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

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Hey guys. I'm planning on brewing this today but I'm a little worried about my fermentation temp. I don't have any way to control the temp in my basement. This time of the year my basement is around 60 degrees. Is that too low? Based on the most recent post from RVAstout I guess I'm ok. Thoughts? Thanks.
 
Here is the first pour. Still very green but damn its tasty. Followed the OP's recipe exact. Damn fine. Already planning to bre a larger batch :rockin:

IMAG1095.jpg
 
Have this one in primary now. Went slightly higher on the grain bill and made a big ass starter so crossing my fingers. SG was 1.080 and hydrometer sample tasted great!
 
davekippen said:
Here is the first pour. Still very green but damn its tasty. Followed the OP's recipe exact. Damn fine. Already planning to bre a larger batch :rockin:
Click to expand...

Your brew looks great! I brewed mine last month and so far it has fermented for 32 days. I got the same exact hydro readings as you did- 1.082 and 1.012. I'm getting ready to bottle it today. How much priming sugar did you use for your bottling? I have 5 ounces for my 5 gallon (slightly less) brew. It looks like your brew has been in the bottles for almost 30 days and the pour looks nice.
 
I'm very eager to start this as my official second batch. Total noob here. I'm still reading through several beginner books (The Joy of Brewing). Had a few questions about IBU calculations, boil volumes, and extract addition.

I found a program that I've been using to keep track of recipes (Beer Alchemy) and I attempted to enter all ingredients and times as mentioned but the calculated IBU comes off as short. I entered a boil volume of 2.5gal as I didn't want to take as much time to get to a boil (BB blonde ale kit recommended vol.) and I entered the hop recommendations on here (GHM 2, Styrian 1, Saaz 1) and even lower recommendations (1.8/0.8/0.4) and the calculations for IBU came out no higher than 15 and as low as 11. Do I need to adjust for the lower boil volume? Do I have to add more volume to get 5 gallons? The boil volume seemed to affect it the most which I understand is related to viscosity and dissolution of alpha acids? Can I just add more hops evenly till it calculates an IBU of 20-25? Is the app reliable or did I mis-enter something somewhere?

And as far as extract additions, can they all be mixed in the boil initially? Do they need to be added every 10-20 minutes? Is time a factor when adding the extracts?

Any help is greatly appreciated. If all goes well with the first few brews I can see this turning into an obsession ;)
 
BuffaloBeer1 said:
I found these two links on another post. Since I have started using them I have had great results with carbonation. I usually shoot for the mid range of the levels they suggest.

http://hbd.org/cgi-bin/recipator/recipator/carbonation.html

http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/priming.html
Click to expand...

Boy was I way off on my first brew. I used 4.5 ozs of priming sugar for my first brew of Bavarian Hefeweizen. It did't have much fermentation. Now I see why. According to these calculators I should have used 8.3 ozs instead. Then I was going to use 5 ozs of priming sugar for this recipe, but the calculator says to use a maximum of 4.2 ozs. Thanks for the calculator. I could have screwed this one up too!
 
Loubie, I use tastybrew for calculating my priming sugar. I basically use exactly what it says so I can carb to style. (I did not make a note of the actual amount)
 
Kidagora said:
I'm very eager to start this as my official second batch. Total noob here. I'm still reading through several beginner books (The Joy of Brewing). Had a few questions about IBU calculations, boil volumes, and extract addition.

I found a program that I've been using to keep track of recipes (Beer Alchemy) and I attempted to enter all ingredients and times as mentioned but the calculated IBU comes off as short. I entered a boil volume of 2.5gal as I didn't want to take as much time to get to a boil (BB blonde ale kit recommended vol.) and I entered the hop recommendations on here (GHM 2, Styrian 1, Saaz 1) and even lower recommendations (1.8/0.8/0.4) and the calculations for IBU came out no higher than 15 and as low as 11. Do I need to adjust for the lower boil volume? Do I have to add more volume to get 5 gallons? The boil volume seemed to affect it the most which I understand is related to viscosity and dissolution of alpha acids? Can I just add more hops evenly till it calculates an IBU of 20-25? Is the app reliable or did I mis-enter something somewhere?

