Belgian Tripel Belgian Trippel (2006 World Beer Cup Gold Medal: Dragonmead Final Absolution clone)

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envader, I used a 6.5 gallon bucket for my primary and it worked fine. I used a blow off tube inserted in sterilizing fluid. I will be moving mine into a secondary (glass carboy) this weekend, after 2 weeks in the primary.
 
I brewed this 3 weeks ago today. Took a gravity and read 1.020, same as when I checked it a couple of days ago. I gently swirled the bucket and put into my warmest closet at around 74*F. Hoping to kick down a couple more points in the next week or two, then bottle.

I did have me another taste, and its like bananas drenched in 151. :)
 
I ended up bottling after 1 month in the primary with a fg of 1.019. I would have liked to see it come down more, but my og was 1.100. Can't wait top see how this is in a month.
 
I took a stab at this one last night. I'm a bit of a novice still, but it did seem awfully easy. I'm excited about this brew, I had it at a grand rapids brew festival this winter and it was my favorite there. Plus it's my first high gravity, etc.

Based on the great info in this thread, here's what I made:

Starter[\u]
WLP500 Trappist ale yeast. This was my first time doing a starter. Seemed easy enough to make. Used 4cups water & 2 cups light dme. It went into a couple quart mason jars with alum foil. I then gave 'em a good swirl / shake a half dozen times each day for 2 days, then into the fridge. Some research on here suggests using your starter with a day-ish for maximu
Viability...so I hope I didn't mess that up. I gave it a few hours on the counter before pitching to warm up, decanted half the beer off before pitching.

Recipe was slightly altered based on what was available.

10lbs Light malt extract LME (lhbs said it's the same as pilsner lme)
1lbs Amber DME
1lbs Light Belgian Candy
1/2 lb of pilsner light dme
1/2 lb of Cara pils steeped @160 for mouthfeel (I'm new to this term, but went with it)
12.5 lbs fermentables.

Hops: (IBU at 21 according to beer calculus)
1 oz. German Hallertau 3.8%AA 60min (subbed for mittlefruh)
0.25 oz. Cascade 12%AA 60 min (had this leftover from prev brew and accidentally didn't buy two packages of hallertau)
1/2 oz. Styrian Goldings 3.4% AA 30min
0.8 oz. Saaz 2.8% AA 3min

Also did a bit of late add with some of the lme, for Hopp utilization.

Steeped cara pils for 25min @ 160. In 3.5 gallons.
Brought to boil.
Remove Fromm boil.
Add 5lbs lme, candi, 1/2 lb Pilsen dme.
Reboil.
60 min - Add hallertau & cascade
Continue boil (never really threatened to boilover)
25 min - amber dme & styrian goldings
15 min - add 5lbs lme (and immersion chiller to sterilize)
5 min - add saaz.

Cooled with immersion chiller while on the stove.
Swirled to cone trub
Racked out wort, almost no trub :)
Added 2 gallons filtered water.
Poured back / forth to aerate.
Og: 1.093 :rockin:
Pitch that yeast.
Use blowoff.

Fermenting in our extra bathroom @ 72 - 75.

This morning, already bubbling, every 2-3 seconds thru 3/8" blowoff . Nice spicy banana scent.

Well see how it goes :).

DRum:rockin:
 
So I brewed this on Veteran's day, bottled on New Year's day, and still l have some left around. It was my first all grain batch and had somewhat of a low efficiency - around 65% ish, but that was my poor understanding at the time of the difference between fly and batch sparging.

(Don't use fly sparging when your tun is set up for batching).

Anyways, the yeast has settled to the bottom and it's now clear, and boy is it something. Really crisp, good spicy notes. The banana has worn off a bit, but when it was fermenting that's all I could smell. I really like this one - thanks for the recipe.

Only thing I would note for followers is to leave it in the secondary longer than you would think, and the longer in the bottle the better.
 
