Belgian Tripel Belgian Trippel (2006 World Beer Cup Gold Medal: Dragonmead Final Absolution clone)

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Good luck! I think your gonna love it. I considered doing a scaled down version of this also in the near future. Although I love the original, I thought about shooting for a 7.5 - 8.0% range next time.
 
I am planning to brew this beer. Im just curious about the hop schedule. Why is Hallertau used as a bittering addition when it seems it’s supposed to be such a nice aroma hop? Would bittering with magnum and using hallertau as the last two additions in place is s.g. and saaz yield a significantly different beer?
 
I'm also planning on brewing this one.
My LHBS has a few options for the Pilsner malt. Not sure which one to choose (or if it even matters).
https://www.beermeistersupplies.com/swaen-pilsner-malt-1-lb.html
https://www.beermeistersupplies.com/weyermann-bohemian-pilsner-malt-1-lb.html
https://www.beermeistersupplies.com/weyermann-pilsner-malt-1-lb.html
https://www.beermeistersupplies.com/avangard-pilsner-malt-1-lb.html

The SRM on all are close to the same. Any opinions on which one I should use?
 
I'm also planning on brewing this one.
My LHBS has a few options for the Pilsner malt. Not sure which one to choose (or if it even matters).
https://www.beermeistersupplies.com/swaen-pilsner-malt-1-lb.html
https://www.beermeistersupplies.com/weyermann-bohemian-pilsner-malt-1-lb.html
https://www.beermeistersupplies.com/weyermann-pilsner-malt-1-lb.html
https://www.beermeistersupplies.com/avangard-pilsner-malt-1-lb.html

The SRM on all are close to the same. Any opinions on which one I should use?

All are decent malts but I would go for the Swaen if the price is not an issue. It's from the Netherlands and is closer to a Blegian pilsner than the others, which are all German. A close second would be the normal Weyermann if you want to save a bit.

Are those prices per pound by the way?
I just bought a 25Kg (55 pound) sack of Swaen pilsner here for 21 euro.
Which works out about 45 US cents a pound.
It was with a bulk buy discount but it still only costs about 75 cents a pound with small quantities.
Seems like the US importers have a huge mark up.
Just like in Europe with the imported American hops.
 
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Yes, those prices are per pound. There may be big discounts when buying a 50-55lb bag...though they don't have those listed on their website.
Since the recipe calls for almost 30lb, it may be beneficial to buy an entire bag. I'll have to ask them about that.
Though then I'll have to be sure to brew something else with that malt soon afterwards. I'm not set up for grain storage, but can get a new, clean 5-gal bucket and lid and store it in the basement.
Thanks for the input.

EDIT - I did call the LBHS and it's $44.99 for a 55lb bag. About $.82 per pound that way. Less than half the $1.75 per pound price. I'll go that route.

Thanks.
 
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I'm going to finally brew this on Saturday. I do electric BIAB and have a boil condenser so my boil-off is lower. I put the hops in a fine-mesh bag in the kettle.

Does anyone else here who does BIAB brewing use the BIABacus spreadsheet to calculate volumes on a brew day? I'm definitely not an expert with BIABacus, but want to use it since it's free and is supposed to be better for BIAB brewing. But I'm having some issues with BIABacus saying I need to use 32.25 lbs of Pilsner malt and 3.91lbs of the Munich and sugar. It also says I need just a bit more of each of the hops.

Yeah, I could just ignore keeping track of the numbers, but I'm wanting to become a better brewer and this info will help me get better at repeatable results.

I can't attach the spreadsheet because the file type isn't allowed.

Also, can I use American Crystal sugar instead of the Candi Sugar? I believe the American Crystal is made from beets also (I live in MN, and there's a huge beet industry on in the Red River area - border between MN and ND).
 
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I did end up using the Crystal granulated sugar from the grocery store.
Ended up with 1.080 FG. Too much wort in to the fermenter though. I think I have about 12-13 gallons instead of 11.
Dodged a near miss on the grain bag - the hook I connect the ratchet pulley on the ceiling started un-bending and straightening out. If that would have gave way, there would have been a big hot splash and mess when the bag fell back into the near boiling hot brew kettle.
Gotta get a stronger hook on the ceiling, and maybe a block and tackle instead of a simple single pulley.
Now fermenting at 69F for a couple weeks and I'll check the gravity again then.
 
