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

[slohiker]

Deleted as I accidentally reposted

 

[Surfanarchist]

Yes I do...

It's 12.8lbs Pilsner
1.6lbs Munich Malt (2row)
1.6lbsCandy sugar

1.8oz hallertauer mittelfruh
.4oz styrian goldings
.8 chzech saaz

same yeast

adjust the grain bill to your efficiency and such...

I followed this recipe but used 13 lbs belgian pilsner and 1 lb light dme to fill in for lost efficiency. Turns out i did not need the dme and my og was 1.10. Used 1 wlp500 in a two stage, 2 ltr starter on stir plate. In 14 days my fg was 1.012. Very tasty, i just put it on keg this morning. Im letting this one sit at least a month. Its a great, huge beer.

 

[COBrewMan72]

I keep hearing everyone talking about making huge 2 liter starters on this brew. My LHBS (well respected in my area for their knowledge/experience) keeps touting underpitching belgian yeast strains to help bring out the esters/phenols that are characteristic of the style. About a year back now I brewed the extract version of this with a single smack pack of WY1214 (the equivalent of wlp 500 in the OP's recipe). I let it go 2 weeks in primary, racked to secondary for another week and then bottled. It took slightly longer than normal to carb up naturally but I attribute that to the fact it was approx 9.5% abv. The beer turned out tasting great so I guess what I'm getting at is that with this particular yeast I don't think I would waste the time, effort and money to make a huge starter. If the yeast stalls on you for some reason you could always toss in a vial of champagne yeast to finish it off.

 

[Frozer860]

How long has this brew been taking to carb up for you guys? I brewed this back on 7/17/15, bottled on 8/23/15 with 5 oz of priming sugar. Just popped one open after 8 weeks of conditioning and there is good head but no carbonation in the beer itself. A couple of weeks back I moved the bottles to my bedroom where the temperatures are around 70 deg. Previously they were in the basement where it was in the 60s.

 

[stever1000]

What could I substitute for the 1lb amber lme? I can't buy small quantities of amber LME at the moment

Thanks!

 

[stever1000]

I followed this recipe but used 13 lbs belgian pilsner and 1 lb light dme to fill in for lost efficiency. Turns out i did not need the dme and my og was 1.10. Used 1 wlp500 in a two stage, 2 ltr starter on stir plate. In 14 days my fg was 1.012. Very tasty, i just put it on keg this morning. Im letting this one sit at least a month. Its a great, huge beer.

Could you explain how you made the 2L starter? I am going to buy my yeast tomorrow and start my starter

 

[COBrewMan72]

Boil 1 qt of water with 1/2 cup DME for 15 mins. Cool to pitching temp and toss in your yeast. Put on your stir plate (if you have one) or give it a good swirl every time you walk by if you don't have a stir plate. Do this for 2 days. Put in the fridge for 24 hours to crash. Decant and pitch slurry into 2 quarts of water boiled with 1 cup DME and reapeat.

 

[Surfanarchist]

Could you explain how you made the 2L starter? I am going to buy my yeast tomorrow and start my starter

There is a lot of info on this board for how to do a starter but here is what i do. I measure 1700 ml of water and heat to boiling. I meaure about 150 grams of light dme and stir that into the boiling water and boil for 15 minutes. Im aiming for about 1500 ml of wort at the end of the boil to 150 grams of dme for a wort thats around 1.04 og. I then cool the whole thing in an ice bath (stir with sanitized spoon while in the ice bath) until the temp drops below 70 f. I pour into a 2 litre glass growler and pitch the yeast. Maintain good sanitation with everything that happens after the boil. I then drop a 1 1/2 inch stir bar into the growler, put a foam stopper into the growler nech and spin as fast as it will go without throwing the stir bar for about 24 hours at a cool room temp. Then i put the growler in the fridge for 24 hours. Remove from fridge and carefully drain off all except about 1 inch of wort keeping the yeast settlement at the bottom of the growler. Then i do the whole thing again. This gives me a pretty consistant big yeast throw. It sounds like a lot of work but once you get your system its pretty easy. You need a stir plate and stir bar (eBay) a two litre glass container you can put a breathable top on, make sure you sanitize everything that comes into contact with the wort after the boil stops. When using liquid yeast making a fat starter is one of those things i consider essential.

 

[Surfanarchist]

Boil 1 qt of water with 1/2 cup DME for 15 mins. Cool to pitching temp and toss in your yeast. Put on your stir plate (if you have one) or give it a good swirl every time you walk by if you don't have a stir plate. Do this for 2 days. Put in the fridge for 24 hours to crash. Decant and pitch slurry into 2 quarts of water boiled with 1 cup DME and reapeat.

