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

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HuRRiC4Ne

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 14, 2009
Messages
87
Reaction score
15
Location
Michigan
Recipe Type
All Grain
Yeast
WLP500
Yeast Starter
no
Additional Yeast or Yeast Starter
Used two WLP500 vials
Batch Size (Gallons)
6
Original Gravity
1.082
Final Gravity
?
Boiling Time (Minutes)
60mins
IBU
?
Color
Yello
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
14days 69F
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
21 Days @69F
Additional Fermentation
.
Tasting Notes
Light banana, fruity with some spice hints...
Let me start of by saying, this recipe is simple to make. I converted over to extracts to save on prep time. I wanted something simple that most can make. The Belgian is going to be a clone of a 2006 Gold Medal winner in the World Beer cup in 2006 (Dragonmead Final Absolution). I was lucky enough to get the recipe. I converted the recipe over to LME and DME. I made a few changes to it also. I changed the 60mins hops from Hallertauer Mittelfruh to German Hallertau and used DME amber instead of munich malt. I didn't use a starter either, I opted for using two vials of WLP500 instead (so i wouldn't have to wait). I regret not making a starter though, because It took 24 hours before it took off. I had to stir it up a little bit then it started fermenting instantly.

Let me know what you guys think? I'm dabating on adding another 3.3lbs of Pilsner light LME to get around 10%. But I'm not sure how the the final gravity will end up at. I heard some people with attenuation of around 85%. I figure if i get 77% then this will be 8.2%. The recipe is supposed to be 8.5%. I think I just may leave this alone and see how it comes out then go from there. I will keep everyone updated on how it comes out.

Day 5: It has a very nice smell of a light banana, fruit hints with some spice! WOW, can't wait until this is done!
Day 6: Took hydro reading of 1.020 (thats 8% after 6 days) Smells very good! Has the look and consistancy of a Belgian but it's cloudy (but that's expected), has a very nice yellow color. I'm waiting until day 10 to 14 to rack into secondary.
Day 10: 1.016 gravity, going to give it a few more days before i rack it into the secondary.
Day 16: Reracked into secondary, 1.016 gravity still.
Day 32: Kegged it!!!! same gravity and all I can say is WOWWWWW
Here is a video review of the beer i'm cloning:

Extract:
3 x 3.3lbs Pilsner Light malt extract LME
1 x 1lbs Amber DME
1 x 1.5lbs Belgian Candy
12.4 total pounds of fermentables

Hops: (IBU came out at 23 but you can range from 20 to 25)
2 oz. German Hallertau 3.8%AA 60min
1 oz. Styrian Goldings 3.4% AA 30min
1 oz. Saaz 2.8% AA 3min

Yeast:
2 x WLP500 Trappist Ale Yeast

Notes:
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I just finished this, and all can say is WOW!!! I went to a local brewery near me that had some Belgian Gran Cru and I took a growler home with me. Very little difference between the two. This beer is amazing and i'm making a second batch soon!
 
Think this will be my next brew. I love a good triple.

Can't go wrong with it, from start to finish 30 days... This beer was gone in 5 days, all my friends loved it. Even my girlfriend who doesn't like beer. It's funny, I haven't had ONE person say they didn't like it.

If there was anything i could change, i would try to keep the IBU's down. I was at 23IBU's. I mean, it was still good though!

I would suggest this hop combo.. and really try to hit the .8 and such, i think it might a light difference on the hop profile. If you noticed, i used different hops, it was because i had to sub them in as replacements. (brew shop didn't have hallertauer mittelfruh)

1.8oz hallertauer mittelfruh
.4oz styrian goldings
.8 chzech saaz
 
I would suggest this hop combo.. and really try to hit the .8 and such, i think it might a light difference on the hop profile. If you noticed, i used different hops, it was because i had to sub them in as replacements. (brew shop didn't have hallertauer mittelfruh)

1.8oz hallertauer mittelfruh
.4oz styrian goldings
.8 chzech saaz

I will give it a shot, somehow my LHBS is always missing something so I totally understand making the substitutions.
 
I brewed this and so far it tastes great. So many thanks for the recipe! I made mine a partial mash and added a little bit more grain with the same amount of LME and sugar. I had a few Belgians myself before I started, so I don't actually know how much I actually added, it was mostly pale 2-row and a little crystal. Got a OG of 1.095-took it 3 to 4 days to show any life using the two vials of yeast. However, after a week its down to 1.029 and still bubbling away at ~9% alcohol. I'm hoping to get the same attenuation as you, and that will bring it up a little bit more. I think I might need to raise temp to get it to finish off though-I have never brewed anything with this high of a gravity before. No off flavors yet and tastes surprisingly clean with a nice bit of fruit. It does have a little bit of an alcoholic punch though.

