Clarification with aging a Tripel

[jdoss03]

I brewed my first Tripel about a week ago, and it seems to have finished up primary (OG 1.071/ right now its 1.009). I plan on leaving it in primary another week for 2 weeks total, and I was going to rack to secondary for 2 weeks, and then bottle with hopes to being able to at least try one or two around Christmas. Everything I have read so far has been all over the place. Some say to age for several months, some say bottle after primary. Nothing consistent. I tried a sample from the gravity reading I took, and it tastes pretty damn good right now. Any advice?

Also, how high of CO2 volumes can standard 12 oz bottles hold? I was planning on carbing this one to about 3-3.25. Any worries about bombs at that pressure?

 

[sweetcell]

forget the secondary. leave it in primary for 4 weeks. no need for secondary unless the beer is going to spend several months before being bottled. a month on the primary yeast isn't going to hurt the beer. i would give a beer that big longer than 2 weeks in primary.

tripels benefit from aging. as you've discovered, there is a lot of debate around bulk aging (i.e. in secondary) vs. bottle aging. my opinion is that bulk aging is better if you can pull it off (have a vessel you can spare for that long, can do it in a sanitary fashion, etc) but if you can't, bottle aging is just fine too.

i've read that regular bottles max out at 3.0, so you should carb below that - like aim for 2.8. i use thick glass bottles for another over 3.0. some people say that they carb to more than 3.0 in regular bottles, personally i'd be really nervous around those bottles - but YMMV.

 

[Pie_Man]

If you fermented the beer cleanly, and it tastes good now, you can bottle now in my opinon.

Personally, I would forgo the secondary as that's an opportunity for oxidation and possible infection, plus extra equipment to clean.

With a high alcohol beer, it can benfit from aging, but not necessarily. Trippels are relatively delicate beers with much of the character coming from the yeast during fermentation. If your beer tastes good now, I don't see a great reason to age the beer. Sometimes people recommend extended aging because their fermentation and/or process created undesirable flavors that they hope to eliminate with aging. And sometimes, beers actually do get better with age.

 

[billl]

I don't think any of the monks age a tripel for months. Even quads are out the door faster than that.

If gravity is stable and it tastes great, bottle it. If you want to see how it ages, stash a 6 pack in the back of a closet. If that one turns out to be the best, then you'll know for next time.

 

[jdoss03]

Awesome. Thank you guys for the help!

 

[duboman]

I would NOT use standard bottles if you really plan on priming them to over 3 vols of co2!

 

[bierandbikes]

Any recommendations on which bottles can handle the higher pressures?

 

[duboman]

Any recommendations on which bottles can handle the higher pressures?

Any of the Belgian type bottles or grolsch style are heavier glass

 

[sweetcell]

Any recommendations on which bottles can handle the higher pressures?

any bottle that is made of thick glass:
- Duvel and other trappist, abbey and saison beer bottles. don't use leffe bottles.
- champagne bottles (you may need to use a 29mm cap with them)
- just about any 22 oz/750 ml bottles with a punt
- bottles that you buy from a homebrew or wine shop that are specifically labeled as "high pressure"