True you dont have to use a stir plate but it is more efficient. I paid about $40 for mine on ebay. You can make one from a computer fan also. Lots of ways to do everything in this hobby. Just about everything i know about making beer ( and i dont know much) i learned from this forum.

 

[stever1000]

There is a lot of info on this board for how to do a starter but here is what i do. I measure 1700 ml of water and heat to boiling. I meaure about 150 grams of light dme and stir that into the boiling water and boil for 15 minutes. Im aiming for about 1500 ml of wort at the end of the boil to 150 grams of dme for a wort thats around 1.04 og. I then cool the whole thing in an ice bath (stir with sanitized spoon while in the ice bath) until the temp drops below 70 f. I pour into a 2 litre glass growler and pitch the yeast. Maintain good sanitation with everything that happens after the boil. I then drop a 1 1/2 inch stir bar into the growler, put a foam stopper into the growler nech and spin as fast as it will go without throwing the stir bar for about 24 hours at a cool room temp. Then i put the growler in the fridge for 24 hours. Remove from fridge and carefully drain off all except about 1 inch of wort keeping the yeast settlement at the bottom of the growler. Then i do the whole thing again. This gives me a pretty consistant big yeast throw. It sounds like a lot of work but once you get your system its pretty easy. You need a stir plate and stir bar (eBay) a two litre glass container you can put a breathable top on, make sure you sanitize everything that comes into contact with the wort after the boil stops. When using liquid yeast making a fat starter is one of those things i consider essential.

Excellent, that helped clarify the pieces I was confused about. I already have a stirplate and 2L flask, so I am excited to try my hand at a large starter like this!

 

[zlandaal]

Brewed this today with:
16 lbs pilsner
2 lbs munich
2 lbs candy sugar

OG: 1.10.

I used 2x wyeast 1214 with no starter. Pitched it at 64F--this is the first time I've cooled my beer down too much, I guess that's what happens when its 40 degrees outside and I'm brewing. I have it in a 75-80 degree room right now until it warms up to 70, then I'll move it into my 65 degree house.

It was my first time trying fly sparging, and I'm happy with my efficiency (~70%) for so much grain. I probably should have done a 1-2L starter, but I'm sure its going to turn out just fine

 

[stever1000]

Finally made a batch of this. Unfortunately my version is a horrible attempt due to the lack of ingredients. I had to substitute all Pale LME for the Pilsen LME and didn't add Amber LME (I used a bit more Pale LME and a bit more candy sugar)
It tasted good so I am very excited to see what my 1214 yeast will do!
I had an OG of 1.076 due to adding too much cold water into my bucket
1 month to go :rockin:

 

[stever1000]

Bubbling away 12hrs later and constantly bubbling since. Smells great already!!

 

[harrygt]

Hi all, pretty new to this hobby... first post here! I haven't seen anything here about priming before bottling, any suggestions/ feedback?

Thanks!

 

[harrygt]

I haven't seen anything here about priming if bottling... what have you guys been using?

 

[bolus14]

Not sure what you mean by priming before bottling. If bottling you'd add table sugar, honey, corn sugar, or whatever other sugar you want to use to your bottling bucket, rack in to the bucket, and bottle.

Most calculators say to carbonate tripels from 3-3.5 vols

 

[fun4stuff]

Not sure what you mean by priming before bottling. If bottling you'd add table sugar, honey, corn sugar, or whatever other sugar you want to use to your bottling bucket, rack in to the bucket, and bottle.

Most calculators say to carbonate tripels from 3-3.5 vols

i primed my first batch with corn sugar using an online calculator to something like 3-3.5 vols co2. took about 3-4 weeks to carb.

 

[stever1000]

Finally made a batch of this. Unfortunately my version is a horrible attempt due to the lack of ingredients. I had to substitute all Pale LME for the Pilsen LME and didn't add Amber LME (I used a bit more Pale LME and a bit more candy sugar)
It tasted good so I am very excited to see what my 1214 yeast will do!
I had an OG of 1.076 due to adding too much cold water into my bucket
1 month to go :rockin:

12 days later and my gravity is at 1.014
Can't wait to see what it will finish at in the next couple weeks

 

[fun4stuff]

12 days later and my gravity is at 1.014
Can't wait to see what it will finish at in the next couple weeks

Nice, I think thats about at what mine batches finished at... Couldn't get it any lower.

