First all-grain tripel critique

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drummerguy

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I have finally decided to switch from extract brewing to all-grain (BIAB), and I have been working on my first recipe. I've been reading various recipes (here and other places) and tried to create my own, but I would love to have some input from people who know much more than I do.

What I have is this:

5.5 gallon batch

Fermentables

11# Belgian pilsner
4# Belgian pale ale
1# American caramel/10L
2# Cane sugar

Hops

1 oz. Stryrian Goldings 60 minutes
2 oz. Saaz 30 minutes

Yeast

Wyeast 3787 Trappist High Gravity

I plan to mash at 152 degrees for 60 minutes, followed by a 90-minute boil. I'm hoping to start the boil with around 7.5 gallons.

Any input is greatly appreciated.
 
It looks good. The only thing i would suggest is trying to find a Belgian character malt since you're spending the extra money on the Belgian base malt. Or you could leave out the character malt entirely. I was surprised when i was reading brew like a monk at how simple the grain bills usually were. Fwiw, duvel is just Belgian pils and candi sugar. (Don't quote me, i read that a couple years ago)Hopefully you can find some way to stress the yeast. I've found the character isn't strong enough when pitching 1whole pouch in a 5 gallon batch although 3787 is a favorite of mine. I probably wouldn't try to control fermentation.
 
I would mash at about 147 for 90 minutes. Unless you want a sweet tripel. Getting it to finish around 1.008-1.010 is what I look for...
 
I would definitely take out all the crystal. I've done 4 tripels so far and a lot of research into recipe formulation. Every good tripel Ive come across is just pilsner, wheat, and sugar with maybe a pound or two of vienna and a touch of aromatic. Trust me, that crystal will ruin the awesome light crispness that makes tripels so good.

So I'd add 2 lb wheat for head retention and a kinda silky body and drop the crystal at least. Mashing very low is key too. slightly under 150 is ideal like the other guy mentioned

you'll want to start the fermentation as normal, but try to let it free rise and gradually bump it up. Ideally, it would be a bit past 80 by day 3 or so. That will get you the attenuation you need and the estery flavor profile. 3522 and 3787 are my favorites for tripels. Though right now im fermenting a Rye Tripel with a spicy Saison yeast which I'll keep cool to hopefully get a nice spiciness to go with the Rye
 
I brewed a very similar beer and did a step mash. Started at 130 and did a double decoction to end at 155.

Ended at 1.005 but it also sat for 8 months while I was deployed. Turned out amazing!

I recommend you make your own candy sugar tho, it is much much cheaper and way more monkish... Not sure if that is a word.

Let us know how it turns out.
 
Thanks for the help, everyone. I will definitely plan for a lower mash temperature when the time comes. And I will probably go for the longer mash time, as I do prefer a dryer tripel.

It looks good. The only thing i would suggest is trying to find a Belgian character malt since you're spending the extra money on the Belgian base malt. Or you could leave out the character malt entirely.


I would definitely take out all the crystal. I've done 4 tripels so far and a lot of research into recipe formulation. Every good tripel Ive come across is just pilsner, wheat, and sugar with maybe a pound or two of vienna and a touch of aromatic. Trust me, that crystal will ruin the awesome light crispness that makes tripels so good.

So I'd add 2 lb wheat for head retention and a kinda silky body and drop the crystal at least.

I will revisit the recipe and make these changes. The only reason I added that is because I saw it on what claimed to be a Westmalle clone. After doing a more thorough search, I found it to be the only one with that particular ingredient. Would you suggest dropping the pale, too, and just going with pilsner and wheat?

I brewed a very similar beer and did a step mash. Started at 130 and did a double decoction to end at 155.

Ended at 1.005 but it also sat for 8 months while I was deployed. Turned out amazing!

I recommend you make your own candy sugar tho, it is much much cheaper and way more monkish... Not sure if that is a word.

Let us know how it turns out.

I'm hoping to do step mashes one day, but I'm thinking I should keep my first attempt as simple as possible. I do, however, plan on trying to make my own candy sugar.
 
The wheat isn't necessarily required. High carbonation and ph also contribute to head retention. I'd say don't complicate it more than you have to. Pilsner and pale will be just just fine. I think you should stick to that part of your plan. And the regular table sugar is very monkish to use rorypayne's word. They would have used any cheap source of adjunct sugar they had to make the beer "digestible". If you're going to get into making your own candi sugar (varying degrees of color) make sure to buy a good thermometer so you can recreate later.
 
Thanks. I'll try the original recipe this time (minus the caramel) and see what happens. It may not be the best beer I've made, but I'm pretty certain it won't be the worst. I can always try some experiment after I have a bit more experience.

One last question: Would you recommend using a secondary for a tripel? I know using a secondary isn't terribly popular here, but how long is too long for the beer to sit on the yeast cake in primary?

Okay, that was two questions.
 
Use a secondary if it makes you feel better. For most things i don't. Your tripel will have ample time to settle clear naturally during conditioning. That said, normal turnaround on some notable commercial examples is 8-10 weeks of bottle conditioning. Something else to think about is the less sediment you have going into the bottle or keg the less you'll have to deal with later. Autolysis is a minor concern if you have temperature control(the major argument against only using the primary). The only thing I'll against using a secondary is a small amount of oxidation is possible(you are moving beer without the benefit of a vacuum). Just decide what you're comfortable with. As far add the yeast cake goes, i have a Belgian golden strong going sour on the yeast cake. And its been 18 months. You need it to feed some bacteria and Brett. That's kinda off subject but it's to illustrate the gray area...
As for whether or not the beer will be good, don't worry.
 
I will revisit the recipe and make these changes. The only reason I added that is because I saw it on what claimed to be a Westmalle clone. After doing a more thorough search, I found it to be the only one with that particular ingredient. Would you suggest dropping the pale, too, and just going with Pilsner and Wheat?.[/QUOTE]

I generally just go all pilsner for the base malt of all my Belgians but thats just me and my obsession to make the perfect saison and tripel. You could totally sub pale for part of it and wouldnt make much difference. The yeast characteristics may be a tiny bit dulled down due to more malt flavor but you'd be fine
 
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