First Belgian...and a Tripel

[CollinsBrew]

This is one I'm making tomorrow so the numbers given are what BeerSmith spit out according to all of the parameters I set.


Grain:
13.5 lbs Pilsner 2-row Belgium (2.0 SRM) 80.6 %
1.5 lbs Wheat, Torrified I (1.7 SRM) 9.0 %
12.0 oz Aromatic Malt (26.0 SRM) 4.5 %
1 lbs Corn Sugar (6.0)

Hops:
1.0 oz Challenger [6.7 %] (90 min) (FWH) 20.1 IBU
1.0 oz Czech Saaz [4.9 %] (30 min) 10.6 IBU
1.0 oz Mt. Hood [3.6 %] (10 min) 3.7 IBU

Misc:
0.5 oz Corriander (Boil 10.0 min)
0.5 oz Orange Peel, Bitter (Boil 5.0 min)

Mash: Step
30 min Protein rest 122.0F
45 min Saccharification rest 152.0F (w/15 warm up time)
10 min Mash Out 168.0F

I'm looking to see what you guys think about this. The numbers say it will fit the style and but that doesn't mean it will taste great.

 

[NineMilBill]

I believe the Recipe Database is designed for 'Tried and True' recipes. Not for test batches/looking for opinions. I'd suggest moving it to the normal forums.

 

[CollinsBrew]

The brew day went pretty well other than me sparging a bit too much. Last night I got home to the smell of beer filling my garage. I opened the ferm chamber and had a straight up beer explosion. It's a mess but it's my first one so I was actually pretty stoked about it. I love yeast.

 

[dchmela]

What yeast did you pitch with this? I just made a Tripel and had an explosive ferment, too:

15lbs Pils malt
.5 lb Caravienna
2 lbs Turbinado

1.25 Brewers Gold - 60
1.00 Ultra - 15
2.00 Ultra - 05

2 packets of T58 yeast

 

[CollinsBrew]

Oops...I thought I had put it in the recipe up there. I went with Wyeast WLP530 Abbey Ale. Even this morning when I cleaned up the mess the fermentation was still churning and chugging away....and it smells awesome.

 

[CollinsBrew]

So, after cleanup yesterday, I get home from work and there's krausen and yeast in the airlock again!! Fortunately, it never made it's way out to cause a mess but I'm wondering if I should change out the airlock again. It's bubbling away as is and the krausen has settled down some.

 

[optimatored]

So, after cleanup yesterday, I get home from work and there's krausen and yeast in the airlock again!! Fortunately, it never made it's way out to cause a mess but I'm wondering if I should change out the airlock again. It's bubbling away as is and the krausen has settled down some.

go with a blowoff tube... it really is the only way to avoid the mess because too much pressure builds below a airlock during primary ferm. acutally I think there is product called fermcap as well.

 

[dchmela]

go with a blowoff tube... it really is the only way to avoid the mess because too much pressure builds below a airlock during primary ferm. acutally I think there is product called fermcap as well.

Even on my low gravity beers, I keep a blow off tube on for a week at least. That way there is no worries. My Tripel settled down after about 5 days and I put a regular airlock on. Going to let it age for a couple of more weeks and then maybe split the batch, bottle one and age the other on oak or fruit or both.

 

[CollinsBrew]

I think I'm in the clear now. I just need to change the airlock out....again. I'm thinking of leaving it in primary for about 9 days and then transferring to secondary for about two weeks. I'm going to bottle a case and keg the rest. I'm hoping it will be ready in time for an interKlub competition the second week of May.

 

[CollinsBrew]

After some more reading on here, I decided to leave my Tripel in primary for a little while longer. I'm right at three weeks now and am going to transfer to secondary either tonight or tomorrow. I'll probably let it sit there for another week or two before I move it over to the keg to carbonate. The contest I'm entering it into isn't until mid-May so it should be aged just enough. Although, a little while longer in the keg will probably help smooth it out.

 

[CollinsBrew]

Kegged the Tripel this week and set it at 25psi for carbing. I've been trying a little everyday and...it's fantastic! It was pretty good straight out of secondary but after chilling and getting some gas in there, it's awesome!

 

[Dougie63]

I know this is a belgian and needs to ferment with warmer temps but I use an igloo cube cooler filled with water and add frozen water bottles every day and keep temp to 64 and seems to control the violent ferm even for the high gravity beers, I would prob still use that for my belgians when I do another

 

[CollinsBrew]

The thing I would do differently is actually ferment this at a little bit higher temperature. I kept this beer at 68-69F for primary and took it up to 72 for the first 2 weeks of secondary. A common practice is to start these in the mid sixties and let them slowly warm as they ferment to the upper 70's maybe even the very low 80's. I'm credited my lower temperatures as to why I may not have hit my FG exactly. I was looking for 1.008-.006 but ended up at right about 1.012. This is still about a 9% abv which makes me happy.

Don't fear the violent fermentation. Just smile as you clean up the awesomeness.

 

[CollinsBrew]

I know I made this beer quite awhile ago but it turned out pretty awesome...sooo, I'm making it again this week with the same recipe, however, I'm going to try that temperature difference in fermentation mentioned above. The color was great and it disappeared from the keg {mostly by SWMBO} quicker than any of my other brews.

 

[serum]

You can use violent ferments as a good opportunity to top crop for your next batch. If you get the timing right you can avoid some of the mess.

 

[CollinsBrew]

Well, I pitched two tubes of White Labs 530 on Sunday night and I'm getting no activity. I may have pitched at a high temp but it certainly wasn't over 100F. I thought after it came down it would start up but it hasn't. My other concern and probably more of a factor is that both tubes were well past their expiration dates. I got them for $2.00 because of that so not a real cost on my end. If I don't see anything happening by morning I'm going to pick up some fresh WL530 if they have it or the Wyeast3787 and re-pitch. The sad part is, I had a blow off tube on there this time anticipating some real action. That'll teach me not to make a starter for this big of a beer.

 

[CollinsBrew]

Just transferred this beer to secondary and MAN, it smells delicious! It tastes great so far as well. Stepping up the temperature throughout primary to almost 80F seems to have added a bit more of the banana aroma I was going for. I was worried about the color since my homebrew store didn't have torrified wheat. I had to roast some white wheat to torrify it and I thought had overdone it a little bit but the color seems to be really nice with some shades of orange.