 

[stever1000]

Nice, I think thats about at what mine batches finished at... Couldn't get it any lower.

How long did you wait until you bottled? What was your OG?

 

[fun4stuff]

How long did you wait until you bottled? What was your OG?

Started at 1.085. This was my first homebrew beer, so I was a little anxious and was checking SG early second week where it was 1.020-1.022. Ended up letting it go nearly 4 weeks and it got down to 1.018 after increasing the temp to mid 70s and swirling daily. I drank a couple after 3 weeks bottled... Drank the majority between 3-6 months. It's about time to make this again... Maybe I'll try AG this time.

 

[stever1000]

Excellent, I will start to warm mine up and see if it will drop anymore. I have had it at the high 60's the last 3 weeks

 

[marklog]

Brewed this yesterday,
16lbs Pilsner
1.6 munich
2lbs light candi sugar (probably should have saved the $$ and used straight table sugar)

So, I get all of the way through mashing, brewing, cooling, and start to transfer into my Better Bottle and OH ****! I forgot the candi sugar. So, with a gallon left in the kettle I warm it back up, dump 2lbs of candi sugar in, stir wildly, and re-cool. This is my 2nd attempt at this recipe and the first was wildly successful. It'll be interesting to note any differences.

 

[stever1000]

My sg is still 1.014, could I add some corn sugar to raise the FG? I've heard of other people doing it for Belgian beers. Ideally i would like a final ABV of 9%+ if possible
my concern is since it has been in the fermenter for over 3 weeks adding corn sugar may not be beneficial?

Thanks!

 

[stever1000]

Bottled this today, left it for 6 weeks and couldn't get below 1.014. Excited to try a bottle in a few weeks!

 

[wallybangbang]

I keep hearing everyone talking about making huge 2 liter starters on this brew. My LHBS (well respected in my area for their knowledge/experience) keeps touting underpitching belgian yeast strains to help bring out the esters/phenols that are characteristic of the style. About a year back now I brewed the extract version of this with a single smack pack of WY1214 (the equivalent of wlp 500 in the OP's recipe). I let it go 2 weeks in primary, racked to secondary for another week and then bottled. It took slightly longer than normal to carb up naturally but I attribute that to the fact it was approx 9.5% abv. The beer turned out tasting great so I guess what I'm getting at is that with this particular yeast I don't think I would waste the time, effort and money to make a huge starter. If the yeast stalls on you for some reason you could always toss in a vial of champagne yeast to finish it off.[/QUOTE

I got the same advice and have done the same thing every time I make this beer and it has turned out good. Might make a big starter next time to see the difference.

I had originally made this twice with extract, the last batch was all grain. It seemed to me that the all grain had a way hotter alcohol taste to it even though it is the same abv%. It has been bottle conditioning now for 6-7 months and is stating to dissipate. getting way better with age.

 

[fun4stuff]

Bottled this today, left it for 6 weeks and couldn't get below 1.014. Excited to try a bottle in a few weeks!

Yeah I would have bottled too rather than add more sugar. I think it will turn out really great for you.

 

[VasDeferensly]

I just bought ingredient for this:
8lbs Light DME (trying to avoid extract twang)
1lb Amber DME
4oz carapils for head retention
Will probably use 1lb white beet sugar.

Saaz and Hallertau hops.
They were out of Styrian Goldings so they suggested Fuggle.

Will make a starter with WLP500. The guy at Main Street Homebrew in Hillsboro suggested only using 1lb of extract for the full boil, adding the rest at the end to reduce extract twang. This is my first beer, I've got a decent amount of experience with cider. Wish me luck, and feel free to throw any advice you can at me.

 

[Elkaybay]

Hello everyone,
Do you repitch yeast with your priming sugar when bottling on this one?
I guess with such a low secondary phase this is not needed but it cannot do any harm right?
Thanks

 

[HiImBrian]

I brewed this back on 6/4/15 and just finally have this kegged up. I'm sorry to report that this might very well be the worst brew I've made in the 3-4 years I've been brewing. I take all of the blame myself though. I couldn't get this to ferment much farther than 1.030, and went through about 3 different smack packs in the process. This beer is full of off flavors and I'm sure it's due to the yeast.

I barrel aged this for a few months in a bourbon barrel, so you definitely get a lot of bourbon, but that's followed by a very intense banana flavor. I'm just not a big fan. Fortunately, I've only got about 3 gallons, but I still don't see this keg getting kicked anytime soon I just can't bring myself to dump it...