Need feedback on Belgian tripel recipe

[Jayjay1976]

I've been exploring Belgian ales and want to build a recipe to make use of a pouch of WY3522 Ardennes that I have on hand, would like some guidance on any corrections or tweaks to make this one a winner.


Title: Belgian Tripel
Brew Method: BIAB
Style Name: Belgian Tripel
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 6 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 7 gallons
Boil Gravity: 1.070
Efficiency: 70% (brew house)


STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.082
Final Gravity: 1.017
ABV (standard): 8.55%
IBU (tinseth): 29.86
SRM (morey): 8.31

FERMENTABLES:
13 lb - German - Pilsner (75.1%)
1.5 lb - Cane Sugar (8.7%)
1 lb - German - Pale Wheat (5.8%)
0.5 lb - Belgian - Aromatic (2.9%)
0.5 lb - Belgian Candi Sugar - Amber/Brown (60L) (2.9%)
0.3 lb - German - Acidulated Malt (1.7%)
0.5 lb - Rolled Oats (2.9%)

HOPS:
1.5 oz - Hallertau Hersbrucker, Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 2.8, Use: Boil for 60 min, IBU: 10.11
1 oz - Opal, Type: Pellet, AA: 5.9, Use: Boil for 30 min, IBU: 12
1 oz - Opal, Type: Pellet, AA: 5.9, Use: Aroma for 15 min, IBU: 7.75

MASH GUIDELINES:
1) Infusion, Temp: 152 F, Time: 60 min

YEAST:
Wyeast - Belgian Ardennes 3522
Starter: No
Form: Liquid
Attenuation (avg): 74%
Flocculation: High
Optimum Temp: 65 - 85 F
Fermentation Temp: 70 F

 

[thehaze]

I like tripels because they are dry ( or feel dry, at least ) and easy drinking and those with higher ABV will get you drunk quickly.

My impression is you do not need the Aromatic and the Brown sugar. For colour and a bit of maltiness kick, I would possibly use something like Vienna. Not much, but enough to give you a bit of colour and help the malt base. A tripel is usually a simple base malt and the yeast does the rest.

You could probably do a lower mash temp., something like 149F and the sugar is a good addition to raise the ABV and dry the beer as well. I like the choice of hops.

Ferment warm and do not rush it. Either way, you will make good beer, if not very good. The yeast will definitely take care of that, as it is very capable.

 

[Jayjay1976]

Thanks for commenting! I'm out of Vienna but I do have Munich, would that boost malt flavor? I'm not worried about it being darker than the style guide suggests. I could leave out the dark candi sugar in favor of more white sugar. The white wheat and oats are for head retention and mouthfeel, am I going about this correctly? I also have steel cut oats, if that makes a difference. Either way I will boil the oats before adding to the mash.

 

[JKaranka]

I'd keep it very simple: 85% pilsner, 15% any very pale sugar (table, candi or invert). You could replace a pound of pilsner for wheat but that's about it.

I'd aim for 35 IBU mainly because I believe that IBU calculations tend to overestimate.

 

[FunkedOut]

I made one of these and used about 9% dixie table sugar.
My mash was right, hit the preboil gravity, but that sugar made the OG higher than expected, even though the boil off was as expected.
I was shooting for 10% ABV but got 10.9%. Real boozy taste.
Other than that, it was delicious.
I used 60% pilsner, 22% pale ale, 9% carafoam, 9% sugar.
Malt flavor much more pronounced than a pilsner and stayed within the color range.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Are you adding acidulated malt to your recipes for ph correction?

 

[Jayjay1976]

Are you adding acidulated malt to your recipes for ph correction?

Yes, my first batch of saison had a bit of a tannic finish. I don't yet have a ph meter for checking the mash so it's just an assumption, and the acid malt is cheap insurance. The last few batches turned out well so i assume its working, and I'm planning to buy a meter after the holidays.

 

[Jayjay1976]

I'm planning to brew this tomorrow, I picked up some flaked wheat and cara belge to add some body and head retention, I'll hop it with opal hops exclusively to get a feel for their character. Updated recipe coming soon.