And as far as extract additions, can they all be mixed in the boil initially? Do they need to be added every 10-20 minutes? Is time a factor when adding the extracts?

Any help is greatly appreciated. If all goes well with the first few brews I can see this turning into an obsession ;)
Click to expand...

Most people add extract at the beginning after you hit initial boil. Turn off heat, then add extract so it doesn't burn to bottom, then turn heat back on.

But extract can be added later, and a lot of people do that at well. Some people add some up front and some later.

The longer the extract is in the boil, the darker the finished product will be. So for people specifically shooting for a lighter color beer, they will probably add it later.

There's probably some disagreement about how much this matters.
 
davekippen said:
Loubie, I use tastybrew for calculating my priming sugar. I basically use exactly what it says so I can carb to style. (I did not make a note of the actual amount)
Click to expand...

OK, thanks. I'll use the tastybrew calculator.
 
Thanks Mike.

By playing around with the boil volumes and times I've found that using the Pilsner Light Malt Extract at the beginning of the boil and adding the DME and Candi Sugar towards the end will give the hops enough to impart their AAU in the middle allowing me to use the initial hop volumes stated. Hopefully, I'm understanding that right?
 
I just finished brewing this (the extract version). It's cooling now. I made one error, and that was getting too excited and adding the candi sugar at the beginning with the other malts... so I left one of the LMEs out until the end. I found another thread that said adding candi early wasn't too bad.
This is the first time in quite a while that I made an extract batch without any steeping grains!
-bill
 
Woo, so that is the most vigorous fermentation I've had so far. Even though I rigged it with my blowoff tube it cracked the top open twice today. I guess I need a bigger blowoff tube. Think it's slowed down at this point though.
-bill
 
I brewed this back in August in honor of our first child. We waited to find out the sex until birth, so I dubbed the beer "The Big Surprise." Our son was born about two weeks ago, so it was finally time to pop the cork.

This was probably one if my best brew day experienced where everything went right, and the final product proves it... This taste like a commercial quality beer! This is seriously awesome. It's going down in my brew again list and I will defiantly keep a couple bottles in cold storage.

The only disappointment is that there is no lasting head. I did some research here in HBT and it seems its more to do with nature of the malt bill and a single step mash. (Yes I had clean glasses that I hand washed in cold water without soap). But for disappointments, that one is so minor I could hardly care less. Everything else is so good...



image-787110033.jpg
 
Well, I popped open my first bottle of this terrific brew and absolutely flat. No carbonation! 3.5 weeks in the bottle after 30 days or so fermentation. I used the recommended calculator to determine the amount of priming sugar ( I think it was 3.2 ounces for a 4.5 gallon). I was hoping someone might share some encouraging words that will tell me it was too early to test. Does anyone have any idea what could be wrong? Man, I was really looking forward to this one.
 
loubie said:
Well, I popped open my first bottle of this terrific brew and absolutely flat. No carbonation! 3.5 weeks in the bottle after 30 days or so fermentation. I used the recommended calculator to determine the amount of priming sugar ( I think it was 3.2 ounces for a 4.5 gallon). I was hoping someone might share some encouraging words that will tell me it was too early to test. Does anyone have any idea what could be wrong? Man, I was really looking forward to this one.
Click to expand...
I had the same issue with mine. After a couple months of waiting with no carbonation I decided to go against my better judgment and force carb with a keg. It did the trick and the beer tastes great even though it was introduced to oxygen for the pour from the bottle to the keg.
 
loubie said:
Well, I popped open my first bottle of this terrific brew and absolutely flat. No carbonation! 3.5 weeks in the bottle after 30 days or so fermentation. I used the recommended calculator to determine the amount of priming sugar ( I think it was 3.2 ounces for a 4.5 gallon). I was hoping someone might share some encouraging words that will tell me it was too early to test. Does anyone have any idea what could be wrong? Man, I was really looking forward to this one.
Click to expand...

