Kasteel Belgian Tripel Clone?

Does anyone have a recipe for this? I tried it last night and was amazed by the flavor, aroma, all around awesome beer. And its 11% By buddy's SWMBO ordered two or three and was on her ass in no time. But all she could do was slur about good the beer was. I'm going to try and brew this so if anyone has any ideas, pointers, or suggestions, they would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Mike

I saw a recipe in _Beer Captured_ for that beer, and I thought it sounded very tasty. However, I didn't see a lot of real reviews or comments on the internet. As I recall, the only spice called for was orange peel but there were many kinds of malt and hops.

If it's ok to post recipes out of books, I can see if I can get that book back. Otherwise, check here:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0970344252/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

That would great if you could get that recipe. If not, is that book good? would it be worth getting. I could use some good recipes.

Thanks for the reply,

Mike

Opinions of it vary. I'm happy with it; we've made a couple good beers out of it. However, they may require some tweaking to suit your brewing style. They call for small-volume boils and early DME addition (which will promote scorching/caramelizing of the wort and raise your hop requirements).

If you're an AG brewer, it isn't that great because they give conversions for AG but there really isn't a mashing schedule provided. Still, it's good for ideas if nothing else and the recipes are at least complete, which is something I can't say for other brewing books.

Here's the extra brief version of the Kasteel bier recipe from Beer Captured.

heat 1 gallon of water @ 155 F
Add:
4 oz Munich
4 oz biscuit
2 oz aromatic

Steep for 30 minutes @ 150 F. Rinse with 1/2 gallon @ 150 F.

Bring to a boil then add:
9.5 lb extra light DME
2 lb clear candi sugar
8 oz invert sugar (lyle's golden syrup)
2 oz styrian goldings @ 4.5% (9 HBU)

Add water to make up 4 gallons. Boil for 45 minutes, then add:

1/2 oz styran goldings (flavor)
1/4 oz bitter orange peel
1 tsp Irish moss

Boil for 13 minutes, then add:
1/2 oz Saaz (aroma)
1/2 oz bitter orange peel

Boil 2 minutes, chill under 70 F, strain, and fill to make 5 1/8 gallons. OG = 1.102 - 1.103.

Recommended yeast is Wyeast 1214 Belgian abbey or Wyeast 1388 Belgian strong. Both should ferment at 70 - 72 F.

Primary for 7 days (or when done), then rack to secondary. Hit it with another dose of yeast 3 days before bottling.

Bottle when fermentation is done, FG is achieved (1.016-1.017), and beer has cleared (8 weeks or so). Prime with 1/2 cup corn sugar and 1/3 cup clear candi in 2 cups water. Let prime @ 70 F for 6 weeks, then store in cellar.

---
I stand by this book totally being worth the purchase. If nothing else it provides some good suggestions for a beer shopping list. We have made four excellent beers out of here (Fat Tire, Chimay Grande Reserve, Hacker-Pschorr Dunkel Weiss, and Shakemantle Ginger).

But, I mentioned that the recipes are not always perfectly clear. For this recipe, I noticed something odd. When you get your 1.5 gallons up to a boil, you add all the fermentables (and hops). When you add water (1+ gallons, I'm guessing) you will cool it off a lot. Should you continue to account time for the hops? I'd say no...but I'd just wait for the boil to re-start, then dump in the Styrians.

You could also re-adjust the recipe for a late DME addition and probably cut the hops in half. Plus, boiling a heavy wort like this will probably caramelize it somewhat...the flavor may be nice (although you could fix that with different specialty grains instead), but the beer will darken up. This is something that a little quality time with BeerSmith will fix right up.

I picked up the Beer Captured book, the last time I was getting supplies. I think it's a great addition to my collection. There are definitely many brews in there that I will be making. Time, and money, are the only problems now.

Thanks scotty,
I'm an AG brewer now, and I wanted to brew his one all grain also. To keep the color right and it might taste better? Anyways, I appreciate the recipe, I'll take it to the LHBS and see if they can convert it to AG for me.

I brewed that HP dunkelweiss and am only half proud of the result. Then again, I've never had a Dunkelweiss before so I may not like them. Who knows.

Thanks for the help man,

Mike

oh yeah,
I'm drinking a Chimay Grand reserve right now. I'm sure yours tastes better. Its not bad at all but I like the Kasteel and Delerium beers better. And whoever makes Merry Monks, Weyerbacher I think, I love that beer.

Sorry; I haven't done AG yet so I sort of forgot it.

To do this AG:
Mash 15.75 lb belgian 2-row pilsner malt and the specialty grain at 149 F for 90 minutes. Add 7.3 HBU (19% less) of bittering hops for 90 minutes of the boil. Add everything else as indicated by the extract recipe.

If you can't handle a 16-lb mash, swap 3 lb of light DME for 5 lb of the pilsner malt.

---
The AG methods in the book are not detailed. The part about infusion mashing in the introduction says to mash (no volumes described) and sparge with 168 F water. Use your vast skills as an AG brewer here, I guess.

