Belgian Tripel Belgian Trippel (2006 World Beer Cup Gold Medal: Dragonmead Final Absolution clone)

[charliho]

Thanks Mike and Scook for the helpful advices

I think I willl decrease the mash volumes from the 2.5 Qts water/Lbs grain (as it is in the recipe) to 1.13. Doing it like that I think I will have total mash volume of 8.47 gal according to ProMash software so I hope I will end somewhere between 6 - 5 gal after boiling ( 14.5 lb of grain and boiling 70 minutes). Do you think that this change is ok or I should keep volumes as in the recipe? Anybody has tried the AG version of this?

Thanks in advance

 

[BroStefan]

I think your volumes look about right. Promash is pretty good. But in brewing there many ways it can be done. Brewing is a pretty robust thing. I think the most important thing is to develop a standard repeatable process that works for you.


The one thing you might want to consider is doing a 90 minutes boil. Pilsner malt needs the time to blow off the precursor chemicals for DMS. You'd need to allow for the extra boil times in your water requirements, of course.

 

[davekippen]

Just checked to see how well mine was coming along. Its been fermenting 21 days today in the "normal" part of the house which is around 68 degrees. Hydro said 1.012 - Perfect! I was worried about stuck fermentation but it was smooth as butter.

My OG was about 10 points lower than expected (1.082) so it comes in around 9.4 abv. The hydro sample was amazing. Threw it in the fridge to cold crash, will bottle in a couple of days. Really excited for this one!

 

[SoupNazi]

Candi Sugar is just sucrose aka table sugar, a simple sugar. For high gravity beers I put simple sugars in after fermentation has begun to slow down a bit. The idea is to let the yeast work on the more complex malt sugars, than feed 'em the easy to digest ones. This will help get a full attenuation. And, yes, this means they don't get boiled.

Candi sugar WAS table sugar, not IS.

Table sugar is sucrose, which is a more complex carbohydrate when compared to dextrose, which is in all purposes Candi Sugar.

The theory is that the low pH of the wort in addition to the high heat of the boil breaks the chemical bond of sucrose (table sugar) into the more simple dextrose (candi sugar).

So adding table sugar to the boil is ok. But using table sugar post boil could leave the more complex sucrose, which yeast will have to expend more energy to convert.

Candi sugar is easy to make! And fun! And dangerous!

Cheers!

 

[BroStefan]

Candi sugar WAS table sugar, not IS.

Table sugar is sucrose, which is a more complex carbohydrate when compared to dextrose, which is in all purposes Candi Sugar.

The theory is that the low pH of the wort in addition to the high heat of the boil breaks the chemical bond of sucrose (table sugar) into the more simple dextrose (candi sugar).

So adding table sugar to the boil is ok. But using table sugar post boil could leave the more complex sucrose, which yeast will have to expend more energy to convert.

Candi sugar is easy to make! And fun! And dangerous!

Cheers!

I made the assumption that the OP was talking about clear Candi Sugar. If you are talking about CS of any color of course it will bring flavor and color to the party, and it is easy to make.

Sucrose is not a simple as dextrose, but much simpler than maltose. Boiling simple sugars won't hurt at all, and is commonly done. I was just describing my process. I was having trouble getting my high gravity beers to fully attenuate until I got this tip. Since then my beers have dried out nicely. Not a single BPCP score sheet has come back with comments on off flavor.

(I am pretty sure I first heard "add the simple sugars to an actively fermenting beer" from John Palmer - either in his book or on Brew Strong. Not at home now so I can't check for sure.)

Also see...

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/clear-candy-sugar-vs-table-sugar-sucrose-belgian-86287/

Happy brewing!

Steve

 

[loubie]

I just wrapped up my first brew of this beer. Three days fermenting so far. I thought my Simple Hefeweizen had the smell of banana. It is nothing in comparison to this beer! Man does it smell awesome! Sweet banana fills the room! I can't wait to drink this one! I don't know if I can hold out for 2-3 months waiting though....

 

[goo-gone]

For anyone that bottled this- how long did it take to carb?

 

[Spulls]

Thanks Again I am going to brew this on Sunday.

 

[spclarke77]

Hey guys new to forum..... Bought all ingredients to make this except my store only had one vial of white labs Trappist yeast. So I bought 2 vials of Belgian ale yeast wlp500 instead. Couple questions. anyone brew with this strain because I've used it for Belgian wit.... Not a heavy triple. Will the abv be too high for this strain? was thinking of returning it and just using one vial of Trappist but is one enough? Recipe calls for 2.... Thanks for the help... My wife said "trial and error" but she doesn't know everything cost me 80 bucks! Thanks again

 

[RVAstout]

Recipe is wrong. The real recipe uses the saaz hops in all 3 phases, also the amber dme needs to be removed. I got this from Bill Wrobel, he is one of the owners:

"Ditch the amber. Make all three hop additions Saaz. That’ll get you as close as you can. We use all pilsen grain and all saaz hops. That yeast is good or use Belgian Strong. Let me know how it tastes. Watch fermentation temps. Don’t go over 68 degrees."

