Want to try a Tripel

I want to try a Belgian Tripel, but am very new to homebrewing. Any suggestions on kits to try to get my first one brewed?

How new are you to brewing? Are you extract or all grain? What equipment do you have?

MuddyWaters said:

I want to try a Belgian Tripel, but am very new to homebrewing. Any suggestions on kits to try to get my first one brewed?

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If you're truly new to this, my advice would be don't start with a tripel. Not that it's all that difficult as an extract batch (I assume that's what we're talking about), but with the higher starting gravity, we're talking about a beer that's even more prone to attracting wild yeast, stuck fermentation, wort boil-overs, etc. And because it has very little hop bitterness, any problem in the taste will not be covered up w/ hop flavor the way it would be in a hoppier style.

Plus, a tripel is a style that will drink much better after cellaring a few months, which is definitely not something you're going to want to do with a first batch.

(Plus, a tripel is expensive to brew compared to lower gravity styles...)

Pale ales, if you like them, are a great first brew. Your brewing technique will improve dramatically over the first few batches. This also gives you a chance to build up your "beer cellar" a bit so you'll be able to be patient with that tripel when you get around to brewing it.

Just my $.02. Apologies in advance if my assumptions are incorrect.

I have an IPA in bottles (haven't cracked one yet), but that was my first go at it. I am reading the Complete Joy of Homebrewing and it has a recipe in it for an American Tripel using a kit. Papazian makes it sound rather easy so that is why I was going to go for it... The recipe calls for:

6.6lbs of brewferm trappist triple kit
2 lbs of light extract
1 lb of light honey
1 oz of Styrian Goldings hops to finish
Strong Belgian style ale yeast

Does this sound like it is doable for a novice?

MuddyWaters said:

Does this sound like it is doable for a novice?

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Sure, all of Papazian's extract recipe are pretty straight-forward and easy. I didn't mean to scare you off--I was thinking maybe this was your very first batch.

Was your IPA, by any chance, the Palalia IPA from the Papazian CJHB? I really like that recipe. I'm drinking a batch of it now. (Well, not *right* now, unfortunately).