I've had this in secondary for about 2 weeks and just added some bourbon soaked oak chips to it that I'm going to leave in for 5-7 days. Should give it the bourbon barrel aged taste as well. Smells fantastic!!
 
telder4336 said:
I've had this in secondary for about 2 weeks and just added some bourbon soaked oak chips to it that I'm going to leave in for 5-7 days. Should give it the bourbon barrel aged taste as well. Smells fantastic!!
Click to expand...

Bourbon soaked oak in a tripel? sounds horrible, but I'd try it :)
 
Update from me:

@ 24 hour hours fermentation, my bathroom was at 80F. And freakin' HUMMIN like a drunken sailor :lol: . I mean, I have never seen such violent fermentation. I'd called our in-home babysitter during the day, to ask her what it looked like. She said "It smells like banana bread in here. Wow...there's lots of bubbles coming out of this jug". I had the 3/8" blowoff in a half-full gallon jug of star-san...and it was bubbling krausen through the blowoff, into the star san, and was spouting krausen/starsan bubbles out the top of the jug, onto my bathroom floor.

By that evening it was 84 in the bathroom (yay heat spell in March)...and I got nervous. I jumped online, and explored fermentation as a function of temp. All about esters, fusels, diacetyls & acetaldehydes...more nervous. So I moved it to a cooler room in the basement...~75*F. However, when I woke in the morning (day 2), it was 62*F in the room (SWMBO must have turned the thermostat off). Oops. Still bubbling every 3-5 seconds though.

By that afternoon, it was 65F, with zero bubble activity. Hoping I hadn't thermally freaked my yeast...I let it sit. When in doubt RDWHAHB (never has it been tougher than this).

Day 4: I took a reading today, 1.024. Hmmm, not sure if we're finished yet. So I've moved it up to the warmer bathroom again (now that our heat wave is over), gave it a good shake with the lid back on, and am hoping for lower 70s in there for the next few days.

We'll see in a few days if we rack to secondary yet...I'm thinking at least a week in primary.

DRum
 
My all-grain batch has been in the secondary for 3 weeks. I made this brew without having tasted the original Dragonmeade Final absolution. I made it because there were 32 pages of posts about the recipe, which I considered good enough. A friend from Detroit brought me a 4 pack of the the Final absolution, and I'm drinking one now. All I can say is.... YUM! I hope mine turns out as well!! I will bottle next weekend, and will let it carb in the bottles for a month before I pop one open. I can't wait till May when I can drink one!
 
Doing a 2 gallon batch. OG started out at 1.10 (!)

Day 7: Down to 1.026 (9.71% ABV!). Tastes pretty good. Very yellow.

Day 28: Bottled. Smells fantastic. Waiting 2 weeks and I'm popping some bottles!
 
Just keged this in my corny.. its super sweet and malty, strong hints of banana not to spicy. I'm wondering if its normal or maybe I did something wrong.. its drinkable but only one or two, the sweetness is almost overwelming.
 
skandyman88 said:
Just keged this in my corny.. its super sweet and malty, strong hints of banana not to spicy. I'm wondering if its normal or maybe I did something wrong.. its drinkable but only one or two, the sweetness is almost overwelming.
Click to expand...

How long was your fermentation?
 
Also I force carbed it in the corny, will it age/settle in the corny if I just leave it? Should I leave the co2 hooked up or no? In the fridge or not? Sorry for all the questions. *nooooob* :eek:
 
Well, 2 weeks after reagitation...1.020. Woulda preferred lower, but I'm still okay with it...racked to secondary tonight. Smelled friggen'fantastic.

DRum
 
day 1 og 1080 slow bubbling
day 2 vigorous bubbling with a blow off tube
day 3 slow
day 8 sg 1030 slow
day 9 sg 1030 slow one bubble a minute

i have tasted all of my samples and they tatse awesome, i can't wait but I have this problem with the sg

What should I do???
 
hypertension2 said:
day 1 og 1080 slow bubbling
day 2 vigorous bubbling with a blow off tube
day 3 slow
day 8 sg 1030 slow
day 9 sg 1030 slow one bubble a minute

i have tasted all of my samples and they tatse awesome, i can't wait but I have this problem with the sg

What should I do???
Click to expand...

stick it in a warm closet and forget about it for a month.
 