Sorry for the 1-man band thing going on here.
I checked the gravity today (1 week after brewing) and it's down to 1.008. That was quick. That means ABV of 9.5% according to the BIABacus. 9.36% according to Brew Target. I took a taste and it seemed a bit too much on the sweet side.

Even though this is already ready to bottle according to the gravity reading, Should I leave this in the fermenter for another week or two? I have the capability to cold-crash also - since I have a DIY glycol chiller - so should I also do that?

One thing sort of odd that I noticed when checking the gravity today...it almost "seemed" carbonated. There were little tiny bubbles raising up in the hydrometer flask. I took a couple pictures and it had what looked like a head and lacing. I know it really can't be carbonated since I'm using a plastic fermenter with an airlock (which had no activity in it during fermentation due to the leaky nature of the plastic conical fermenters). But it sure seemed like it might have been.

IMG_20190817_073839811.jpg IMG_20190817_073853443.jpg
 
Sorry for the 1-man band thing going on here.
I checked the gravity today (1 week after brewing) and it's down to 1.008. That was quick. That means ABV of 9.5% according to the BIABacus. 9.36% according to Brew Target. I took a taste and it seemed a bit too much on the sweet side.

Even though this is already ready to bottle according to the gravity reading, Should I leave this in the fermenter for another week or two? I have the capability to cold-crash also - since I have a DIY glycol chiller - so should I also do that?

One thing sort of odd that I noticed when checking the gravity today...it almost "seemed" carbonated. There were little tiny bubbles raising up in the hydrometer flask. I took a couple pictures and it had what looked like a head and lacing. I know it really can't be carbonated since I'm using a plastic fermenter with an airlock (which had no activity in it during fermentation due to the leaky nature of the plastic conical fermenters). But it sure seemed like it might have been.

View attachment 640335 View attachment 640336
That looks like an awesome brew. I generally crash everything that I brew, just what I do. When I know it is finished, I crash for a day or two and package it. The bubbles are just coming out of solution. I just smacked my yeast for my Triple that I make. Recipe isn't too far from this. Once it conditions for a couple months, man nothing like Belgian beers! I've been saving all of my heavy bottles. I've been falling short on the CO2 that makes that awesome head. No more kegging Belgians, just not the same as bottle conditioned. Nice Job!
 
I've waited 2.5 weeks after bottling and made sure the temps have been around 70-72F minimum. I still get little to no carbonation. Do I just need to wait longer?

The last beer I brewed had the same problem - and I'm wondering if cold-crashing and bottling don't mix. I've seen where people say they cold crash and have no trouble with bottle carbing, but I'm wondering if I'm doing something wrong.

I've cold crashed down to about 37F is the lowest I can get. Am I not getting enough yeast to bottle carbonate? I ended up with about 10.5 gallons of beer and used 10oz of corn sugar for batch priming.

I'm hoping I just need to wait longer and will end up with carbonated beer.
 
I've waited 2.5 weeks after bottling and made sure the temps have been around 70-72F minimum. I still get little to no carbonation. Do I just need to wait longer?

The last beer I brewed had the same problem - and I'm wondering if cold-crashing and bottling don't mix. I've seen where people say they cold crash and have no trouble with bottle carbing, but I'm wondering if I'm doing something wrong.

I've cold crashed down to about 37F is the lowest I can get. Am I not getting enough yeast to bottle carbonate? I ended up with about 10.5 gallons of beer and used 10oz of corn sugar for batch priming.

I'm hoping I just need to wait longer and will end up with carbonated beer.
The amount of yeast shouldn't be the problem -- you'd have to filter or do a VERY good series of cold-crash/transfers to really get almost all yeast gone.

If you have a Finishing Hydrometer, you could open one, degass, and measure the gravity to verify that it had consumed the priming sugar and returned to the FG measurement from before you added priming sugar. Your standard priming sugar addition would have added about 0.003 gravity.