I also lowered the fermentation temperature to 66 to 68 after it started. I dont know if this will make a huge difference though. I also took your advice and lowered the IBUs to about 21. Have you brewed this again since the orginal batch?
 
I brewed this and so far it tastes great. So many thanks for the recipe! I made mine a partial mash and added a little bit more grain with the same amount of LME and sugar. I had a few Belgians myself before I started, so I don't actually know how much I actually added, it was mostly pale 2-row and a little crystal. Got a OG of 1.095-took it 3 to 4 days to show any life using the two vials of yeast. However, after a week its down to 1.029 and still bubbling away at ~9% alcohol. I'm hoping to get the same attenuation as you, and that will bring it up a little bit more. I think I might need to raise temp to get it to finish off though-I have never brewed anything with this high of a gravity before. No off flavors yet and tastes surprisingly clean with a nice bit of fruit. It does have a little bit of an alcoholic punch though.

I also lowered the fermentation temperature to 66 to 68 after it started. I dont know if this will make a huge difference though. I also took your advice and lowered the IBUs to about 21. Have you brewed this again since the orginal batch?

I would give it more time to get the attenuation down a little bit, It will come down eventually. A possible re-rack into the secondary will give it another boost after 10 to 14 days.

I made a double with my last batch, it came out good. But not as good as this... I'm going to make this batch again soon. My plans are to get a starting gravity around yours, and i'm going to limit the hops slightly. I want to achieve somewhere around 20 to 21. I was thinking about adding this much 1.8oz hallertauer mittelfruh, .4oz styrian goldings, .8 chzech saaz.

But all in all, I don't want to alter this recipe that much. I think i'm pretty spot on with what I was trying to do. I just came back from Europe and visited Belgium and Holland and let me tell you this. This beer can hang with the best of them.

Also, I don't suggest using two vials with that high of a gravity (it's still not enough yeast to kick it off in a good fermentation). Next time have a starter ready. I saved all my yeast, what I did is. I took the yeast cake on the bottom of the bucket and put a little tap water in it. Mixed it up and split it in four mason jars. I used two of them already, one on the double and the other for a Christmas beer.

Best of luck, and keep us updated on your final results.
 
Definitely want to try this one. On your belgian candy, did you use clear or dark? I assumed clear due to your description of a light color, but I wanted to make sure.
 
Definitely want to try this one. On your belgian candy, did you use clear or dark? I assumed clear due to your description of a light color, but I wanted to make sure.

I used dark candy and crystal malt, so mine is a really dark golden color.

I would give it more time to get the attenuation down a little bit, It will come down eventually. A possible re-rack into the secondary will give it another boost after 10 to 14 days.

I made a double with my last batch, it came out good. But not as good as this... I'm going to make this batch again soon. My plans are to get a starting gravity around yours, and i'm going to limit the hops slightly. I want to achieve somewhere around 20 to 21. I was thinking about adding this much 1.8oz hallertauer mittelfruh, .4oz styrian goldings, .8 chzech saaz.

But all in all, I don't want to alter this recipe that much. I think i'm pretty spot on with what I was trying to do. I just came back from Europe and visited Belgium and Holland and let me tell you this. This beer can hang with the best of them.

Also, I don't suggest using two vials with that high of a gravity (it's still not enough yeast to kick it off in a good fermentation). Next time have a starter ready. I saved all my yeast, what I did is. I took the yeast cake on the bottom of the bucket and put a little tap water in it. Mixed it up and split it in four mason jars. I used two of them already, one on the double and the other for a Christmas beer.

Best of luck, and keep us updated on your final results.

My attenuation didn't come down that much more, ended up at 21 like yours, but I think that might be due to mashing my grains at too high of a temperature. Not overly sweet at all even though a higher gravity. I let it sit in the secondary at 75F for three weeks and it reduced some of the spicy alcohol and estery flavors by a lot, but didn't reduce gravity. It also might be due to me not using a starter, which I would also highly recommend too. Still at about 11%, I think this is okay.

Really excited to taste this in about 2 months-I am bottle conditioning this beer with a little S-05 added in the bottling bucket. Its going to take some time to carb up properly. Plan on keeping some of this to condition until the summer and drinking the rest in the mean time.

Thanks for recipe, it tastes great already. :mug:
 
Definitely want to try this one. On your belgian candy, did you use clear or dark? I assumed clear due to your description of a light color, but I wanted to make sure.

I used clear, but I actually used beet sugar. Which is the same thing and 1/3 the price.
 
