bottle it is precious.

Good luck

Just out of curiosity, why decant the starter?

I'm planning to do a tripel myself in the next week or two using a mix of a full wort kit, some additional DME/hops, and two lbs of Belgian candy syrup added after 2-3 days. Just thinking that if I don't decant it's that much less DME to use...

blitzd said:

Just out of curiosity, why decant the starter?

I'm planning to do a tripel myself in the next week or two using a mix of a full wort kit, some additional DME/hops, and two lbs of Belgian candy syrup added after 2-3 days. Just thinking that if I don't decant it's that much less DME to use...

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I decanted at bottling because I didn't want to add more unaged, uncleared beer to my finished Trippel.

I added a starter of yeast at bottling because I had pushed the first ones to their limit and then aged the beer for 4 months with multiple rackings, and I was worried it might not bottle-carb.

I just pitched the whole starter, DME and all when I brewed it.

Not sure how I didn't see that it was for bottling on the first read, thanks for clarifying