I would *definitely* run this recipe through a program given the vagueness of the instructions for AG.

I remember having the HP dunkel weiss on tap at the Essen Haus in Madison...ah, my favorite beer joint in the world...

Anyway, our clone came out a little maltier and sweeter than the real deal (I found a bottle a week or so ago). While the homebrew had a little banana and clove like you'd expect, it wasn't overpowering--even my BMC-drinking friends liked it. I'd say it was one of the finest beers, commercial or otherwise, I've had.

The Chimay Blue recipe was a little different than the commercial; I don't remember exactly how it was different, but it was delicious. We'll be making that one again for a different friend..this one will hopefully be smarter than to sit down for "just one beer"--when you put 9% ABV beer in a 1-L bottle, one is *plenty*.

I had a Delerium Tremens once and wasn't overly impressed. I've had many different Belgians since then, so I may be able to appreciate it better now.

Schwind said:

Thanks scotty,

I brewed that HP dunkelweiss and am only half proud of the result. Then again, I've never had a Dunkelweiss before so I may not like them. Who knows.

Thanks for the help man,

Mike

oh yeah,
I'm drinking a Chimay Grand reserve right now. I'm sure yours tastes better. Its not bad at all but I like the Kasteel and Delerium beers better. And whoever makes Merry Monks, Weyerbacher I think, I love that beer.

Click to expand...

Already worked it through beersmith. Gonna give it a go on friday.

Thanks a lot for all the help.

My HP dunkel was maltier than I expected but a bit to sour for me. it was my first partial mash and I wasn't real sure what I was doing yet.

Stupid double post!

My bad.

**Preforms black magic to resurrect ancient thread **

Can anyone comment on how this turned out or have a different recipe for a Kasteel Rouge Cherry clone?

This is going to be my next brew. I'm doing some slight variations to the recipe posted. I'll let everyone know how it turned out.

Scotty_g said:

Sorry; I haven't done AG yet so I sort of forgot it.

To do this AG:
Mash 15.75 lb belgian 2-row pilsner malt and the specialty grain at 149 F for 90 minutes. Add 7.3 HBU (19% less) of bittering hops for 90 minutes of the boil. Add everything else as indicated by the extract recipe.

If you can't handle a 16-lb mash, swap 3 lb of light DME for 5 lb of the pilsner malt.

---
The AG methods in the book are not detailed. The part about infusion mashing in the introduction says to mash (no volumes described) and sparge with 168 F water. Use your vast skills as an AG brewer here, I guess.

I would *definitely* run this recipe through a program given the vagueness of the instructions for AG.

Click to expand...

I'm bringing this to the top, as I have an interest in converting it to a 1-gallon recipe* and trying it.

A couple of months ago I had a Kasteel Tripel that was brewed in 2012, and I couldn't believe how wonderful it was...something I had never experienced before. If I can even come close to duplicating it, I would be happy with that, but I seriously doubt I could wait 5 years before trying it.

*If anyone has some ideas on helping with the conversion, to a 1-gallon, all-grain batch, I would appreciate the assistance. Specialty grains and other information are referenced in a post that is above the one I quoted.

Thanks - Ron

For those interested, here is my best interpretation of the recipe based on the information that can be found on this thread. This is for a 1-gallon, all-grain batch and assumes (for now) a 60-minute mash and boil.

I'm calling this "Schloss Tripel."

Schloss Tripel

Abbey Ale
All -Grain
1 gallon

Estimated OG - 1.102
Estimated FG - 1.022 (high?)
Estimated ABV - 10.5% (low?)
Estimated IBU - 14.05
Estimated SRM - 5.97


Fermentables

3.15 lbs Belgian 2-row pilsner malt
0.8 oz Munich
0.8 oz Biscuit
0.4 oz Aromatic
(See below for Belgian Candi Sugar)


60-minute mash @ 149 degrees


Boil

0.4 lbs Belgian clear candi sugar @ 60 minutes
1.6 oz invert sugar (Lyle's Golden Syrup) @ 60 minutes
0.1 oz Styrian Golding hops @ 60 minutes

0.1 oz Styrian Golding hops @ 15 minutes
0.05 oz bitter orange peel @ 15 minutes
Scant 1/4 tsp Irish moss @ 15 minutes

0.1 oz Saaz Hops @ 2 minutes
0.1 oz bitter orange peel @ 2 minutes


Wyeast 1214 Belgian abbey or Wyeast 1388 Belgian strong.


Ferment at 70 - 72 degrees.for 9 to 10 weeks, racking to secondary (if desired) after 1 week.

Bottle when fermentation is done, with a medium carbonation in mind. Let prime @ 70 F for 6 weeks, then store in cellar; the longer, the better.

Click to expand...

I am of course open to suggestions that might get closer to the recipe or improve on the sometimes-hazy instructions above; for instance, the Belgian Candi sugar is added at 60 minutes? Maybe it is, I don't know.