Build a Tripel

[wjbunton]

Haven't brewed since April and am ready to get another brew going. I would really like to brew a Tripel. I have been doing a ton of research on the style and have uncovered thus far that a Tripel should consist of ≥80% pilsner malt and ≤20% candi sugar. In addition it should have noble hop varieties, Saaz, Hallertau, Tettnang, or Spalt, but may have some variation here. It seems that generally only 2 hop additions are used. Next a yeast must be capable of the fermentation and generally a Belgian yeast is used.

Therefore, I have come up with the following guidelines for my beer:

Fermentables:
X lbs. Briess Pilsner Light LME
X lbs. Candi Sugar - Clear

Hops:
X ozs. Styrian Goldings - 60 min
X ozs. Saaz - 15 min

Yeast:
WLP500 - Trappist Ale Yeast

Primary for 4 weeks at 68 degrees then bottle condition for 4 months before first taste reserve some for 1 year open.

My question comes in what quantities should I use for the fermentables and hops? I used BeerSmith and BrewersFriend calculators and got very different results when inputting the same numbers. 12 lbs of LME and 3 lbs candi=1.102 OG 1.016 FG with BeerSmith and 1.094 OG 1.023 FG with BrewersFriend. These numbers are drastically different and I can't figure out why.

Also, should I use any steeping grains in this recipe?

My setup is a 5 gal SS pot in which I start 3.5 gal H20 and plan to topoff to 5.5 gal in the fermenter.

Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Oh and keeping with my baseball brew theme this one will be called the Tripel Play.

 

[Hemicharger99]

I would go with 12lbs Light DME and about 3 lbs of Amber Candi Sugar. I used a combination of Wyeast 3787 (Trappist High Gravity) and Wyeast 1762 (Belgian Abbey II).

If you want to really go over the top, you can cook down your own Candi Sugar for a fraction of the cost. There are many posts on here on how to do it, and they are fantastic. I used them to create all the Candi Sugar I needed for a Quad, Tripel, and a Dubbel.