Man that sux! Nothing at all? Strange. Did you let them chill in the fridge for a while before trying one? I would still think that even warm at 3.5 weeks you should have a bubble or two.

I do know that the higher the abv, the longer it could take to carb. I brewed a belgian strong (9.5% I think) and at 3 months there was no carbonation at all. Its a year old now and just has a small head when poured vigorously.
 
WOW! That's a long time to wait! I'm going to wait another 3 weeks or so and try again. I hope it starts to show some signs of life. I've got it stored at 70 degrees right now. I didn't calculate the alcohol yet but I think it was 1.087 then the final reading was 1.013.
 
I have a case of bombers that are still carbonating almost a year after they were brewed.

Not sure why so many people are having this problem.
 
SoupNazi said:
I have a case of bombers that are still carbonating almost a year after they were brewed.

Not sure why so many people are having this problem.
Click to expand...

Hmmmm…this puts me in a quandary as I was supposed to bottle this tonight. Tasty Brew is saying 3.7 oz of sugar to prime 5.5 gallons. I’m wondering if I should up this slightly based on the long carbonation input.
 
I'm going to open another one today to see if it has built up any carbonation. I used tasty brew too and got 3.2 oz. for 4.5 gallon which is right for a Belgian Tripel. I think this is about the same ratio you have. I know I did everything right and the brew fermentation was vigorous. The banana smell was excellent! 4 weeks fermentation and now 4 weeks in the bottle. I'll let you know today if things have improved.
 
First, sorry I didn't post yesterday. Okay, good news! I got a little "schtttt". When I opened this one and a quarter inch head. 4 weeks in the bottle. Just like others have said, we just need to be patient as it is slow to build carbonation! I'll wait another few weeks and I think it will be better.
 
loubie said:
First, sorry I didn't post yesterday. Okay, good news! I got a little "schtttt". When I opened this one and a quarter inch head. 4 weeks in the bottle. Just like others have said, we just need to be patient as it is slow to build carbonation! I'll wait another few weeks and I think it will be better.
Click to expand...

OK that makes me feel better. Decided to wait until early next week to give it a few more days in secondary and will then prime based on the Tasty Brew numbers. Thanks for the input!:rockin:
 
Conjured up a brew today (midway through boil right now) that looks very similar to that of the OP :) Slightly lower ABV though. Should turns out well

30 Pieces of Silver (Belgian Golden Strong Ale)

Original Gravity (OG): 1.072 (°P): 17.5
Final Gravity (FG): 1.011 (°P): 2.8
Alcohol (ABV): 7.94 %
Colour (SRM): 11.4 (EBC): 22.5
Bitterness (IBU): 30.9 (Average)

71.43% Pilsner
14.29% Munich I
7.14% Candi Sugar, Amber
7.14% Cane Sugar

1 g/L Styrian Golding (4.4% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil)
1 g/L Tettnanger (4.5% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil)
1.2 g/L Saaz (3.6% Alpha) @ 30 Minutes (Boil)
1.2 g/L Saaz (3.6% Alpha) @ 0 Minutes (Boil)

0.1 g/L Koppafloc @ 15 Minutes (Boil)
Yeast Nutrient

Single step Infusion at 65°C for 90 Minutes. Boil for 90 Minutes

Fermented at 20°C with WLP545 - Belgian Strong Ale


Recipe Generated with BrewMate
 
RVAstout said:
Recipe is wrong. The real recipe uses the saaz hops in all 3 phases, also the amber dme needs to be removed. I got this from Bill Wrobel, he is one of the owners:

"Ditch the amber. Make all three hop additions Saaz. That’ll get you as close as you can. We use all pilsen grain and all saaz hops. That yeast is good or use Belgian Strong. Let me know how it tastes. Watch fermentation temps. Don’t go over 68 degrees."
Click to expand...
I'm surprised that I haven't seen anyone respond to this. Has anyone made this with all Saaz hops? I believe that they have the lowest AA rating--would need to add another .5 oz or so?