 

[30_Ounce]

I have a gold medal (2015) and a silver (2017) for my Tripel at NHC. I would recommend mashing at 147 for 90 minutes or more and boiling for at least 90 minutes. Getting the final gravity down to 1.010-1.008 is really important for the style. I used simplicity Candi syrup which is the lightest I could find. Sugar is ok but I would replace it with more Candi Syrup. Opal hops should be really good. I used them in a saison I made this summer...really nice.

 

[ba-brewer]

I got a second place with this recipe in a local contest, sort a cross between a triple and strong ale
3.3gal into the fermentor

6lb belgian pilsner
1lb vienna
8oz abbey
8oz carapils
5oz acid malt
1oz santiam 60min 6.8AA 34.5IBU
12oz cane sugar
Started mash at 152 and it dipped to 148 at the end.
1078 SG
1012 FG

Ardennes yeast 68F to start, 70F after 12 hour, 72F at 24hours, 74F at 48Hours, 76F at 96hours until done

Just in case you have not used the Ardennes yeast before make sure to leave plenty of head space in your fermentor and start off with a blow off tube.

 

[Calder]

A tripel is light, so eliminate almost everything that is going to give it color.

It is dry, so mash low and use a lot of simple sugar.

Ferment high to get the yeast flavors.

Pilsner, Aromatic (I like that touch), and 20% plain table sugar (~15% by weight ~= 20% by fermentables). That's it!

Mash 148, or lower.

Start fermentation ~ 70 F, and raise to 80 over 7 days.

Good luck with it. Keep it simple.

 

[Jayjay1976]

Hey thanks for all the guidance! I'm tweaking my recipe based on the feedback, though I do want to match the 4.5-7 SRM shown in the bjcp style guide with a bit of dark munich. CaraBelge will add some dextrines for mouthfeel and head retention.

 

[Jayjay1976]

I brewed this yesterday with the recipe below. I made a starter 24 hours ahead of time, it was easy and fun! The pitching calculator suggested a 1.5 liter starter for pro brewer 1.0 high gravity ale, 488 billion cells. It was disturbing how few viable cells the smack pack contained, only around 21 billion! I had no idea how severely I've been underpitching with just the pouch, from now on I'll always make a starter.

The flaked wheat was an alternative to pale wheat and carafoam, to add creaminess and head retention. I also skipped the whirlfloc and didn't skim the hot break in the hopes of leaving ample protein. Clear beer is overrated!

The step mash routine is intended to enhance the Belgian character and maximize fermentability. Unfortunately I tweaked my boil off rate to fix my lower than expected yields on previous batches where I also overshot the OG, I guess I over compensated because I missed my target of 1.087 reaching only 1.080 and ended up with about 1.5 liters of excess wort. After pitching the starter I threw the extra wort into the starter flask which had a bit of yeast cake left, along with a cup of the decanted starter beer, then I drank the rest of the starter beer! It was sweet and a little boozy, and surprisingly delicious! Shoot, I might start brewing 1 gallon batches just for fun now that I have extra yeast around! This morning both fermonster and starter flask have a nice krausen; after primary fermentation dies down I'm going to harvest the yeast from the starter flask and add the decanted wort to fill up the headspace in the fermonster. I'm having so much fun!

Brew Method: BIAB
Style Name: Belgian Tripel
Boil Time: 90 min
Batch Size: 5.5 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 7 gallons
Boil Gravity: 1.068
Efficiency: 70% (brew house)


STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.087
Final Gravity: 1.017
ABV (standard): 9.19%
IBU (tinseth): 32.81
SRM (morey): 5.24

FERMENTABLES:
12.5 lb - German - Pilsner (76.9%)
2.44 lb - Cane Sugar (15%)
1 lb - Flaked Wheat (6.1%)
0.325 lb - Belgian - Aromatic (2%)

HOPS:
1.25 oz - Opal, Type: Pellet, AA: 5.9, Use: Boil for 60 min, IBU: 21.68
1.25 oz - Opal, Type: Pellet, AA: 5.9, Use: Aroma for 15 min, IBU: 10.76
0.5 oz - Opal, Type: Pellet, AA: 5.9, Use: Aroma for 1 min, IBU: 0.37

