Quadruple and triple fermented

In the last little while I've been buying and sampling a number of high gravity Belgian ales and I've noticed that sometimes they claim to be fermented three or four times. Is this simply adding more unfermented wort to the brew and kick starting things again, or is there more to it? Is the claim just trying to market a necessary procedure that all other high gravity brewers have to do or is it really a marker of a superior procedure in some way?

Not necessarily more wort, but more sugar for sure. Stepping up the sugar will give the yeast a better shot at fermenting more, and getting a lower final gravity while getting the high percentage desired. Also, they probably consider bottle conditioning as one of the fermentations.

I've been wondering this too. I thought that a tripel was named such because it used 3 times more malt than usual. Then I read the label on a bottle of fin du monde, and it says "triple fermentation".

carnevoodoo said:

Not necessarily more wort, but more sugar for sure. Stepping up the sugar will give the yeast a better shot at fermenting more, and getting a lower final gravity while getting the high percentage desired. Also, they probably consider bottle conditioning as one of the fermentations.

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I did not know that.

Coastarine said:

I've been wondering this too. I thought that a tripel was named such because it used 3 times more malt than usual. Then I read the label on a bottle of fin du monde, and it says "triple fermentation".


I did not know that.

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Tripel is a style and has nothing to do with the number of fermentation cycles the beer goes through. It is much more about the gravity. Then again, the Belgians were never into naming their styles (which is VERY obvious if you try a variety of the same style) but marketing won out and they needed to name them.

carnevoodoo said:

Tripel is a style and has nothing to do with the number of fermentation cycles the beer goes through. It is much more about the gravity. Then again, the Belgians were never into naming their styles (which is VERY obvious if you try a variety of the same style) but marketing won out and they needed to name them.

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Stop it. You're blowing my mind.

I made a point of not using the terms trippel and quad so as to distinguish between the claim of extra fermentation and the style. To my knowledge it all started with the dubbel, which was so named because if contained double the amount of alcohol of traditional brews. The trippels and quads just continued the sequence to denote still stronger brews.

Coastarine said:

Stop it. You're blowing my mind.

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Sorry. I'm a total beer nerd. I read things like "Brew Like a Monk" for fun.

From what I understand, it is in relation to the gravity. Don't believe La Fin du Monde, as it is a common misinterpretation in Quebec that Tripel is a triple fermentation.

I've tried brewing a Duvel (which doesn't great, but I boiled the hops with malt extract) and the yeast can easily support the OG to get to 8-8.5% right at the beginning (Gravity from 1.072-1.008). So why add extra sugar when the yeast can tolerate it right from the start. You're just adding extra work.

Enkel is about 3%, Dubbel about 6%, Tripel about 8-9% and Quadrupel is a brewer's invention. If you think about it, it probably isn't so much the alcohol content, but more likely the amount of malt used, as on the higher end of the scale, efficiency tends to decrease, giving us more like 8% than 9%.

when i was in belgium i asked this question when i was on a tour of the haacht brewery(they mainly brew for local market not export) and the tour guide told me that it was to do with the alcohol content being double(dubbel) or triple(tripel) the normal level.

However i have noticed a trend that tripels tend to be a blond colour(eg. chimay white, westmalle tripel, leffe tripel) whilst dubbels tend to be a brown colour(eg. chimay red, westmalle dubbel).

kinghellsfire_NZ said:

when i was in belgium i asked this question when i was on a tour of the haacht brewery(they mainly brew for local market not export) and the tour guide told me that it was to do with the alcohol content being double(dubbel) or triple(tripel) the normal level.

However i have noticed a trend that tripels tend to be a blond colour(eg. chimay white, westmalle tripel, leffe tripel) whilst dubbels tend to be a brown colour(eg. chimay red, westmalle dubbel).

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Yes, Dubbels typically are brewed using Special B which gives it that "raisiny" flavor profile dubbels are known for and expected. Trippels are typically brewed more along the style of a Golden Strong.

Its not uncommon for them to pitch additional yeast when undergoing multiple fermentations as well.

http://zythophile.wordpress.com/2008/02/28/everything-you-wanted-to-know-about-x/

The link above didn't work for me. This one may be better.

Would I be doing it right this way?

Albeit an old beer, I recently discovered La Fin du Monde by Unibroue in Quebec. If you haven't had it yet, buy it. It's amazing and winner of multiple awards. http://www.unibroue.com/en/beers/la_fin_du_monde/

This beer is listed as triple fermented and it's definitely my favorite right now. I've been toying with a similar recipe and I would like to do two fermentations before bottling. What do you think of this process? This will be my first non-kit experience but still using liquid malt extract.

1. Ferment with dry, cheaper and lower alcohol tolerant yeast
2. Let it run its course
3. Siphon to a second carboy.
4. Add higher alcohol tolerant liquid yeast and yeast nutrients.

Will this work? What problems could I run into? I can supply my intended recipe if you need more info; it's kind of a trappist belgian ale (I think)