I'm not sure how many IBU's we are targeting here.

Unrelated, I'm gonna try to make up some inverted syrup to use in place of the Belgian candi syrup (cause $15 on sugar per 6 gallons gets pricey). I'm curious how table sugar, corn syrup, honey, and other sweeteners have turned out for those that have substituted for the more expensive belgian stuff.

I want to boost the alcohol content to around 10% or so, I'm wondering about the following scenarios:
1) Boost Pilsen LME from 10 to 12 lbs and keep 1.5 lbs syrup
2) Use 1 lb table sugar and 1 lb candi syrup (save 7$).
3) Use all table sugar/corn syrup (cheap, should be stronger than candi syrup?)

Thoughts or suggestions are appreciated.
 
I put in 2.5# of table sugar and got my ABV to 9.6%. Havent tried it yet as it is still carbing but the sample tasted great!
 
cheesemoney said:
I want to boost the alcohol content to around 10% or so, I'm wondering about the following scenarios:
1) Boost Pilsen LME from 10 to 12 lbs and keep 1.5 lbs syrup
2) Use 1 lb table sugar and 1 lb candi syrup (save 7$).
3) Use all table sugar/corn syrup (cheap, should be stronger than candi syrup?)

Thoughts or suggestions are appreciated.
Click to expand...

I'm with you on upping the abv. I made mine with the all grain and added close to two pounds of candi sugar. Its almost ready to be kegged. Why not just turn your table sugar into candi? It costs the price of a half a lemon, some water, and 30 min of your time.

As far as the hop discrepancy, I can't say much except that I used the hops that were originally described.
 
^ I presume you are talking about the candi syrup? If so, I'm gonna take a stab at it, seems like people get mixed results and though it doesn't sound that hard, it's new to me. There are so many ways that people make the invert syrup--lime, pickling stuff, yeast nutrient, lemon extract, lemon, etc, and so many people seem to get different results.

I understand that darker inverts are used for coloration as well as flavoring. I'm curious if the lighter syrups offer significant flavor benefits.
 
I have only been brewing for about a year and have never had to use candi sugar until this recipe. When I went to the LBHS and saw the price of it I just about crapped my pants. This is the site I used to learn how to make it:

http://sciencebrewer.com/2010/04/10/homemade-belgian-candi-sugar/

It was extremely easy and straight forward for me. This made the solid kind not the syrup (although a quick google search will give you recipes for the syrup), but I just boiled it in a little water to sanitize and dissolve it and added once the airlock was bubbling away.

As far as how close it is to the real deal I can't say. If anything, it makes me feel better about myself because I didn't add just table sugar.

As far as darkness and all of that, I probably know just about as much as you do. I went with a nice amber caramel color and called it good. I assume the light colors don't add much flavor and the darker you go the more caramel/burnt flavors you get (someone else should confirm that though).
 
Just a general note for the group - I've been lurking on HBT for the better part of two years and use it as my main source for recipes and advice. I made recipe this as my 12th or 13th batch of homebrew and was blown away. Anyone on the fence on whether or not to brew this, f'n go for it. It's delicious. In fact, I swung by my LHBS this afternoon to brew another 6 gal of it. Thanks HuRRiC4Ne!
 
Really looking forward to this and will brew this Sunday if I can get my chest freezer temperature control finished.

A question for those brewing a 6 gallon batch in a small pot: Say I can only boil 3.5 gallons of water in my beer kettle (5 gallon max and my gas burner doesn't exactly get a strong boil going). I'm worrying about the gravity of the wort while boiling interfering with hop utilization. Should I add half the extract at the beginning with some (~30%) of the finishing hops (in hot-but-not boiling water) in order to keep this from getting too sweet? Add the rest of the extract near the end of the boil? FWIW I was planning on going with 12lbs of LME instead of the 10 called for in the recipe.

