Triple-Six Tripel

OK SWMBO is going to be out of the house all day Saturday, and I'm trying to fill my kegerator for winter , so I thought I'd throw this recipe together. I'm out of fermenters, oh well, I guess I'll just have to buy another carboy. Pitty me.

Triple Six Tripel

Brewhouse eff. 80%
Boil volume 7 gal
Batch size 5.5 gal
Boil time 90 minutes
OG 1.085 FG 1.010 9% ABV SRM 7 IBU 30

12# Belgian Pils
2# German Munich
2# Turbinado Sugar

10 AAU Mt Hood @60
2.5 AAU Saaz @15
2.5 AAU Saaz @5

2-step mash, infuse 131 1qt/lb 30 min, 149 1.5 qt/lb 90 min. Decoction mashout.

3 weeks primary
2 weeks secondary w/ oak chips

Wyeast 1388 Belgian Strong Ale
2L starter, twice fed

You should mash lower than 152F. I tried 131/144/158 and 131/146. Both came out well but the 146F was nice and dry. Just mash for 90 minutes or so...

What'd you end up at for a FG at 146?

Agreed low and slow is going to be the way to go... like all things in Belgian brewing patience is required.

Og: 1.068
Fg: 1.003

Poobah58, that is an extremely low FG! What yeast did you use that attenuated like that? I agree on the 90 min mash time. I find myself doing longer mashes on my Lagers and Belg style beers. I usually shoot for 148-150 deg on sacc rest. This definetly helps dry the beer out and gives you all that alcahol with a drinkable beer.

Make sure you do a 90 minute boil to rid the DMS.

Yeap Pils malt 90 minute boil, that's why I have 7 gallons instead of 6.5. I thought I put it in there, it was in my notes. I'll edit the OP.

1.003 is insanely low. I'll aim for 148-150 and hold for 90. I'm hoping for FG 1.010 or so.

Thanks all.

Gabe said:

Poobah58, that is an extremely low FG! What yeast did you use that attenuated like that?

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I used Wyeast 3787 and alot of it. Left it in primary 4 weeks. Once it dies down you need to gently swirl 3-4 times a day (I said gently). I started at 1.068 so it's not too out whack. I did another 1.090 Tripel and got it down to 1.010 with the same yeast. That one was tasty but a little too sweet for me. This last one was quite dry, like a Tripel should be IMO.

You may encounter what seems to happen to me for some reason with all Pils batches and low mash temps, in that conversion seems to take over well over 60 minutes, sometimes 90.

I brewed this on 8/23, oaked it yesterday with 1.5oz of French oak light toast. It has been offgassing slowly (a characteristic of the yeast strain I used, according to Wyeast's documentation) so I haven't bothered to take a gravity reading yet. It smells absolutely crazy good in the secondary!

Hydro sample yesterday dropped down to 1.014 for 10.0% ABV.

This bad boy has been on 1.5oz French Oak for a little over a week. I'm going to let it sit a few more days to get a little more oak and then bottle it. Hydro sample tastes and looks great, but it's still quite green, the alcohol heat is a bit overwhelming at this point. Hopefully it will be ready to start drinking before spring rolls around.

Do you know of any other Tripels that have oak flavor to them? I'd be interested to try it.

I just brewed an extract Tripel which is bubbling like mad in the primary right now...the goal is to have it drinkable for a birthday feast at the end of Jan.

Maybe I'll split it into two secondaries, or put a test batch into a gallon jug and oak that.

Saccharomyces said:

Hydro sample yesterday dropped down to 1.014 for 10.0% ABV.

This bad boy has been on 1.5oz French Oak for a little over a week. I'm going to let it sit a few more days to get a little more oak and then bottle it. Hydro sample tastes and looks great, but it's still quite green, the alcohol heat is a bit overwhelming at this point. Hopefully it will be ready to start drinking before spring rolls around.

Click to expand...

I would give it about 3-4 months for the alcohol heat to dissipate. That length of time seems to work well for my strong Belgians ~ 10%.

I really don't know about the oak though. That seems really off-style and to me, unappetizing in a trippel. A strong dark Belgian, on the other hand can really handle a small amount of oakiness.

Allagash Curieux is an oaked tripel. I love tripels, and it's arguably the best commercial one I have ever had (at $17 a bottle it had better be good). I used med. toast French oak, and not very much of it, so the oak wouldn't be over the top. The oak level is close to a Chardonnay right now; it's noticeable, but not overwhelming.