No Trubble - Tripel X

<This is a recipe I'm working on at the moment. Not ready or tested!>

Grain Bill:

10# 2 Row UK
1# Aromatic (Belgian)
1.5 oz Target UK 9.5% (Hops)
1 Wyeast WLP575 used for Starter
3# Belgian Candi Sugar (Home made)

Optional: 2# UK 2 Row for yeast starter minimash (DME was ridiculous price)

Buy or make 3lbs Homemade Belgian Candi Sugar according to HBT.

Make up yeast starter ~269.5B cell count. Recipe calls for 3.9L without stir plate. 1.88L with stir plate.

Original Gravity: 1.079
Final Gravity: 1.007
ABV Content: ~9.7%


Brew day
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Mash in 13.75qt (3.4Gallons) water at 164F for Step temp of 152F @ 60 Min

3 Step batch sparge (0.14 gal, 2.26 gal, 2.26 gal) of 168F water

Boil wort
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Add water if necessary to achieve about 6.5 Gallons of wort
Est Preboil Gravity 1.070

Boil Ingredients:
3lbs Clear Candi Sugar - Boil 60 min
.5oz Target UK Hops - Boil at 60,15 and 5 minutes

Estimated post boil volume: 5.98gal
Estimated post boil gravity: 1.079 SG

Cool wort to fermentation temperature
Transfer wort to fermenter
Add water to achieve 5 gallon volume

Pitch yeast and call it a day.

The following instructions are from Beersmith and I don't always follow their lead on things.

Fermentation steps
Primary Fermentation (4 Days @67F)
Secondary Fermentation (10 Days @ 67F)

Should be bottled/kegged when it reaches 1.007 FG.

Age for 30 days @ 65F...then drink and enjoy.




Notes: My yeast starter is from a mini mash as I didn't harvest the yeast from before. Steps are below. I will be using table sugar for bottle priming and will add that step when I get to it unless my kegerator gets here sooner. Also I primary for a minimum of 1 week and secondary at least 1 more week before taking any readings but that's just me.

Update: 14 days fermentation I took a gravity (1.034) and it looks ass-ton saturated with CO2 in the primary. I aerated and stirred the in the carboy to try and unstick the fermentation while releasing some CO2 in the process. I will check it in 7 days.




My wort yeast starter (My first attempt for big beer yeast starter)
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2lbs UK 2 Row
1 cup Homemade Belgian Candi Sugar
.25 oz Target UK Hops 9.5 AAU
2 Gallons water
1/4 teaspoon Grandma's black strap molasses or your preferred yeast nutrients

Because of the weather I ended up making this inside with BIAB method in a single pot.

Bring water to 164F and steep grains about 60 minutes @ 155F (hind sight, I could have used my new 5 gallon mashtun for this :0/ )

Remove grains and bring to 168F then put grains back in to strike using no more water.

Remove the grains and pull about 1 cup wort off and set to the side

Bring wort to boil for 60 minutes.
Add 1 cup Candi sugar @ 60 minutes and stir until dissolved

Use the 1 cup of wort for a molasses/yeast nutrient addition. Add this at 45 minutes to finish the boil

Chill/cool wort to pitch temperature.

Provides about 1 gallon of quality 1.062 wort.

Pitch yeast pack and put on my super awesome homemade Belicoso Cigar box stir plate that took me all day to perfect for a custom 1 gallon hot sauce jug and my McDonald's straw neodymium magnet stir bar.

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Bottling
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I will be priming at 2.2oz standard table sugar on this recipe per priming calculator recommendations when it's ready.

That is a lot of sugar. Not a complaint, I've used that much before. Just be aware that it is a lot.

Hops?

Actually, I think 2# of sugar in more than 11# of grain is okay. You want a tripel to be dry, and 15%-20% sugar seems to be pretty prevelant for Tripel recipes.

I would also suggest started your ferment low, and then letting it raise after active fermentation..
--LexusChris

@Calder The hops are Target UK 9.5% AA.

