Listed OG & recipe clone question

I am trying to clone a New Belgium Trippel, so I went to the website and found this info:

ABV - 7.8%
IBU - 25
Calories - 215
Hops - Saaz, Liberty, Target
Malts - Pale, Munich, Victory
OG - 17.6
TG - 2.4
Fruits/Spice - Coriander

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I wrote NB hoping to get some hints (or the exact recipe) and they came back with this:

We normally don’t give out specific recipe information, but I can narrow down some of the guesswork.

We use pale, munich, and victory in that order. Pale is over 90% of the malt bill. During wort boil, we also augment the gravity with common white sugar – this is an important consideration since the key to a great Trippel is a very dry finish. 19.1˚P Original density.

Good luck and happy homebrewing!

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I am using BrewTarget and have everything set up to hit and OG of 17.6 before adding the sugar. I can add the sugar to get it up to 19.1 OG, but it throws off my FG and ABV. Am I looking at this correctly? Should I take my malts and shoot for the 17.6 listed on the website, then use sugar to get me to 19.1? I should also note that if I take the approach of shootiing for 17.6, then adding the sugar.... My ABV is low and my FG is high even before adding the sugar. I can't seem to tweak this to get right on.

Here is what I have come up with for my malts so far with a batch size of 5.5 gallons and a pre-boil of 6.5 gallons assuming 78% efficiency:

(pre sugar)
Pale 2 Row - 12.5 lb (90%)
Munich - 1.125 lb (8%)
Victory - 4 oz (2%)

OG - 17.6 (1.072)
FG - 3.5 (1.014)
ABV - 7.6

(post sugar)
same malts as above
Table Sugar - 13 oz

OG - 19.1 (1.079)
FG - 3.8 (1.015)
ABV - 8.3

I haven't messed around with the hops too much, but my IBU is pretty close with what I have set up. Any advice would be appreciated... even if it is "quit picking nits... it's close enough so go for it".

The OG should be the gravity measurement taken AFTER the addition of sugar, so figure that into your recipe and try to hit 17.6 right on the nose. As for FG, that's probably going to be a bit tricky for you to hit. You'll need a good yeast that has high attentuation. A starter will boost the health of your yeast even more.

It would be nice if they had given you a fermentation temp, but I would should for the mid 60's and ramp it up to mid 70's over a few days, since I'm assuming NB knows what they're doing when it comes to Belgians.

Other than that, I think they gave you some great info, and you've built your recipe to their specs. I'd say go for it, and then tweak it to your liking the next time you brew it. Perfect recipes don't happen overnight...they take multiple batches, if not more. Good luck!