In reply to togabear,

I'm glade it taste good for you! I'm going to make this batch again soon myself. It was a big hit with all my friends. And it's one of those beers that you can get a girl to drink, it's also pretty strong...

As far as aging goes, I suggest around 45 days to 60 days. But it's most defiantly ready to drink at 30 days.
 
Did any of you that made this follow the All-Grain version?? Just want to make sure that the conversion here was accurate. Excited to try this one. Thanks!

Also, my LHBS only has 1 WLP500, so I could just make like a 2 liter starter and pitch it after a couple days right??
 
I made the extract version, but I used a 1L starter. (I'll have to see if I can find any unused 2L erlenmyer flasks at work). I couldn't wait and tasted it after 3 weeks in the bottle. Still WAY undercarbed, but it is gonna be an awesome beer.
 
I'm interested in doing the all-grain version of this as well. I'm going to be using amber candi sugar, and I'm ordering the grains right now.

We'll see how it turns out.
 
Can't go wrong with it, from start to finish 30 days... This beer was gone in 5 days, all my friends loved it. Even my girlfriend who doesn't like beer. It's funny, I haven't had ONE person say they didn't like it.

If there was anything i could change, i would try to keep the IBU's down. I was at 23IBU's. I mean, it was still good though!

I would suggest this hop combo.. and really try to hit the .8 and such, i think it might a light difference on the hop profile. If you noticed, i used different hops, it was because i had to sub them in as replacements. (brew shop didn't have hallertauer mittelfruh)

1.8oz hallertauer mittelfruh
.4oz styrian goldings
.8 chzech saaz

I just brewed this one but I'm still not clear how you guys are saying you can drink an almost 9% beer in 30 days. Not really possible. Sure you can drink anything right after you bottle it, but I've never met someone that could brew a 9% beer and have it "ready" that quick.

Please explain. Thanks.
 
Had Dragonmead's Final Absolution again over the weekend. That's one fine brew. I'm going to have the give the clone a try in the near future.
 
Well, at least no one tried to argue that a 9% beer can't be ready to drink in 30 days. I feel a lot better now. :)

I'll be bottling this soon and letting it sit for another couple of months. Looking forward to it.:mug:
 
Here's a little bit more about this beer in case anyone's interested.

Final Absolution Belgian Style Trippel
Dragonmead's signature product! This is the ultimate Belgian style. The very high gravity of this beer is balanced by the smoothness of its finish. Banana and Clove aromas come from the Belgian yeast strain combining with the generous dose of Belgian Candi Sugar. The Saaz hops help to give this beer a balanced bitterness with no noticeable hop aroma. O.G. 1.085, ABV 8.5%

The info above is from their website and HERE is a more detailed AG recipe I found online. It's worth pointing out the the OG in the recipe is different than the OG stated on their site. Then again, the description lists the ABV as 8.5% but their beer menu says it's 10%.

For those not familiar with Dragonmead, they've been around since about 1997. They're located a notably nondescript building in Warren, a suburb Northeast of Detroit. Inside is a comfy pub atmosphere and a surprising number--usually 40 or so--of beers on tap, including their signature brew Final Absolution.
 
Brewing this today :D

Would you guys suggest 3 weeks in primary, 3 weeks in secondary, then a month or more to carb up and age. (I keg)
 
Brewing this today :D

Would you guys suggest 3 weeks in primary, 3 weeks in secondary, then a month or more to carb up and age. (I keg)

All depends on how it ferments, I would get it out of the primary as soon as you can. 10 to 12 days should be good. Then move to secondary. You really need to get it aged for about 2 months. Further, I did notice it condition out with a smoother taste after sitting in the keg for about 2 weeks.
 
Here's a little bit more about this beer in case anyone's interested.

Final Absolution Belgian Style Trippel
Dragonmead's signature product! This is the ultimate Belgian style. The very high gravity of this beer is balanced by the smoothness of its finish. Banana and Clove aromas come from the Belgian yeast strain combining with the generous dose of Belgian Candi Sugar. The Saaz hops help to give this beer a balanced bitterness with no noticeable hop aroma. O.G. 1.085, ABV 8.5%

The info above is from their website and HERE is a more detailed AG recipe I found online. It's worth pointing out the the OG in the recipe is different than the OG stated on their site. Then again, the description lists the ABV as 8.5% but their beer menu says it's 10%.

For those not familiar with Dragonmead, they've been around since about 1997. They're located a notably nondescript building in Warren, a suburb Northeast of Detroit. Inside is a comfy pub atmosphere and a surprising number--usually 40 or so--of beers on tap, including their signature brew Final Absolution.


Yes, this is correct about Dragonmeads site, I have personally been there many times! I love the environment.