Did you do a starter? You might want to add some more yeast. I've had that problem a few times before with high gravity beers, sometimes I've been able to fix it, others I've just had very sweet beer.
 
This beer rules. I had 18 days in primary, then 5 weeks in secondary. OG was 1.086 with FG at bottling 1.080. Took about 3 weeks in 72 degree temp to get carved up and it is now awesome. My only warning is on 3rd day in primary, the yeast/whort exploded the airlock off. Prepare yourself.
 
hypertension2 said:
day 1 og 1080 slow bubbling
day 2 vigorous bubbling with a blow off tube
day 3 slow
day 8 sg 1030 slow
day 9 sg 1030 slow one bubble a minute

i have tasted all of my samples and they tatse awesome, i can't wait but I have this problem with the sg

What should I do???
Click to expand...

I mentioned to my LHBS that I finished at 1.020...and they recommended to add some champagne yeast to dry it out and finish it up.

I tried stirring, shaking, warmer temps...it was done.
For the record, I used a 1L starter, but I also (likely) temp shocked the yeast by taking them from my 80-85°F bathroom (it got too hot from the heat wave), to the basement (~68°F), then the basement went down to 58°F after the heat wave ended. I brought it back up to ~70° for a couple weeks, and it bubbled a littel more, but finished at 1.020.

The LHBS's recommendation is anything finishing above 1.016 (IIRC) will have enough residual sugar to have the potential for bottle bombs overcarb'ing.

It tastes good, but still a bit sweet.

Champagne yeast went into my secondary yesterday...no sign of life yet.

Still excited about this beer :).
DRum
 
I did the All-grain version, brewed on 2/18/12. I cracked open the first bottle of mine 3 weeks after bottling. OMG! It was so good and the carbonation was already great! I happened to have a bottle of Dragonmead's Final Absolution, and we did a side-by-side comparison. It was sooo close! My husband actually said he liked mine better (but, he is my husband;) ) I imagine this will only get better over time! Thanks for sharing!
 
Brewed this up a week ago, stuff from the blow off tube smelled fantastic. In one week time the gravity went from 1.092 to 1.022. That's some hungry yeasties! Had some hints of bananas and plum, slightly dry and sweet at the same time. Had that young alcohol warmth. Next time I think I'll add some maltodextrin for a little more body and up the IBU's to the high 20's for a little spicier finish. I didn't use any finning agents; in retrospect I think it would have been a good idea. Sample was still very cloudy.

image-320206689.jpg

Of corse, its only been a week so no real surprise. This will spend at least 2 more weeks in the bucket before I crash it in the basement. Looking forward to drinking this!
 
Brewed this tonight. Got within a point of what iBrewmaster said the og should have been (1.82). pitched a decent sized yeast starter into it. 3 hours later the air lock is starting to tick. We'll see how this turns out.
 
I brewed a 5 gallon batch of this a month ago. I tweaked the recipe very slightly, by adding 0.5# of Cara-Pils, 0.75# amber DME, 6# Pilsner LME with a late addition of 3.3 additional lbs of Pilsner LME. I used Fuggles instead of Goldings. This was probably the most violent fermentation I've ever seen! I racked to secondary today, and the sample was pretty damn amazing. I was drinking it alongside Rochefort 8, and I liked mine much better :D My FG was a little high, at 1.016, and I think this is because I was fermenting in my basement with no good way to raise the temp and keep the yeast going, but I am damn happy with the results. Brew this beer! And thanks OP! :mug:
 
Many thanks to Hurricane for posting this recipe! The passion over the style is borderline fanatical! The posts and responses to modifications and changes to the original recipe are crazy entertaining. I'm happy enough with just having the opportunity to brew it! Thanks!
 
Well, I brewed one week ago. OG was 1.096 and the 1 week gravity was 1.008. I pitched it onto a yeast cake from another beer using the WYeast 1214. With the yeast cake and a string of days in the upper 80's to 90's, the yeast definitely did it's job. The flavor is fantastic, although there is a slight warming effect from the 11.7% abv. I was worried the banana would be too strong, but it's just right. I'm going to let it sit in the primary for another week, then move to secondary for at least 2 weeks. Thanks for posting this recipe.
 