I once had a tripple seem to have problems carbonating, or seem undercarbonated, after a month+.
(Safety warning: if you don't know why you aren't supposed to do this, don't try it)
What I did was chill them, and very carefully open each bottle, add a couple of the small priming sugar tablets (the kind that usually need 4-5 per bottle), and immediately re-cap.
Let warm back to room temperature, and give each a good shake the next day to make sure the sugar was well mixed.
Then I stored them in a large plastic container for a month, and gave it a good mild shake before opening to make sure I didn't have any exploding bottles. It turned out good.
 
Is it better to shake up the bottles now and again? Or just leave them sit?
when bottling with sugar (heck, even when kegging with sugar) , I always give a gentle shake a day later to ensure that no stratification is happening. It's easy, might not matter sometimes, might help sometimes.
 
I went to Unmapped Brewing tonight in Minnetonka, MN. I've had their Belgian Tripel before I brewed mine - and when I had it tonight, it wasn't highly carbonated. Yes, more than mine currently is, but not as much as I would prefer. They tasted very similar though.
I might see kegging in my future.
 
I brewed this back in August. All went well and I hit all my numbers. Long fermentation, cold crashed and bottled in new Belgian Bottles since I had anticipated higher than usual carbonation. Then waited...

One month, nothing, two months, nothing. Somewhat surprised I started to look closely at things.

When I capped my new Belgian bottles using my standard gold caps, I noticed the capping felt different when using my bench capper. I inspected things, even removed several caps which did seem like they were firmly attached although they did appear to sit higher on the bottle.

I took six bottles of the aging Tripel and added a touch of dry yeast and recapped each. I placed these bottles upside down in the case so they sit on the cap. Then waited a week.

Inspecting these bottles after the week revealed 5 of the 6 had seeped around the cap. Two had actually leaked a tablespoon or so of beer. I concluded from this that the missing carbonation actually had leaked out of the rather poorly capped bottles.

So here's my question. For those of you who use Belgian bottles, do you use a special cap for this bottle. Maybe a metric item?
 
Are you talking about New Belgium Brewery bottles (US)? Or Belgian cork/ cap bottles? I use the New Belgium (US) bottles and have never noticed a problem. The Belgian cork/cap bottles are a different size.

Edit: I save the Belgian cork/cap bottles, but I haven't used them yet. Was planning on plastic champagne corks with wire closures.

2nd edit: I just measured, an the Belgian bottles are 29mm, while standard US bottles are 26.5mm.
 
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Here you go:
L to R, standard US bottle, 26.5mm
Belgian cork/cap bottle, 29mm
Belgian cork bottle, 32mm

I just did a quick search, Midwest Supplies carries them, as well as Amazon. Never used them, wondering if a standard capper will work?
 
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I purchased my Belgian bottles from Northern Brewer. No idea where they may have originated. They do look like the center bottle in Dave's response. I measured 26.7mm max OD at the cap position. All I know is std caps will leak/seep on these bottles when using a rather nice bench capper.
 
If you are getting a measurement of 26.7 mm and are comfortable that that is an accurate measurement, the standard caps should work fine, that is only an .008" difference.
Instead, the weird collar may be giving your capper a problem.
I normally use a hand capper (on normal bottles) because I get a tighter crimp than I get with my bench capper. Might be worth checking out.
 
The collar does appear taller which would also explain the feel of the capping. As it stands, I'll probably dump this brew. Not happy. I've been brewing for about ten years. This will be the first batch I've dumped. Appreciate the feedback guys...
 
I've used a colonna [sic] capper for the past year or two. I also have a number of belgian bottles in cases from when I lived in europe. I've never had an issue using standard bottle caps with Rodenbach, Chimay, St. Bernardus, Westmalle, or Duvel bottles (11.2-12oz). The only time I've run into an issue with Belgian bottles is the 750 ml duvel ones, which seem to, in fact, have the wider bottle cap.

Never had any issues with those bottles losing the cap, or otherwise weeping/leaking.
 
