belgian tripel recipe crit

[brownrice]

hey, still getting the hang of making recipes. I'd rather have a hoppy tripel than a traditional yeast-only, but I want to mostly stay within the style. I'm a fan of late hop bursting.

should i simplify? add more early/late hops? I have a few oz of Slovenian Goldings (10.3%AA) I can use as well.

should i add white sugar to the boil, or honey after fermentation? I usually use jaggery but i wanna keep the color and flavor bright and clean.

WLP 500 fermented at 65, then finishing at ambient (80) before racking;
3-1-3 ferment schedule? or keep it in the brite tank to mellow out?



HOME BREW RECIPE:
Title: belgian hoppy tripel

Brew Method: All Grain
Style Name: Belgian Tripel
Boil Time: 90 min
Batch Size: 5 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 6 gallons
Boil Gravity: 1.062
Efficiency: 75% (brew house)

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.117
Final Gravity: 1.024
ABV (standard): 12.23%
IBU (tinseth): 31.21
SRM (morey): 7.13

FERMENTABLES:
13 lb - American - Pilsner (70.3%)
3 lb - Dry Malt Extract - Extra Light - (late addition) (16.2%)
0.5 lb - American - Victory (2.7%)
2 lb - Honey - (late addition) (10.8%)

HOPS:
1 oz - @15min Perle, Type: Pellet, AA: 8.2, IBU: 13.85
1 oz - @10min Perle, Type: Pellet, AA: 8.2, IBU: 10.12
1 oz - @ 5min Perle, Type: Pellet, AA: 8.2, IBU: 5.57
1 oz - @ Whirlpool Perle, Type: Pellet, AA: 8.2
1 oz - @ Whirlpool Palisade, Type: Pellet, AA: 7.5
1 oz - @ Whirlpool Domestic Hallertau, Type: Pellet, AA: 3.9

MASH GUIDELINES:
1) Temp: 148 F, Time: 60 min
Starting Mash Thickness: 1.5 qt/lb

YEAST:
White Labs - Trappist Ale Yeast WLP500
Starter: No
Form: Liquid
Attenuation (avg): 77.5%
Flocculation: Med-Low
Optimum Temp: 65 - 72 F
Fermentation Temp: 65 F

 

[m00ps]

I say it looks solid, go with all the hops you want, its your brew.

As for the honey, I'd deifnitely add it into the primary 2-3 days into fermentation for a number of reasons
- Lesser initial OG to not stress the yeast
- Gives the yeast a burst of fuel to help finish fermentation (notoriously an issue with high OG belgians)
- preserve the delicate honey aromatics that would be lost in the boil or at flameout

 

[brownrice]

thanks m00ps. nice user tag!

i dropped the palisade because, as i remember reading somewhere, it smelled really perfumey. like lilac or something. might use it in a mead, but seemed like bad news in any kind of brew.

didn't take an OG because i was rushing to finish up. bout to add 2lb of honey 1 week after brewing.

it's been chillin in a 60*F room, but i expect that internal temps reached at least 70* during fermentation. i'm thinking of moving it to ambient ~80* territory to make sure it finishes; possibly gonna do that when i add the honey, but most likely i'm gonna keep it in the cold room. not sure if this crowd is into mad phenols; a neutral tasting tripel might be just the ticket.

cheerz dudez

 

[m00ps]

great, yeah I'd definitely bump up the temperature. I zip up the fermentor in my heaviest winter jacket 24hrs into fermentation. Usually the insulation helps it get into the 80s. You'll definitely want to do this for something like a tripel to help the yeast finish up