I recently picked up a Brewer's Best Belgian Tripel recipe kit. The kit came with over 9lbs of extract (mix of LME and DME), plus some candy sugar and maltodextrin... but only 1/4 lb of "specialty grains" (4oz of Belgian Aromatic).
I'm still pretty new to this brewing stuff, but I wanted to try my hand at modifying (hopefully improving) this recipe. I'd like to increase the head retention a bit, as my last few batches have lacked in that area. Also this kit is supposed to fall in the lower end of the ABV range for a Tripel (somewhere around 8.5%). I'd like to end up a bit closer to 10%. I wouldn't mind adding a little bit more caramel flavor/color as well.
So here's what I have in mind. The instructions suggest to steep 4oz of aromatic in 2.5 gallons of water for 20 minutes. I would like to increase that to at least 3 gallons of water, and steep the following:
.25lbs flaked wheat
.25lbs belgian aromatic
.25lbs belgian caravienne
.5lbs belgian caramel pils
Also, I plan to swap out the dry yeast (S-33) with some Wyeast 3787 Trappist High Gravity.
So what do you think? How do you think these additions would change the flavor, head retention and overall outcome of the beer?
I'm still pretty new to this brewing stuff, but I wanted to try my hand at modifying (hopefully improving) this recipe. I'd like to increase the head retention a bit, as my last few batches have lacked in that area. Also this kit is supposed to fall in the lower end of the ABV range for a Tripel (somewhere around 8.5%). I'd like to end up a bit closer to 10%. I wouldn't mind adding a little bit more caramel flavor/color as well.
So here's what I have in mind. The instructions suggest to steep 4oz of aromatic in 2.5 gallons of water for 20 minutes. I would like to increase that to at least 3 gallons of water, and steep the following:
.25lbs flaked wheat
.25lbs belgian aromatic
.25lbs belgian caravienne
.5lbs belgian caramel pils
Also, I plan to swap out the dry yeast (S-33) with some Wyeast 3787 Trappist High Gravity.
So what do you think? How do you think these additions would change the flavor, head retention and overall outcome of the beer?