Tips for brewing my first Tripel

I am going to brew a Tripel as a wedding gift for a friend and his finace who are getting married June 2nd. I want to brew it in April so it gets at least 1 solid month of good aging time. Recipe is below, any hints or techniques I should be aware of for brewing a Tripel?

OG: 1.070
FG: 1.009
ABV: 8%
IBU: 23

Fermentables:
Pilsner (Belgian) 11lbs
Aromatic (Belgian) 8oz
CaraPils (Belgian) 4oz
Sugar (Candi) 2lbs

Hops:
Magnum 10%AA .5oz 60m
Hallertauer 3.8%AA .7oz 15m

Yeast:
WLP-530 Abbey Ale

Add the sugar at about Day 3. Start mid 60s, end mid 70s. And, I would brew as soon as possible to give it enough aging time. Oh and my tripel went way lower than the expected FG due to the sugar, yeast and temps.

Mashing temps is an important aspect of a tripel. I did one recently at 149 for 90 minutes (it ended at 147)

Looks like a nice tripel. I second the mash temp notes. My tripel is currently clearing and had a 1.081 OG. I mashed at 147 and it finished at 1.007. This is probably more of a golden strong type dryness, but I'm ok with it. I added some sugar to the last 15 in the kettle and the rest in increments to the primary just after high krausen. Good luck, it sounds like a winner to me.

PS, it fermented forever. It just finished yesterday (3 weeks and 6 days) I moved it to a secondary to clear as 3787 doesn't flocculate well.

Magnum is an... interesting choice for the bittering hop. I would think it's too piney for a tripel. I use Mt. Hood, Liberty, or Styrian Goldings for Belgians depending on what's available to get a smooth, neutral bitterness.

I use Caravienne a lot in tripels. Aromatic is better in a blonde ale, where you want a little more sweetness.

I've written elsewhere about fermentation temps for Belgians. Never try to artifically cool the ferment - it will stop dead and you will not be able to get it going again. This is especially true for the abbey strains. I pitch at 65F and let it warm up to whatever it wants to. Typically it will reach 75-ish before the krausen falls.

Other than that, aerate well and make a big starter. I don't think the late sugar additions are totally necessary - I don't do them and I get full attenuation - but they don't hurt as long as you maintain good sanitation.

Finally, for pale Belgians candi sugar is a rip-off. For dubbels and dark strongs the dark candi sugar is necessary, but the major Belgian breweries all use simple cane sugar for tripels. I use table sugar from Target.

Yeah sicktransit, it is different but I say what the hell...go for it. I just used Galena for my bittering hop, Sorachi Ace for flavor, and Czech Saaz for aroma in mine. I would definitely be careful not to blast a triple with a hop like Magnum!

Everything I have read/experienced, Magnum is a pretty clean bittering hop. I normally only use it for bittering, never flavor or aroma. My choice for the hops is what I had on-hand. I didn't want to buy anything in addition to what I already have.

Isnt your og a little low for a tripel? Not trying to be a knob rather after knowledge i thought triple had higher og

tlazaroff said:

Everything I have read/experienced, Magnum is a pretty clean bittering hop. I normally only use it for bittering, never flavor or aroma. My choice for the hops is what I had on-hand. I didn't want to buy anything in addition to what I already have.

Click to expand...

Go for it man! Nobody ever created something new and wonderful without thinking outside of the box! If you were using an ounce of Magnum to bitter I might hesitate, but a half oz? Rock it!

tchuklobrau said:

Isnt your og a little low for a tripel? Not trying to be a knob rather after knowledge i thought triple had higher og

Click to expand...

Its is low, but still within style.

Soriachi Ace rawks. I wish I could use it more often. It's really good as a substitute for Simcoe in a double IPA.

Also consider some coriander. I use 1-2 tablespoons of freshly crushed seed per 5.5 gallons in my tripels. Gives it some added complexity, IMO.

Hop selection comes down, of course, to personal preference. These days I brew my Belgians strictly to style guidelines - I'm trying to up my game to enter them in competitions - but there's nothing wrong with experimenting. A citrusy hop like Centennial or Simcoe would be very interesting in a tripel. Apparently Chimay has used Cascade hops in the past, but I don't know if they still do.

