All-Grain Tripel - my first recipe

Looking at some other people's recipes, I've decided to come up with one myself for a Belgian Tripel. Bear in mind that my efficiency is currently about 63%.

Grain:
10 lb Pilsner 2-Row (1.036 SG, 2.0 SRM)
2 lb Munich Malt (1.037 SG, 9.0 SRM)
3 lb Table Sugar (1.046 SG, 1.0 SRM)

Hops:
2.0 oz. Hallertauer (4.8%) @ 60 min
0.5 oz. Tettnang (4.5%) @ 15 min
0.5 oz. Tettnang (4.5%) @ 5 min

Yeast:
White Labs Trappist (WLP500)

Beersmith gives me the following estimates:
OG: 1.083
FG: 1.019
ABV: 8.33%
Color: 6.3 SRM
Bitterness: 31.4 IBU

I do have one question, though. I'm new to all grain. I'm using a modified 5 gallon Home Depot cooler with a stainless steel false bottom (about 1.5" of dead space at the bottom). Will 12 pounds of grain and 15 quarts of water fit?

Not really related to my recipe, but when I'm creating my mash, I've seen people say to put the grain in the cooler first and then add the water to it. When I've done that, air pockets seem to take a few minutes to bubble up to the top and drop the level of the mash. If it takes a few minutes for the whole mash to settle, will I lose heat and will that screw up my mash?

Thanks for either comments about the recipe or answers to my other questions!

Also, if my house is right about 70-72, do I need to worry about temperature control on this batch?

Lastly, should I wait to add the 3 pounds of sugar until a good bit of the other sugars have fermented? Say, halfway through primary? If so, should I boil the sugar before adding it to the fermenter?

Sorry, the questions just keep coming to me.

I've heard that pretty much all of the sugars in Table Sugar ferment out, so should I expect a lower FG from this brew than 1.019?

What I do is to add hot water to the cooler before putting the grains in. After about 5 minutes (once the temp has dropped from heating up the cooler), I check the temp and add my grains. If I need to boost the temp, I am able to do so either before or after adding my grains. Since you're using BeerSmith, you should be able to calculate the temp the strike water needs to be as well as the amount / temp of any water that needs to be added post the addition of the grains.

You can probably add the sugar at any time. There are tutorials on HBT instucting you how to convert sugar to invert sugar that you may want to look at to stay truer to the style. I would say adding it to during the boil would be fine since you aren't going that high in gravity.

I'm not 100% on the temp. You can look up the yeast on White Labs website to see optimal temps for fermentation.

Table sugar will ferment out nearly completely. Some folks will say it gives a cidery flavor and, while it may taste that way to them, I've never had that come out of the few beers I've made with it as an adjunct. Gravity may be lower due to that but BeerSmith should calculate it as fermenting nearly completely so it won't be off by many points.

Hope that helps and I'm sure others will be of much more assistance than myself!

MBM30075 said:

I've heard that pretty much all of the sugars in Table Sugar ferment out, so should I expect a lower FG from this brew than 1.019?

Click to expand...

It might be. Beersmith (at least for me) seems to calculate EVERYTHING fermenting out at the normal attenuation rate of the yeast. (and I mean everything, lactose, maltodextrine, cane sugar, etc, all at the 75% or so)

your FG may very well be a bit lower than that, also depends on your mash temp/time. I add any sugars towards the begining of the boil, for belgians I typically do it around teh 60 min mark of the 90 min boil. As far as fermenting goes, just cool the wort to the low/mid 60's, pitch and let it rise freely. Belgian yeasts like higher temps, but you still want to start it cool. Once it ferements out, drop the temp for conditioning back down to the 60's. This is what I've always read and has worked very well for me.

My FG for AG Tripel using a similar recipe typically finishes out around 1.010 or 1.012. However, I don't add nearly as much sugar as you have in yours. What I do is check my gravity points as I'm boiling and then add enough sugar towards the end of the boil to hit my target OG. This of course changes depending upon my efficiency, but I usually get in the 75%-80% range and add between 1 and 1.5 pounds of sugar.

Mash low and long, say 148-149 for 90 minutes. You'll also want to do a 90 minute boil.

You will want to use the water/tshirt/fan method for the first couple of days of fermentation. You could get solventy aromas/flavors (think nail polish) in the mid-upper 70s. If your ambient is 70-72, the heat generated by this fermentation could raise it as much as 10 degrees. There is a lot of sugar for the yeast to go at really aggresively. Once a bit of your fermentation is finished the danger isn't as great, take away the temperature controls and allow the temperature to rise to whatever it may be. I'd give it at least two days with control. This will help your beer ferment out completely.

I'd save the table sugar for a later addition in primary. Wait until fermentation is JUST starting to wane, then boil up the sugar in a little water, cool it and add it gently in. Any O2 you add should get scrubbed out with the CO2 or get eaten up by the yeast.

Adding the sugar after most of the maltose is used up by the yeast can help avoid a stuck fermentation caused by the yeast snapping up the simple sugars first and then petering out before they can get through the more complex stuff.

Definitely DO NOT add the sugar to the primary dry. Your beer will have tons of CO2 dissolved in it and if you pour dry sugar in it it'll assplode like Mentos in Diet Coke.

You are correct - Beersmith will always default to 75% attenuation. Drives me insane

I need to create yeast/mash profiles that tie into my mash temp...

Synovia said:

It might be. Beersmith (at least for me) seems to calculate EVERYTHING fermenting out at the normal attenuation rate of the yeast. (and I mean everything, lactose, maltodextrine, cane sugar, etc, all at the 75% or so)

Click to expand...