 

[Florenz]

Hey guys. I'm planning on brewing this today but I'm a little worried about my fermentation temp. I don't have any way to control the temp in my basement. This time of the year my basement is around 60 degrees. Is that too low? Based on the most recent post from RVAstout I guess I'm ok. Thoughts? Thanks.

 

[davekippen]

Here is the first pour. Still very green but damn its tasty. Followed the OP's recipe exact. Damn fine. Already planning to bre a larger batch :rockin:

 

[SoCalMark]

Have this one in primary now. Went slightly higher on the grain bill and made a big ass starter so crossing my fingers. SG was 1.080 and hydrometer sample tasted great!

 

[loubie]

Here is the first pour. Still very green but damn its tasty. Followed the OP's recipe exact. Damn fine. Already planning to bre a larger batch :rockin:

Your brew looks great! I brewed mine last month and so far it has fermented for 32 days. I got the same exact hydro readings as you did- 1.082 and 1.012. I'm getting ready to bottle it today. How much priming sugar did you use for your bottling? I have 5 ounces for my 5 gallon (slightly less) brew. It looks like your brew has been in the bottles for almost 30 days and the pour looks nice.

 

[Kidagora]

I'm very eager to start this as my official second batch. Total noob here. I'm still reading through several beginner books (The Joy of Brewing). Had a few questions about IBU calculations, boil volumes, and extract addition.

I found a program that I've been using to keep track of recipes (Beer Alchemy) and I attempted to enter all ingredients and times as mentioned but the calculated IBU comes off as short. I entered a boil volume of 2.5gal as I didn't want to take as much time to get to a boil (BB blonde ale kit recommended vol.) and I entered the hop recommendations on here (GHM 2, Styrian 1, Saaz 1) and even lower recommendations (1.8/0.8/0.4) and the calculations for IBU came out no higher than 15 and as low as 11. Do I need to adjust for the lower boil volume? Do I have to add more volume to get 5 gallons? The boil volume seemed to affect it the most which I understand is related to viscosity and dissolution of alpha acids? Can I just add more hops evenly till it calculates an IBU of 20-25? Is the app reliable or did I mis-enter something somewhere?

And as far as extract additions, can they all be mixed in the boil initially? Do they need to be added every 10-20 minutes? Is time a factor when adding the extracts?

Any help is greatly appreciated. If all goes well with the first few brews I can see this turning into an obsession

 

[loubie]

I found these two links on another post. Since I have started using them I have had great results with carbonation. I usually shoot for the mid range of the levels they suggest.

http://hbd.org/cgi-bin/recipator/recipator/carbonation.html

http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/priming.html

Boy was I way off on my first brew. I used 4.5 ozs of priming sugar for my first brew of Bavarian Hefeweizen. It did't have much fermentation. Now I see why. According to these calculators I should have used 8.3 ozs instead. Then I was going to use 5 ozs of priming sugar for this recipe, but the calculator says to use a maximum of 4.2 ozs. Thanks for the calculator. I could have screwed this one up too!

 

[davekippen]

Loubie, I use tastybrew for calculating my priming sugar. I basically use exactly what it says so I can carb to style. (I did not make a note of the actual amount)

 

[mike_in_ak]

I'm very eager to start this as my official second batch. Total noob here. I'm still reading through several beginner books (The Joy of Brewing). Had a few questions about IBU calculations, boil volumes, and extract addition.

I found a program that I've been using to keep track of recipes (Beer Alchemy) and I attempted to enter all ingredients and times as mentioned but the calculated IBU comes off as short. I entered a boil volume of 2.5gal as I didn't want to take as much time to get to a boil (BB blonde ale kit recommended vol.) and I entered the hop recommendations on here (GHM 2, Styrian 1, Saaz 1) and even lower recommendations (1.8/0.8/0.4) and the calculations for IBU came out no higher than 15 and as low as 11. Do I need to adjust for the lower boil volume? Do I have to add more volume to get 5 gallons? The boil volume seemed to affect it the most which I understand is related to viscosity and dissolution of alpha acids? Can I just add more hops evenly till it calculates an IBU of 20-25? Is the app reliable or did I mis-enter something somewhere?

And as far as extract additions, can they all be mixed in the boil initially? Do they need to be added every 10-20 minutes? Is time a factor when adding the extracts?

Any help is greatly appreciated. If all goes well with the first few brews I can see this turning into an obsession

Most people add extract at the beginning after you hit initial boil. Turn off heat, then add extract so it doesn't burn to bottom, then turn heat back on.