I think magnum would be an ideal bittering hop for a tripel, its just like a high-strength noble. As long as you do the alpha acid math and get your IBUs right, it doesn't get much more nuetral than magum. dont let the naysayers deter you.

markg388 said:

I think magnum would be an ideal bittering hop for a tripel, its just like a high-strength noble. As long as you do the alpha acid math and get your IBUs right, it doesn't get much more nuetral than magum. dont let the naysayers deter you.

Click to expand...

Yes. I use Magnum for practically all my bittering needs as when you use it as a bittering hop you don't really get any flavor or aroma (at least to my experience) out of it at all. I buy Magnum by the pound and my other hops by the ounce. I find when I use them this way I use less hops (due to Magnum's higher AA%) and have to buy hops less often. The only time I really stray from this method of hopping is when I am following a clone recipe or someone else's recipe.

markg388 said:

I think magnum would be an ideal bittering hop for a tripel, its just like a high-strength noble. As long as you do the alpha acid math and get your IBUs right, it doesn't get much more nuetral than magum. dont let the naysayers deter you.

Click to expand...

+1.... It's a bittering addition, not flavor or aroma! Just calculate your IBU's and your looking awesome! I do late sugar additions just because ive stressed the yeast before when Ive under pitch a little.. Now it's just habit!

I would scale back on some of the sugar... Maybe use about 1.25 lbs of sugar total and replace the amount scaled back with munich malt. 1.25 lbs of sugar is plenty to dry it out .... plus if you use too much sugar it will have a sour apple taste that will not go away with time.... I made that mistake on my 1st tripel and a brewer who created a well known brewery gave me the advice to replace some of the sugar with malt.... 2nd batch came out fantastic .... As good as Chimay white or better.

Looks good to me. I would not add sugar staged, but I would add it late in the boil, to bolster hop utilization. You could sub cara 20l/ caravienne for the cara pils, though both would work well. I do not think 2lb candi sugar is excessive in a Belgian. It will add to the abv without adding a lot of mouthfeel, pretty par for the course. And of course, use a starter. Best of luck!

I agree that he isn't using too much for the style. 20 percent is the upper range of acceptable.

Make sure you pitch plenty of yeast...go to mr. malty.com and use the yeast pitching calculator....aerate well....do a 90 minute mash and 90 minute boil due to the large percentage of pilsner malt. Make sure you start your ferment in the low 60's....that will keep away hot alcohol flavors and will allow the beer to be ready to drink much sooner. After about 4 days start bumping up the temp 1 degree per day over the course of a week...I stopped raising the temp when it got to 70 ...but others have let it go much higher....it's kind of a preference how high you want the temp to go...the higher the finishing temp the more esters produced by the yeast.The last one I did I used these techniques and the beer went from grain to glass in 7 weeks and it was excellent. Remember belgians are mostly about the yeast and the ferment.If you get that part right it'll be like shooting fish in a barrel.

Thank you all for the good replies so far. Here is some additional information.

1- I have about 14.5% sugar, so I think I'm sticking with that. If I need to boost the gravity a little bit, I have some DME I can add late in the boil as well, though I don't think I will do that.
2- I plan to do a 90m mash and boil. My target mash temp. is the 147-149 range. In a 90m mash, I expect to loose a few degrees, so I might start it at 150.
3- Given what I've read, I plan to pitch at 64 degrees and let it raise naturally to whatever it wants to raise to.
4- Mr. Malty suggests a 1.28 liter starter, I plan on pitching a 2 liter starter as I understand with this yeast (WLP530) you can't pitch too much and it stresses easily.

tlazaroff said:

Thank you all for the good replies so far. Here is some additional information.

1- I have about 14.5% sugar, so I think I'm sticking with that. If I need to boost the gravity a little bit, I have some DME I can add late in the boil as well, though I don't think I will do that.
2- I plan to do a 90m mash and boil. My target mash temp. is the 147-149 range. In a 90m mash, I expect to loose a few degrees, so I might start it at 150.
3- Given what I've read, I plan to pitch at 64 degrees and let it raise naturally to whatever it wants to raise to.
4- Mr. Malty suggests a 1.28 liter starter, I plan on pitching a 2 liter starter as I understand with this yeast (WLP530) you can't pitch too much and it stresses easily.

Click to expand...