As far as your comment about being 8.5% and 10%, the first recipe was 8.5% then dragonmead redid it to 10%. Where this beer truly shines if you ask me.
 
Well, at least no one tried to argue that a 9% beer can't be ready to drink in 30 days. I feel a lot better now. :)

I'll be bottling this soon and letting it sit for another couple of months. Looking forward to it.:mug:

@30 days you can drink it, and it's good still. But no way is it done and refine to how you would want it at day60+.

I kegged mine at day32, and it was drinkable after a week sitting in the keg under pressure in the kegrator. But it most definitely matured into a better beer after day60. I guess you can say i went with a cold conditioning, similar to letting something lager in the fridge...
 
Did any of you that made this follow the All-Grain version?? Just want to make sure that the conversion here was accurate. Excited to try this one. Thanks!

Also, my LHBS only has 1 WLP500, so I could just make like a 2 liter starter and pitch it after a couple days right??

Keep me posted on this All Grain version!!! I have yet to try it out...
 
Haven't made the AG version, just happened to come across it online one day. The notes do say, "This is Dragonmead's 90 gallon recipre, scaled down to 12.5 gallons. ". But I have no idea if that's actually true.
 
Haven't made the AG version, just happened to come across it online one day. The notes do say, "This is Dragonmead's 90 gallon recipre, scaled down to 12.5 gallons. ". But I have no idea if that's actually true.

Yeah, thats the recipe I went from when converting to LME. And i'm a personal big fan of Final Absolution myself. All I have to say is my clone came pretty close.

I'm really interested to see how the AG version compares, I would think that it actually comes out closer then mine. Because I had to substitute some things.
 
Made a beer based on this recipe and just won a first place medal with it at a BJCP sanctioned event! I only tweaked a couple little things. Thanks!
 
Doesn't shock me Lodovico... This is a winner thats for sure, I'm glad others have made use of the recipe. Did you go AG or extract? and what changes did you make?
 
I would like to try this recipe, but given how much I've been reading lately with regards to the concept of using a secondary "not really necessary" - is pulling it off the yeast cake at 10 days necessary to prevent the yeast from getting too funky? What does this yeast do when it gets funky... do you get more banana, more clove, or more like old socks?

Has anyone tried going 3 or 4 weeks in the primary before bottling? Just curious (I'm a noob, trying to parse information from many different sources)
 
I would like to try this recipe, but given how much I've been reading lately with regards to the concept of using a secondary "not really necessary" - is pulling it off the yeast cake at 10 days necessary to prevent the yeast from getting too funky? What does this yeast do when it gets funky... do you get more banana, more clove, or more like old socks?

Has anyone tried going 3 or 4 weeks in the primary before bottling? Just curious (I'm a noob, trying to parse information from many different sources)

A lot of us don't secondary and months on the cake would be ok. Pulling it off the yeast early leads to things like diacetyl and acetaldehyde. Both bad things. Leaving it on longer cleans those up and there is no downside.
Now if you'r talking 12 months well then sure but no one does that.
IMO with this beer, or any big beer, 10 days is way too short.
 
Doesn't shock me Lodovico... This is a winner thats for sure, I'm glad others have made use of the recipe. Did you go AG or extract? and what changes did you make?

I did an all-grain brew. I tweaked the grain bill slightyl and the amount of sugar and type used.

I also made a big starter instead of the two vials. I also fermented and aged longer than recommended in the recipe.

I still don't think a beer this big is ready in the time suggested in this thread:)
 
A lot of us don't secondary and months on the cake would be ok. Pulling it off the yeast early leads to things like diacetyl and acetaldehyde. Both bad things. Leaving it on longer cleans those up and there is no downside.
Now if you'r talking 12 months well then sure but no one does that.
IMO with this beer, or any big beer, 10 days is way too short.

Oh this makes me VERY happy to read.

I've been looking for a Belgian dubbel or tripel extract recipe (or two) to run primary fermentation during the summer, then let it bottle condition in the late summer through the fall (would love to start drinking this when the weather gets chilly)

Will definitely check back to see what folks post as far as recipe tweaks, I was thinking it might be yummy to add some steeped specialty grains (maybe a lb. total of Belgian biscuit with a little bit of Belgian aromatic).
 
I think a version of this will be next months beer for brew night. I will go with the same yeast but let it warm up over the fermentation to the high 70s low 80s. The hard part will be letting it get a little age on it with out sampling it til its gone. I will check back after the 18th of next month and give you an update.
 
Anybody have an ideal IBU value for this recipe? I'm definitely a hops head, but never had the real Absolution so I don't know how hoppy it is. Thanks! - BK
 
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