Hi guys - Thanks to everyone in this thread for posting results. Been following this one for months and finally picked up the supplies today.

[I'm looking to do the Extract Version]
Question: I'm interested in pushing the ABV a little higher than the Original Post; Some of you have mentioned getting upwards of 11%, but there is no mention of what was adjusted in the original Extract materials to reach this. (I've read every post, heh) I picked up an extra 3.3 lb LME and 1 lb extra DME. (no additional hops) I'm trying to consider specifically how much to add without ruining the style/hop balance too much. (I know I can calc Extract to ABV, but this is more of an opinion question..)

TL;DR [Extract] How would you up the ABV without wrecking das brew? Those of you that got above 11%, how did you, specifically?

EDIT:
Original Recipe:
Extract:
3 x 3.3lbs Pilsner Light malt extract LME
1 x 1lbs Amber DME
1 x 1.5lbs Belgian Candy
12.4 total pounds of fermentables

Hops: (IBU came out at 23 but you can range from 20 to 25)
2 oz. German Hallertau 3.8%AA 60min
1 oz. Styrian Goldings 3.4% AA 30min
1 oz. Saaz 2.8% AA 3min

I have an extra can of LME, and an extra pound of DME past what the recipe calls for. Some of the other people in thread said stuff like "I added more and hit 10.5% ABV, came out great!" with no specifics or measurements... Can anyone weigh in?
 
I followed the recipe as is and got 10.7%. I did a full boil on the extract version. I'd be willing to bet folks that did AG got better efficiency and/or conversion and ended up with more fermentables.

It may also be a question of the calculation people used to come up with it. I prefer to use the one at brewersfriend.com. It has an alternate calculation method that is supposedly more accurate for higher gravity beers.
 
@Maddoghoek: Thanks for the response. Did you finish with 5 gallons, or the 6 per the original recipe?
 
I ended up with a little less then 6. I put 5 gal in the bucket and had a decent pile of trub left over. OG was 1.092, FG was 1.017. Mid to high 60's for ferment temps.

On a side note, my 7.5 gallon kettle was a bit too small for 5.5 gallons of water and 12 lbs of fermentables.... I was less then an inch from the top after everything was added.
 
This is for a 5 gallons. I bottling mine today. The only down side is having to wait another couple of weeks for carbonation.
 
I am currently boilling a slightly adjusted AG version of the Dragonmead.
It is for a 23 liters (6 gallons) batch and goes like this :
6kg Pilsner 2 rows
750g Munich Malt
500g Carafoam
35g Hallertau (5.2%)
28g Styrian Goldings (4.3%)
28g Saaz (3.2%)
300g table sugar I caramelized (see bellow)
1 White Labs WLP500 for which I did a starter.

(I always make my batch a bit bigger than what I need to because of what I loose in the fermenter)

The table sugar I caramelized by putting in a pan, adding a bit of water just to help get initial temperature, and about 1table spoon of lemon juice. You don't need to use much water - just enough to disolve the sugar. The more you add, the longer it will take because the water needs to evaporate completely before the sugar starts to caramelize. Once I had the desired color, I just added some water back to make a sirup which is easier to get out of the pan when adding to the wort.

It is boilling at the moment, and I got a great 81% mash effeciency from what BeerSimth tells me. Alway according to BeerSmith, the final result should be about this :
OG 1,076
IBU 25,3
SRM 5,8
ABV 8,6

I can't wait to try this one - I decided I will transfer to a secondary after 2 weeks, and then let it age in there for at least 4 weeks before bottling. I usualy keg my beer, but I will bottle this one to keep longer...maybe 3-4 months? ...if I can wait that long :D


Anyway, so far, so good. Looks like a perfect brewing day here in Montreal, with a sunny day and a nice 65deg. F. Not too hot, not too cold.
 
Tasted a 5 month old bottle yesterday. Only now is it getting to be mellowed and carbed enough to where I like. Patience really pays off on this one. Might attempt an AG version of this now that I'm equipped.
 

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