Brewing a Tripel (Thinking of Adding Cherries)

[ThereThere]

I'm planning on doing something basic like:

7lbs Golden Light DME (Should I use a lighter DME?)
1lbs clear candi sugar
.5 lbs belgian caramel malt

1-2oz of Kent Goldings at 60
1oz Saaz at around 5

Wyeast 1214

What are your thoughts on adding cherries in the secondary? If it's doable, what kind of cherries are recommended (like canned vs fresh, etc) and how much should I use? I look to give it a pretty light cherry flavor, not to turn it into something really sour.

How is Wyeast 1214? This recipe is pretty similar to one in the Brewmaster's Bible, so I just picked the yeast it recommended. Would I need a starter for this? Wyeast site says you don't need one for the activator packs and the book seems to indicate this as well, but it seems like a lot of people say that you do.

Let me know what your thoughts are.

 

[worksnorth]

Cherries, gross!
Sorry
Add them, who knows!
: )
Cheers!

 

[944play]

You should make a starter or at least use two packs.

I would not use caramel anything in a Tripel. I also prefer a lot more bittering than most recipes I see, including yours.

Table sugar will do the job in a manner indistinguishable from clear candi.

1214 is equivalent to WL500, which I like a lot.

You really should nail down the base beer before you experiment with exotic flavorants.

 

[TyTanium]

^^ Good advice.

If you want to do cherries (hey, why not), you could try it on a 1/2 gallon sample first. Brew your 5 gallons as normal, but only rack off 1/2 gallon onto the cherries.

I use these for experimenting:

 

[beergolf]

For a tripel use pilsen DME.

A very basic triplel is 80% pils, 20% sugar. Hop to .37 BU:GU ratio.

1214 is a very nice yeast. Mt two favorites for Belgians are 214 or 3787. Definitely make a starter. Pitch it in the mid 60's and slowly bring up the temp. Give it plenty of time to finish. Belgian yeasts can take a while to get the last few points of attenuation.

Enjoy.

I am drinking a nice tripel right now...and I may have another...