just did my first trappist belgie

[adamtroxel]

Put a trappist in primary yesterday with wlp-500 yeast. Started getting airlock activity after 30 hours.

Question

Im in no rush. How long to primary a trappist? should I even bother with a secondary? and bottle condition etc - no idea how long to keep something like this on the shelf rather than the fridge.

My initial thought:

5 weeks in primary
5 weeks in secondary (wrapped and dark - 65 degrees)
4 weeks in bottles.

Ill be bottling to 22oz bottles, but will put 4 of them in standard 12oz.

At 4 weeks Ill try my first 12oz and see what it is like etc.

anyhow - can/should i primary, secondary. bottle condition longer?

I really just want to drink it at christmas...


thanks for any tips! I appreciate it.

 

[kuphish]

How big is this beer? What's the recipe? For a standard strength dubbel, I just leave it in the primary for 3 weeks, then bottle. I usually let the bottles sit 6-8 weeks (or to taste) @70F for conditioning and then drink. Once it's carbonated and tastes good, you can toss it in the fridge. Good luck!

 

[DrawTap88]

+1 to what Kuphish said. For Dubbel's he gave solid advice as far as timing and conditioning goes.

If you did a Triple, you're going to want to let it sit for a while longer to let the flavors meld...say two months, depending on whether or not you're getting some hot alcohol taste out of a sample.