TimFarAway
Well-Known Member
Whats the difference? I know I prefer trippels most of the time, but whats the difference in the brewing process?
Belgians... Double, Tripple, Quad ???
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Pretty much all use Pilsner base malt, very little hop character, and some sort of sugar additions. All primarily are defined by yeast character. Its best to start them low and let the fermentation free rise (sometimes well into the 80s) to maximize yeast esters.
They basically go in order of increasing alcohol content, but there are other differences:
Single (I forgot the other Belgian name) - this is the lowest alcohol "house" beer that the monks brew for themselves usually 6%ish I think. As far as I know they do export these out of the Abbey for consumption
Dubbel - This is a dark, syrupy malty beer that usually ranges 7-8%. They have lots of plum, fig, raisin, caramel toffee going on. It still has a light body compared to most darker beers, but its definitely the sweetest of the bunch. Special B is a typical ingredient for these (at least for homebrewing purposes)
Tripel - My personal favorite. Much, much more crisp and clean. Usually about 9% on the dot. These tend more to the spicy side of the spectrum but also you can get some pear apple and banana. The malt bill for these is very only base malts and some sugars, very little specialty malts.
Quad - as far as I know, this is not "authentically" a trappist style. But its used to refer to anything higher ABV than a Tripel. They are inbetween dubbel and tripel in body, and can range from kinda amber-ish to very dark. I've had some that were like cloyingly sweet and others that were much less so. This is the only Trappist style that I find occasionally can have an noticeable alcohol presence.
As far as yeast choices (these are all year-round available White labs)
WLP550 seems to be the choice for tripels
WLP530 for dubbels, quads, and BSDAs
WLP500 is the fruitiest of the bunch. Some find it too fruity for dubbels and quads and only use it for BSDAs
Probably tons of typos in that, but that's how I see it
They basically go in order of increasing alcohol content, but there are other differences:
Single (I forgot the other Belgian name) - this is the lowest alcohol "house" beer that the monks brew for themselves usually 6%ish I think. As far as I know they do export these out of the Abbey for consumption
Dubbel - This is a dark, syrupy malty beer that usually ranges 7-8%. They have lots of plum, fig, raisin, caramel toffee going on. It still has a light body compared to most darker beers, but its definitely the sweetest of the bunch. Special B is a typical ingredient for these (at least for homebrewing purposes)
Tripel - My personal favorite. Much, much more crisp and clean. Usually about 9% on the dot. These tend more to the spicy side of the spectrum but also you can get some pear apple and banana. The malt bill for these is very only base malts and some sugars, very little specialty malts.
Quad - as far as I know, this is not "authentically" a trappist style. But its used to refer to anything higher ABV than a Tripel. They are inbetween dubbel and tripel in body, and can range from kinda amber-ish to very dark. I've had some that were like cloyingly sweet and others that were much less so. This is the only Trappist style that I find occasionally can have an noticeable alcohol presence.
As far as yeast choices (these are all year-round available White labs)
WLP550 seems to be the choice for tripels
WLP530 for dubbels, quads, and BSDAs
WLP500 is the fruitiest of the bunch. Some find it too fruity for dubbels and quads and only use it for BSDAs
Probably tons of typos in that, but that's how I see it
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TimFarAway
Well-Known Member
I got to try Spencer, the only trappist beer made in the U.S. They called it a "pater's bier" or father's beer. It was lower alcohol and described as more of something the monks would have with dinner. Looking at the BJCP Style guidelines, it seems pretty flexible with the main statistic difference being alcohol content and color.
More or less, yes. Dubbel, trippels etc. more or less just used to be the way that monks and Belgian breweries would "rate" their beers in terms of alcoholic strength. Quite literally the whole "dubbel", "trippel" and "quadrupel" bit started when one of the abbey's brewed a stronger beer than their usual stuff and called it a "dubbel" beer.
Yeah I remember reading that. It was like the amount of Xs on the barrels almost. But do you think there were pale dubbels or dark tripels at some point? Then they later evolved into their own styles? Just wondering because I made a "Black Tripel" and, not that I'm trying to enter it into any contest, I wonder what it really qualifies as.
From my understanding, Quads are mostly Dubbels on Roids.
I'm wondering about the difference between Singel and Henkel.
And even then, you have stuff like Chimay Dorée who doesn't really qualify as an Henkel, but whose purpose is basically the same. Mostly a Patersbier as far as I'm concerned. ... And I'm having one at the moment.
I'm wondering about the difference between Singel and Henkel.
And even then, you have stuff like Chimay Dorée who doesn't really qualify as an Henkel, but whose purpose is basically the same. Mostly a Patersbier as far as I'm concerned. ... And I'm having one at the moment.
Hrrrm, it would probably depend on the recipe, but that would probably be a Belgian Dark Strong Ale. They're sort of like Tripels or Dubbels, just darker.
Maybe...I tried to make it like a Tripel in recipe but darker. Like most Tripels only have base grains and candi sugar for the bill. So I did that but with like 3/4lb midnight wheat just for color. I also mashed super low to get a very lean body. I also used the La Chouffe yeast (WLP550) that people seem to favor for Tripels. I've never seen this spicier Belgian strain used in BSDAs
I thought BSDAs typically are sweeter and have more stuff going on with specialty malts. Its still conditioning, but I guess time will tell
Well, usually a Belgian Dark Strong Ale is dark, dry and often a bit spicy, so that sounds about right, though if it's pure black it might not technically fit the bill by color. The BJCP puts it in more flowery language, if you like, http://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/style18.php#1e . More or less from what you've said, it sounds like a Belgian Dark Strong Ale, which is pretty tasty stuff and one of my favorite styles.
djbradle
Well-Known Member
I'm pretty sure that Spencer Abbey ale is a "pale ale", even stated on the bottle itself. It is moderate strength at 6.5%. I havn't had one yet as the price seems too high for me to try one but I may have to since I live about 10 miles away from the abbey.
Historically the true "patersbier" really is about 1.5%-3.0% abv. It is a literal table beer which was the final runnings of they're batch brewing and they disallowed them for public consumption. They were only to be consumed by the monks themselves. Times have changed though and now the lightest beers are considered patersbiers . . . . . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trappist_beer
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