I use bottles from : Molson Lowenbrau, Labatt classique ( yes I'm a very old fart :) ) , Bass Pale Ale, Rochefort, Westvleteren , Westmalle , Orval, Hoegaarden wit . I never have any trouble using a column capper and crown caps from my local hobby store in Montreal. I use the standard caps , not the caps for the twist off bottles.
 
I use bottles from : Molson Lowenbrau, Labatt classique ( yes I'm a very old fart :) ) , Bass Pale Ale, Rochefort, Westvleteren , Westmalle , Orval, Hoegaarden wit . I never have any trouble using a column capper and crown caps from my local hobby store in Montreal. I use the standard caps , not the caps for the twist off bottles.

12 oz or 750ml?
 
The bottles I'm talking about are the 330 ml / 12 0z. I don't have any 750 ml bottles with caps, I use 750 ml cork bottles from Unibroue. A 750 ml bottle with metal cap looks cheap ;) Of course tripel is one of my favourite style .It is a simple no frill recipe. I like to add 0.5 kg/ 1 lb of flaked wheat.
 
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Hello everyone!

Currently deciding on making the LME or AG version of this beer.

I have read up and down this post and cannot find which version is better! I have both recipes in BS3. It looks like the recipe for LME is hitting all the right numbers but I am worried the taste will be off. Thoughts? My AG is not hitting correctly in BS3.
 

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I brewed 4 batches of begian dubble using LME. Using LME for that beer is not a problem because the recipe includes 3 specialty malts and dark candi syrup. On the other hand the tripel doesn't have a lot of specialty malts to hide behind. So far all the tripels I brewed were AG ( because i invlude some flaked wheat in my recipe ) If you go the LME way be sure to buy good and fresh pilsner LME . If you are in north america i highly recommend Briess CBW Pilsen light LME.
 
I purchased my Belgian bottles from Northern Brewer. No idea where they may have originated. They do look like the center bottle in Dave's response. I measured 26.7mm max OD at the cap position. All I know is std caps will leak/seep on these bottles when using a rather nice bench capper.
Sorry for the late response, I use champagne bottles (collect from bottle recyclers/parties etc) and "tirage" caps, you will need a tirage bell which fits the automatica bench capper (may fit others, best to get capper and bell from same supplier just to be sure), just unscrew the existing bell and screw on the new one. Champagne bottles are about as high as you can get for pressure so a reduced risk of bottle bombs when going for high carb levels, also they all seem to be manufactured with a "standard" neck, I have European and Australian and never had a leak. The only downside is their colour, being green (usually) you need to keep them somewhere dark to prevent any chance of "skunking" not really a problem for something that's going to be stored under the house or in a far corner for extended ageing. I also use them for my RIS's, minimum 12 months, and have some 6yrs old with no problems. Stick with the "normal" looking ones as the fancy shaped ones take up too much space, hope this helps. Cheers G
 
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I went in the other direction. Found this floor corker on Amazon for ~$60.

IMG_20191212_165534239.jpg


Much cooler than a cap!

More expensive and time consuming than caps, but it's worth it for those special beers.
 
Sorry to bring up an old thread - hoping for a second opinion or confirmation of my fermenting plans...
I'm going to brew this beer next. Going to make 10 gallons and ferment under pressure in 2 corny kegs. I plan on buying 2 packs of Wyeast 3787 and make a starter from each (I have two 2-liter Erlenmeyer flasks). One starter for each keg.

I'm using Brewers Friend for calculations. Estimating 1.082 for OG. Using 4.8 gallons of wort in each keg (making calculations separately for each keg, not 9.6 gallons total).

I don't know the date of the yeast, so I'm selecting 9/4/23 as a guess.
Using Pro Brewer 1.25 (Ale, or High Gravity Ale) selection.

Brewers Friend says I'll have 69 billion cells available but need 449 billion cells.
It looks like I need a 2-step 2L starter at 1.040 to get up to 617 billion cells.

Does this look to be correct? Or a good choice?

Thanks.
 
A 2L starter of 3787 should be fine. I’ve done a 2L starter on the WLP500 with this recipe several times and it fermented just fine
 
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