Good call, I'd definitely do the 2 Liter starter. Oh, if you weren't planning on it already...put a BLOWOFF ON YOUR CARBOY! Big Belgians go ape **** when they take off and attenuate slowly unless you have a big enough starter. I did an 1800 ml for my 1.081 Tripel and it took 4 weeks to work down to 1.007. A nice big starter should help a ton. Good luck!

I forgot to add that a little lagering time doesn't hurt to help clear the beer and get the yeast out of suspension....sounds like you got a good plan.Godspeed man and good luck!

I would suggest to tell the recipients not to rush drinking this. June is pretty close and You might only bottle the weekend before the wedding. Tell them to give it at least 1 month in the bottle before they crack the 1st one b/c you dont want them drinking green beers (it's unlikely they'll know its green, but it wont taste as good as it should).

bctdi said:

I would scale back on some of the sugar... Maybe use about 1.25 lbs of sugar total and replace the amount scaled back with munich malt. 1.25 lbs of sugar is plenty to dry it out .... plus if you use too much sugar it will have a sour apple taste that will not go away with time.... I made that mistake on my 1st tripel and a brewer who created a well known brewery gave me the advice to replace some of the sugar with malt.... 2nd batch came out fantastic .... As good as Chimay white or better.

Click to expand...

Hogwash- 2.0 lbs of sugar isn't your issue with the green apple flavor. Many belgian breweries use more than 15% and they don't taste like green apple. I make my tripel with 12 lbs of base malt and over 2 pounds of sugar and new have had green apple (acetaldehyde). It is a fermentation issue.

jlpred55 said:

Hogwash- 2.0 lbs of sugar isn't your issue with the green apple flavor. Many belgian breweries use more than 15% and they don't taste like green apple. I make my tripel with 12 lbs of base malt and over 2 pounds of sugar and new have had green apple (acetaldehyde). It is a fermentation issue.

Click to expand...

Well I may have mis-described the flavor I got ...it was more of a cidery flavor. I took some of the beer to this pro brewer and he picked up on it right away and said I used too much sugar.I used table sugar (that may have been part of the problem). Anyway the next recipe I scaled back on the sugar by about a pound and increased the malt by that amount , and it was perfect.That was the only thing I changed.I have a ranco temp controller and pitched at 64 f with a large starter and lots of aeration , so I think the ferment was solid. Do you think I could get away with using more sugar if it had been belgian candy sugar? I still have some of that original tripel that was brewed over a year ago and that flavor never went away.If it was a ferment issue I would expect it would go away with time.

bctdi - you should really pick up "brew like a monk" . You can easily get away with 20% sugar, and that all being table sugar if you want. I believe Radical brewing also comments how people are scared of sugar, and shouldn't be.

The cidery or green apple flavors appear to be off-flavors from elsewhere in a brewer's routine. Many pros have acknowledged in various different places that those off flavors are not from using table sugar. I think its an old wives tale that we all fear. If a pro brewer says told you that it came from sugar, Id hazard a guess that the beers they brew musn't use sugar. Listen to Jamil Z's podcasts, he even goes as far as to claim that you can't tell the difference between table sugar and candi sugar in a beer. Be mindful though, dubbels, quads, and other dark strongs require the use of dark candi sugar which imparts flavors VERY different from table sugar. I've been told by way too many good brewers that the old wives tale simple isn't true. I haven't had any issues yet...

mhenry41h said:

The cidery or green apple flavors appear to be off-flavors from elsewhere in a brewer's routine. Many pros have acknowledged in various different places that those off flavors are not from using table sugar. I think its an old wives tale that we all fear. If a pro brewer says told you that it came from sugar, Id hazard a guess that the beers they brew musn't use sugar. Listen to Jamil Z's podcasts, he even goes as far as to claim that you can't tell the difference between table sugar and candi sugar in a beer. Be mindful though, dubbels, quads, and other dark strongs require the use of dark candi sugar which imparts flavors VERY different from table sugar. I've been told by way too many good brewers that the old wives tale simple isn't true. I haven't had any issues yet...

Click to expand...

I know I've read somewhere (palmer's book I think) where he describes cidery flavors that can come from too much sugar, but it seems as though not too many others have had a problem. Just trying to pinpoint what went wrong with my first brew so I don't repeat it.I remember with the 1st tripel I dumped some in towards the end of the boil...then some raw sugar into the fermenter when the bubbling started to slow....then 1 more time when it started to slow again. On the next batch I put some in towards the end of the boil....then some in the fermenter when bubbling slowed (except this time I boiled some water and made a sugar slurry).My notes say my sugar content was about 18% of the total grain bill on the 1st batch....I guess it's possible I miscalculated and added more than that.

theschick said:

bctdi - you should really pick up "brew like a monk" . You can easily get away with 20% sugar, and that all being table sugar if you want. I believe Radical brewing also comments how people are scared of sugar, and shouldn't be.

