My first tripel?

I'm in a rut. I used to brew a variety of beers, but now I brew one or two lagers, American IPAs, APAs, ambers, and oatmeal stout. I think just a couple of Belgians over the years have been brewed and those were lower ABV Belgian pale ales.

I think that I should brew my first tripel. I would have to order almost everything, as on hand I have mostly US two row, Vienna malt, and maris otter malt and mostly US hops.

I'll check out the recipes in the database, and of course sample some tripels in the meantime! I think that Sprecher (from Milwaukee) has a very nice tripel, so I'll pick some up next weekend while down there. Any other nice tripels I can find in Wisconsin?

And other other helpful hints?

brew houblon's chouffe IPA clone. it's fantastic, and simple

belgian pils
table sugar

hops.

motobrewer said:

brew houblon's chouffe IPA clone. it's fantastic, and simple

belgian pils
table sugar

hops.

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I was just looking at that one! I think that's what I'm leaning towards, and of course I have to buy yeast since I don't have a single Belgian strain on hand!

Tripel is really easy. Pils malt, sugar, hops, yeast.

Target an OG of ~1.080 with at least 10% of the "grist" plain ol' white sugar.* Decide how dry you want it to finish; I like Tripel to be "moreish", so I prefer a low and slow mash. That, combined with the sugar, makes for a nice, dry ending.

You may wish to perform a step mash to enhance foam-promotion.

I don't like to exceed 30 IBU, but that's dependent on the gravity you choose. At 1.080 I think 30 IBU is sufficient. BY NO MEANS use flavor/aroma hops. Gets in the way of the yeast esters.

Speaking of which, I think Trappist High Gravity is de rigeur for the style.

Definitely bottle-condition to 3+ volumes.

Pretty simple, actually, but it can be deceptively so.

Cheers,

Bob

* Don't bother with candisugar. The brewers of the benchmark Tripels don't, so why go to the expense?

Wisconsin has a lot of good beers in almost every style except for Begian beers.

Look toward Westmalle Tripel for inspiration

As Bob said, use a good amount of sugar. I used 15% in one recently and it was quite tasty. And no need to add it in secondary or any of that, just add it towards the end of the boil. If you make a healthy starter, you should get good attenuation with no problem. My tripel had 88% attenuation.

And like Bob said again, it's simple. No need for specialty grains. Just pils, sugar, hops and yeast.

A few other things I just thought of:

* Don't bother using Belgian malt. The brewers of the benchmarks don't. Use a quality European Pils malt you know well; that way you'll get the very best from your mash. I <3 Weyermann. Acquire and actually read the analysis sheet for that batch of malt; it's important.

* You have temperature control for lagering. Consider letting your ferment temperature rise. Dig into that section of Brew Like a Monk and at least consider it.

Cheers,

Bob

Thanks!!!!

I'm going to Northern Brewer on Saturday, and I'll pick up some pils malt (I have used Weyermann in the past and liked it), yeast, and hops.

I'm going to make a California common, an amber, a Pliny clone, and the tripel. That will be a nice mix for me. Thanks again!

Yooper said:

Thanks!!!!

I'm going to Northern Brewer on Saturday, and I'll pick up some pils malt (I have used Weyermann in the past and liked it), yeast, and hops.

I'm going to make a California common, an amber, a Pliny clone, and the tripel. That will be a nice mix for me. Thanks again!

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Sounds like a nice range. Tasty! Enjoy!

I have a mashing question. The last few times I've used Weyermann's pilsner malt (for lagers), I did a protein rest at 133. That seems to work very well, and then I was thinking of doing the saccrification rest at 149/150.

Is there any reason that the higher temp protein rest shouldn't be done with a tripel?

Yooper said:

I have a mashing question. The last few times I've used Weyermann's pilsner malt (for lagers), I did a protein rest at 133. That seems to work very well, and then I was thinking of doing the saccrification rest at 149/150.

Is there any reason that the higher temp protein rest shouldn't be done with a tripel?

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How did your head retention turn out doing a protein rest with the weyermann pilsner? Only reason I can see against it would be the lack of head retention due to both denatured proteins and high abv together. That all depends on how that rest has worked for you in the past with that malt though.

DannPM said:

How did your head retention turn out doing a protein rest with the weyermann pilsner? Only reason I can see against it would be the lack of head retention due to both denatured proteins and high abv together. That all depends on how that rest has worked for you in the past with that malt though.

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Awesome, and I was very happy. I did it as a decoction for the pilsners, though, and not a stepped temperature mash. It was a short rest at 133.