But extract can be added later, and a lot of people do that at well. Some people add some up front and some later.

The longer the extract is in the boil, the darker the finished product will be. So for people specifically shooting for a lighter color beer, they will probably add it later.

There's probably some disagreement about how much this matters.

 

[loubie]

Loubie, I use tastybrew for calculating my priming sugar. I basically use exactly what it says so I can carb to style. (I did not make a note of the actual amount)

OK, thanks. I'll use the tastybrew calculator.

 

[Kidagora]

Thanks Mike.

By playing around with the boil volumes and times I've found that using the Pilsner Light Malt Extract at the beginning of the boil and adding the DME and Candi Sugar towards the end will give the hops enough to impart their AAU in the middle allowing me to use the initial hop volumes stated. Hopefully, I'm understanding that right?

 

[HeuristicsInc]

I just finished brewing this (the extract version). It's cooling now. I made one error, and that was getting too excited and adding the candi sugar at the beginning with the other malts... so I left one of the LMEs out until the end. I found another thread that said adding candi early wasn't too bad.
This is the first time in quite a while that I made an extract batch without any steeping grains!
-bill

 

[HeuristicsInc]

Woo, so that is the most vigorous fermentation I've had so far. Even though I rigged it with my blowoff tube it cracked the top open twice today. I guess I need a bigger blowoff tube. Think it's slowed down at this point though.
-bill

 

[mistercameron]

I brewed this back in August in honor of our first child. We waited to find out the sex until birth, so I dubbed the beer "The Big Surprise." Our son was born about two weeks ago, so it was finally time to pop the cork.

This was probably one if my best brew day experienced where everything went right, and the final product proves it... This taste like a commercial quality beer! This is seriously awesome. It's going down in my brew again list and I will defiantly keep a couple bottles in cold storage.

The only disappointment is that there is no lasting head. I did some research here in HBT and it seems its more to do with nature of the malt bill and a single step mash. (Yes I had clean glasses that I hand washed in cold water without soap). But for disappointments, that one is so minor I could hardly care less. Everything else is so good...

 

[loubie]

Well, I popped open my first bottle of this terrific brew and absolutely flat. No carbonation! 3.5 weeks in the bottle after 30 days or so fermentation. I used the recommended calculator to determine the amount of priming sugar ( I think it was 3.2 ounces for a 4.5 gallon). I was hoping someone might share some encouraging words that will tell me it was too early to test. Does anyone have any idea what could be wrong? Man, I was really looking forward to this one.

 

[brubrew]

Well, I popped open my first bottle of this terrific brew and absolutely flat. No carbonation! 3.5 weeks in the bottle after 30 days or so fermentation. I used the recommended calculator to determine the amount of priming sugar ( I think it was 3.2 ounces for a 4.5 gallon). I was hoping someone might share some encouraging words that will tell me it was too early to test. Does anyone have any idea what could be wrong? Man, I was really looking forward to this one.

I had the same issue with mine. After a couple months of waiting with no carbonation I decided to go against my better judgment and force carb with a keg. It did the trick and the beer tastes great even though it was introduced to oxygen for the pour from the bottle to the keg.

 

[davekippen]

Well, I popped open my first bottle of this terrific brew and absolutely flat. No carbonation! 3.5 weeks in the bottle after 30 days or so fermentation. I used the recommended calculator to determine the amount of priming sugar ( I think it was 3.2 ounces for a 4.5 gallon). I was hoping someone might share some encouraging words that will tell me it was too early to test. Does anyone have any idea what could be wrong? Man, I was really looking forward to this one.

Man that sux! Nothing at all? Strange. Did you let them chill in the fridge for a while before trying one? I would still think that even warm at 3.5 weeks you should have a bubble or two.

I do know that the higher the abv, the longer it could take to carb. I brewed a belgian strong (9.5% I think) and at 3 months there was no carbonation at all. Its a year old now and just has a small head when poured vigorously.

 

[loubie]

WOW! That's a long time to wait! I'm going to wait another 3 weeks or so and try again. I hope it starts to show some signs of life. I've got it stored at 70 degrees right now. I didn't calculate the alcohol yet but I think it was 1.087 then the final reading was 1.013.

 

[RVAstout]

That's very odd mine came out to 11% and was carbonated after 4 weeks.

 

[SoupNazi]

I have a case of bombers that are still carbonating almost a year after they were brewed.

Not sure why so many people are having this problem.

 

[SoCalMark]

I have a case of bombers that are still carbonating almost a year after they were brewed.

Not sure why so many people are having this problem.

Hmmmm…this puts me in a quandary as I was supposed to bottle this tonight. Tasty Brew is saying 3.7 oz of sugar to prime 5.5 gallons. I’m wondering if I should up this slightly based on the long carbonation input.