I plan on brewing this in the next day or so. I will try to get the recipe up completely but be advised that this is v1 and hasn't been tested yet.

LexusChris said:

Actually, I think 2# of sugar in more than 11# of grain is okay. You want a tripel to be dry, and 15%-20% sugar seems to be pretty prevelant for Tripel recipes.

Click to expand...

He has 3# in the recipe. I'm not saying it is inappropriate, just wanting the OP to understand it is a lot.

Yep I know it's a lot. I brewed this today. I added 30 minutes on boil time and it came to 1.079 OG. I pitched 3 quarts yeast starter in it and added a blow off hose with additional carboy.

I normally wouldn't use 3# of candi sugar in a beer but this was a special order "good beer with a grand slam". ABV estimated is 10%. Edit: It was about 2.5Lbs of candi sugar according to notes.

After two weeks fermentation is stuck at 1.034. Need to figure out how to get it restarted. Already raised temp and swirled three times. It's just not taking off.

Simple sugars will ferment out almost completely, and if you invert them into a simple syrup, I believe, you will still get a very fermentable product, but ......

I've seen threads where people claim that some processes for making homemade candi sugar/syrup, actually reduce the fermentability of the product. I've never had a problem with mine, and personally I don't believe it will make much difference, but it might be worth you doing some research. If there is any truth in this, it could explain your high FG. If you find anything, please report back.

@Calder:

It looks like the problem on the stuck fermentation was a cold draft on the carboy. I elevated it 3.5' off the floor and the temp is stable between 74-76F. The carboy has clouded again and there is a small amount of carbonation that can be seen at the surface. Time will tell but I think this is going to be ok.

Well I was hopeful but here we are and the gravity is 1.032 still. I went to beer store to get caps and talk about what was going on with it. They suggested pitching Safale US-05 as a last resort. So I picked up a pack.

It is my first "starter" yeast recipe that I've done as I was trying to cut down on $9 yeast vials. The LHBS say that I may have aged my yeast too long on my stir plate and it has expired in the process of running the sugars out. I will post an update in the next day or so. I'm looking for 1.010 minimum and ideally 1.007 per recipe specs.

Calder said:

Simple sugars will ferment out almost completely, and if you invert them into a simple syrup, I believe, you will still get a very fermentable product, but ......

I've seen threads where people claim that some processes for making homemade candi sugar/syrup, actually reduce the fermentability of the product. I've never had a problem with mine, and personally I don't believe it will make much difference, but it might be worth you doing some research. If there is any truth in this, it could explain your high FG. If you find anything, please report back.

Click to expand...

I repitched with Safale US-05 about 14 hours ago and there is zero indication of advancing fermentation. So I am thinking you are right about the sugars being the problem. That being said it's still a very good tasting beer at this point. I will go ahead and bottle once it settles out in a few days.

NoTrubble said:

I repitched with Safale US-05 about 14 hours ago and there is zero indication of advancing fermentation. So I am thinking you are right about the sugars being the problem. That being said it's still a very good tasting beer at this point. I will go ahead and bottle once it settles out in a few days.

Click to expand...

You pitched a single packet into a 5.5% abv wort with no O2 (no I'm not recommending you aerate). It is going to take some time for the yeast to do anything. It is probably not going to reproduce, so you are stuck with the population you pitched. many will probably die due to the adverse conditions, but billions will survive. They will take time to adjust. I'd wait a few days before making any decision on whether they are doing anything.

I got a white film on top of it and it looks like acetobacter infection. I was told by someone else to see if a fruit fly had gotten in there. And I spotted one tonight apparently exhausted from the doing the Belgian 200 meter Olympic backstroke. He said the beer would probably taste fine anyway since it is a Belgian design an could use a little souring since I missed my numbers on the homemade candi sugar disaster. So when it settles out I will go ahead and bottle it and see what happens.

Bottled @ 3.3 Vols to counter the sugar. It ended up being 6.4% ABV because of the failed candi sugar. Still very drinkable. I will brew this again but modify my candi sugar recipe/skills.