Planning 4th Brew- Belgian Tripel

Hi all-

I just finished up my 3rd brew and I'm already starting the planning process for my 4th. Coming here for some tips, opinions, and obviously...HELP. Just as a note, I'm a 1-gallon brewer right now, so here's what I'm looking at:

http://hbd.org/cgi-bin/recipator/recipator?group=22&item=10065

There's a little blue button above the recipe that says "resize recipe."

After clicking that button, I adjusted the Finished Volume (gallons) to 1 (from 5) and it spit out the following:

All Grain
Grains:
3.00 lb Belgian Pilsner
3.2 oz Belgian Caramel

Mash at 151* for 60 min.

60 minute boil

Hops:
0.12 oz Tradition @ 60 min.
0.12 oz Saaz @ 15 min.

Misc:
3.2 oz Belgian candi sugar @ 15 min.

Yeast:
Wyeast #3787 Trappist High Gravity

Here are my questions, as I'm still very new to brewing:

1) Can I substitute adding Williamette @ 60 min for the Tradition? (I have leftovers from a prior brew) and can I substitute adding East Kent Goldings @ 15 min for the Saaz? (Again, I have leftovers from a prior brew that I'd like to use up)

2) Do I add the Belgian candi sugar @ 15 min into the boil? The same way I add hops?

3) I've only been using dry yeast packets at this point. Is the above yeast the same? Or is it one of those activation packets? Since I'm only doing 1-gallon recipes, would this even be recommended since I don't have a lot of "head space?"

4) How long of a primary fermentation am I looking at. I'm assuming 3-4 weeks, but don't Belgian's take longer?

Thank you all for your help, you've all made it possible for me to already get this far.

1) I would not use those hops. Plan to brew a bitters, ESB, or pale ale for these hops. Saaz and Tradition are good hops for Tripels.

2) 5-15 minutes from end of boil to add the sugar. Note if you haven't bought ingredients yet, just go with simple table sugar, it's pretty much the same thing. Or better yet make a light carmel invert sugar (search for threads here on how to do).

3) 3787 is the belgian strain I use. It is only available as a liquid. This sounds like a great opportunity for you to make your first starter (if you haven't yet). Buy an activator pack from WYeast. Pitch into a 1 or 1.5 quart starter. Let it ferment for 2-3 days, then cold crash in the fridge for 24 hours. Decant off and discard most of the starter beer, swirl the yeast and pitch.

4) 3-4 weeks in primary. If you have a secondary, you could do that for 4-8 weeks also if desired. I wouldn't be surprised if you got to 1.008-1.012 FG with the sugar and 3787 combo, assuming you pitch enough yeast. More ethanol for you. Good Luck!

I mostly agree with solbes


1- use the right hops.

2- You can add the sugar late in the boil, or even let the fermentation go for a few days and boilthe sugar in a little water, cool and add to the fermenter. This seems to give you a drier brew.

3- 3787 is a very good choice for a tripel. For a one gallon brew you can just use the smak pack

4- I prefer to just leave my Belgians in the fermenter for about 6 weeks.

Also after bottling leave them alone for several months. Belgians really do take some time to reach their best flavor.


enjoy.