Click to expand...

Yep, I need to get that book!

Thank you all for the tips!
I brewed today, and it went off very well! I missed my OG, but I can just call it a Belgian Strong Ale I guess. Everything else was great.

Quick question regarding fermentation. I have had several recommendations from several forums (this included) saying to pitch at about 64 degrees and let the beer warm up how the yeast wants it to (to about mid 70's). I have a 2 liter started on a stir-plate right now and the beer wasn't getting down to 64 in my basement. I built a swamp cooler (bucket w/ water that I put the fermenter in and a towel with a fan on it) to help get the beer to 64. When the beer reaches 64 and I pitch, should I get rid of the swamp cooler? keep it in there? turn off the fan only? I plan on pitching tomorrow, so any help would once again, be much appreciated.

tlazaroff said:

Thank you all for the tips!
I brewed today, and it went off very well! I missed my OG, but I can just call it a Belgian Strong Ale I guess. Everything else was great.

Quick question regarding fermentation. I have had several recommendations from several forums (this included) saying to pitch at about 64 degrees and let the beer warm up how the yeast wants it to (to about mid 70's). I have a 2 liter started on a stir-plate right now and the beer wasn't getting down to 64 in my basement. I built a swamp cooler (bucket w/ water that I put the fermenter in and a towel with a fan on it) to help get the beer to 64. When the beer reaches 64 and I pitch, should I get rid of the swamp cooler? keep it in there? turn off the fan only? I plan on pitching tomorrow, so any help would once again, be much appreciated.

Click to expand...

You want to keep it under about 68-69 for the first ~2 days, then let it go. I just did a Tripel w/ 13% sugar that I kept at 67 for 3 days, then increased to 72 for the rest of fermentation. I got 83.3% attenuation (1090-1014) and I'll be bottling tomorrow.


There's another "how to use belgian yeast" thread that you should look at as well as I think the fermentation of Belgian's is the most important factor

For complexity I would actually add some flaked wheat, oats or rye and dump the specialty grains. For my next batch, also a tripel, I'm thinking of using Wyeast Forbidden Fruit. The esters produced by the strain are awesome.

I did this for my last Belgian beer... Take two pounds of table sugar. Split in half. Caramelize the first pound by adding some water to a saucepan with then sugar. When it starts to turn golden, take off the heat and immediately add to the mash. Add the second # towards after the boil is finished. (boil another 10 mins to pasteurize). This is a substitute for all the Belgian candi sugar options.

age it well.
All of Belgians I brewed needed >3 months for flavors to calm down.
my last tripel (8.5%, wyeast 3787) took ~ 3months for it to be presentable.

Just FYI, Belgian Candi sugar can be made out of regular table sugar by adding 1/4 tsp citric acid per pound of sugar to a pot with the sugar, and just enough water to make a paste. Then heat it quickly WHILE STIRRING to hard crack temperature (300°F) and voila! You have invert sugar which is structurally identical to Belgian candi sugar made from beets. If you want amber or dark candi sugar, just hold the temperature between 260-270 till it reaches the disired color and then heat to 300. Just make sure its cooled down below 180° or so before you add it the boil, or you'll get a nice violent explosion of hot wort and sugar.

Candi sugar is not invert sugar--it goes through the Malliard reaction, particularly for the darker colours. It's really fun to do.

If you want to make your own start here .
And then read these.
Articles on Candi Syrup:
http://ryanbrews.blogspot.com/2012/02/candy-syrup-right-way-hint-weve-been.html (read the comments)
http://nateobrew.blogspot.com/2011/08/candi-syrup-secrets-and-how-to-make.html
http://lifefermented.wordpress.com/2013/06/11/diy-belgian-candy-syrup-1-sugar-science/
http://suigenerisbrewing.blogspot.ca/2013/09/making-belgian-candi-sugar.html
http://suigenerisbrewing.blogspot.ca/2013/10/belgian-candi-sugar-ii.html