Any advice would be appreciated.
 
I read some about that technique in the Brewing Classic Styles book and tried it out on two brews. It turned out well, but I never did an A/B comparison of beers done both ways. I'm not sure how to plug that into BrewSmith to see how it theoretically changes the beer. Maybe somebody else does...

In other news, I tried a bottle of this after it was bottled for two weeks - not very carbonated yet. Tasted good, though.
-bill
 
I just got results back from this recipe at the QUAFF home brew comp in San Diego... 31.5.

The biggest dings to flavor and overall points was warm alcohol, which I knew would've a problem going into it. There was brief mention of a slight astringency that I haven't quite noticed on my own. Otherwise the judges seemed to enjoy the spice and citrus but differed on their opinions of style.

I have a temp controlled fermenter, so I know my temps were fine. Perhaps I didn't pitch *enough* of a starter. I also later found out my tap water is pretty alkaline (over 8 pH), which can cause a host of problems on lighter beers (namely astringency and head retention... Two of the problems in this batch).

So, not too bad for my first comp on not my best beer. I thought maybe I would score a little higher, but ill take it as a good learning experience.
 
How big of a starter did you pitch? I'm trying to make this with an OG of 1.090 (adding a little sugar and 2 lbs extra lme) and even with a stir plate, a 2L starter with 70% yeast viability doesn't get me to the 350 billion cell count that I'm supposed to be hitting, according to Mr. Malty (though it's just fine according to the yeastcalc.com K Troester aeration/stir setting). Making a 6 gallon batch for what it's worth.

Do I need to add an extra vial of yeast to me 2L starter?
 
cheesemoney said:
How big of a starter did you pitch? I'm trying to make this with an OG of 1.090 (adding a little sugar and 2 lbs extra lme) and even with a stir plate, a 2L starter with 70% yeast viability doesn't get me to the 350 billion cell count that I'm supposed to be hitting, according to Mr. Malty (though it's just fine according to the yeastcalc.com K Troester aeration/stir setting). Making a 6 gallon batch for what it's worth.

Do I need to add an extra vial of yeast to me 2L starter?
Click to expand...

I used 1 smack pack of wyeast Belgian abbey in a 2L starter using the "shake method.". I had an OG of 1.090 ( I was aiming for 1.085 but messed up on my measurements of LME). I did a 5 gallon batch in a 6.5 ale pale and within 24 hours it had blown the fermentation lock and the top of the bucket open! I had to rig up a blowoff tube. After 9 days I'm at 1.014.

So, in my opinion a 2L works pretty well. I had planned on stepping up my 2L to a 4L starter but the yeast wasn't flocculant. After 48 hours in the fridge I still couldn't decant it because it was still so cloudy and just decided to go with the 2L.
 
Belgian is my favorite style. I will start brewing soon, getting my equipment together now. Then, as Arnold says, "I'll be back.
What wrong wid da beer we got?
Click to expand...
"
 
I forgot I have a sh*t load of these in the basement! I need to throw a 6 pack in the fridge. Its been a few months since Ive had one. They are probably about 8 months old now. Should be finding their groove?
 
mistercameron said:
I just got results back from this recipe at the QUAFF home brew comp in San Diego... 31.5.

The biggest dings to flavor and overall points was warm alcohol, which I knew would've a problem going into it. There was brief mention of a slight astringency that I haven't quite noticed on my own. Otherwise the judges seemed to enjoy the spice and citrus but differed on their opinions of style.

I have a temp controlled fermenter, so I know my temps were fine. Perhaps I didn't pitch *enough* of a starter. I also later found out my tap water is pretty alkaline (over 8 pH), which can cause a host of problems on lighter beers (namely astringency and head retention... Two of the problems in this batch).

So, not too bad for my first comp on not my best beer. I thought maybe I would score a little higher, but ill take it as a good learning experience.
Click to expand...

Did you do all grain?
 

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