Trippel Diamond Abbey Ale (18C)

[Schol-R-LEA]

(NB: Yes, the long boil time is typical of my setup. I brew my beer on a stovetop, and the burners seem to give an unusually low flame. One of the reasons I use FW hopping so often is the difficulty in estimating the time it will take to finish the boil.)

Tripel Diamond Belgian Tripel
12 lbs. Weyermann Bohemian Pilsener malt
2 lbs. turbinado sugar
2oz. Styrian Golding hop pellets (3.8% AA), FWH
Wyeast 3787 (High Gravity Trappist Yeast)
1 whirlfloc tablet, 15 min.
Expected OG: 1.083 FG: 1.012
Actual OG 1.084, FG 1.008
Brewed 2013-09-15, bottled 2013-10-27

Equipment:
1 large (30 qt.) pot
1 medium (20 qt) pot
1 small (16qt) pot
1 10 gal. cooler lauter tun with mesh false bottom
1 6.5 fermenting bucket
1 5 gal. fermenting carboy
1 2Qt pyrex measuring cup
1 1Qt pyrex measuring cup
1 thermometer
1 hydrometer
1 3-roller Monster M3 malt mill
1 Therminator wort chiller

2013-09-14
-----------
2000 - Weighed out and milled malt.

2013-09-15
-----------
1030 - Filled large BK with 6.5 gallons water adjusted with 3g gypsum, 2g epsom salt, 1g NaCl, and 3g CaCl), and medium BK with 4.1 gal. water adjusted with 1.2g gypsum, 1g epsom salts, 2g CaCl and 2 tsp lactic acid.
1045 - Began heating mash water.
1135 - Temp is now at 150°F.
1145 - Cleaned MLT.
1205 - Reached strike temp. Added 10qts water to MLT, then added malt and water in 2 lbs/qt increments.
1215 - Began mash. Began heating sparge water and mash-out water. Added 0.5 qt filtered to mash-out water.
1245 - Mash temp. recorded at 156°F adjusted. Stirred mash.
1315 - Added 6.5 qts boiling water for mash-out. Smacked the yeast packet to start it.
1330 - Began vorlauf, running for 5 qts.
1335 - Began runoff, adding 1 qt sparge water for every qt runoff. Added hops to large boiler.
1400 - Took sample for gravity reading. half of wort is now in each of the large and medium boilers.
1500 - runoff gravity 1.018 @ 70 deg; F (adjusted, 1.019)
1600 - Appears to be at a low boil now in both BKs. Dumped out MLT, rinsed out and cleaned with PBW.
1700 - Drained and rinsed MLT. Cleaned fermenter with PBW.
1800 - Ran PBW solution through Therminator to clean it and the pump, with the run-off going into the fermenter. Refilled bucket with fresh water and ran through the PC to rinse.
1815 - Moved last of wort in med. BK to larger BK, total wort is now 31 qts. Cleaned med. BK with PBW and rinsed.
2100 - Sanitized the PC and hoses, as well as the fermenter.
2115 - Added a whirlfloc tablet to the wort. Took sample for gravity reading.
2130 - Set up wort chiller and ran the wort through to the fermenter.
2145 - Pitched yeast.
2150 - Ran backflow through chiller.
2200 - Cleaned and rinsed the chiller, pump and hoses.
2230 - Took gravity reading, 1.082 @ 75° F (adjusted, 1.084)

2013-10-20
----------
1430 - Took gravity reading, now at 1.008 (!). Sanitized secondary. Transferred to secondary for clearing.

2013-10-27
----------
1500 - Bottled with 3 oz. of priming sugar. Final Gravity 1.005.

 

[biodarwin]

Looks good! How long do you plan on bottle conditioning?

 

[motorneuron]

That's very impressive attenuation. What temperature did you pitch at, and how did the temperature vary over fermentation? Also, key question: how does it taste!

 

[Schol-R-LEA]

I pitched it at around 70°F, since the cold water was coming out of the tap at around 68. While I don't have a fermentation chamber for proper temperature control, the air temperature was pretty consistently at 75°F for most of the fermentation and conditioning, though it may have dipped a bit at times.

As for the taste, I did check it after a week, and yes, it was noticeably young, but it showed promise. The carbonation was better than I expected, and it was nicely funky in the aroma, but the flavor was a little too sweet for the style, and the alcohol flavor quite sharp. I expect it to dry out and mellow after a month or two.

 

[motorneuron]

The sweetness might be bottling sugar that still hasn't fermented out? Otherwise I'm having a hard time seeing where a 1.005 FG beer could be too sweet! But yeah, if the air was 75F and you pitched at 70F or so, that sounds like a pretty good regime for a Belgian yeast in a high-gravity wort.

 

[Schol-R-LEA]

The sweetness might be bottling sugar that still hasn't fermented out? Otherwise I'm having a hard time seeing where a 1.005 FG beer could be too sweet!

Yeah, that's what I expect it is. A week isn't very long, after all, and after a month in the primary the yeast was probably pretty stressed.