MASH GUIDELINES:
1) Temperature, Temp: 132 F, Time: 1 min, Amount: 8.25 gal, Strike
2) Temperature, Temp: 127 F, Time: 20 min
3) Temperature, Temp: 145 F, Time: 20 min
4) Temperature, Temp: 154 F, Time: 10 min
5) Temperature, Temp: 176 F, Time: 10 min, Mash out

YEAST:
Wyeast - Belgian Ardennes 3522
Starter: Yes
Form: Liquid
Attenuation (avg): 74%
Flocculation: High
Optimum Temp: 65 - 85 F
Fermentation Temp: 70 F
Pitch Rate: 1.0 (M cells / ml / deg P)

 

[Jayjay1976]

I wish I'd thought of it sooner, but is there any sense in using pilsner DME to make up the difference in my target OG of 1.087 and where I ended up at 1.080? I'm assuming I could just dissolve the DME in a cup of boiling water and just add to the fermenter? Or should it be boiled for 10 minutes?

 

[ba-brewer]

I would al least boil long enough to get the break to form and drop.

But you have a good amount of sugar in your recipe and mashed for fermentability so it should attenuate pretty well. If you get 80% attenuation from 1080 you have an ABV about 8.3 already. I think I would let it slide and make changes next time.

 

[Jayjay1976]

I would al least boil long enough to get the break to form and drop.

But you have a good amount of sugar in your recipe and mashed for fermentability so it should attenuate pretty well. If you get 80% attenuation from 1080 you have an ABV about 8.3 already. I think I would let it slide and make changes next time.

Okay great, I was kinda wanting to leave it anyway, just want to make sure it comes out as a good representation of the style. Thanks for the feedback!

 

[CKelly]

If this works and you like it, then that's awesome and you should stick with it! I've had a lot of luck with only Belgian Pilsen and Simplicity Candi Sugar. I forget what I hopped with but it was some combination of Styrian Goldings, Saaz, and Hallertau. Mashed low as everyone else has said and added the Candi Sugar incrementally starting at high krausen. Also did incremental temperature increases starting at 68 and going up to 80, increasing by 2 each day.

 

[jtp137]

I'd keep it very simple: 85% pilsner, 15% any very pale sugar (table, candi or invert). You could replace a pound of pilsner for wheat but that's about it.

I'd aim for 35 IBU mainly because I believe that IBU calculations tend to overestimate.

What he said, just pilsner and sugar let the yeast shine

 

[Calder]

Looks good.

 

[Jayjay1976]

It's been fermenting for a week today, it was at 71 for the first 2 days, then I stepped the temperature up 1 degree per day up to 76. I'll take a gravity sample and post a photo in a little bit. Can't wait to taste it!

 

[nrjones89]

I have only done Belgian Dubbels, but I think my knowledge would apply the same here. I agree with 30oz, achieving the lowest possible gravity is super important with Belgians. I have had some that had FG of ~1.016 and they were just garbage. Tasted like alcoholic pancake syrup. It's important to use as light of candy sugar or syrup as you can find, otherwise you could darken the wort too much and increase the amount of unfermentables. I recommend trying to make your own candy sugar. I also agree with comments suggesting to replace the plain sugar with candi sugar or remove it altogether. Lastly, I recommend looking into adding some biscuit malt into your recipe.

 

[Jayjay1976]

Sorry I've waited so long for an update; this recipe turned out really good and was the favorite among 6 beers I brought along to a neighborhood party. In fact I've only got one bottle left for the archives. It finished with very pleasing sweet cream, vanilla, and cotton candy sugary malt flavors, and restrained belgian esters.

Hosting a guided beer tasting was a blast and impressed all of my friends, this is the one they've requested more of so I'm brewing another batch right now, a little more aggressively hopped this time using fruity Jarrylo, and fermenting with 3787 trappist yeast at room temps.

 

[Lefou]

Fascinated with the wireless thermal sensor and the app you're using to graph your temperatures over time.
What is it?

Awesome brew, by the way, and great thread.

 

[Jayjay1976]

Hey thanks!

The bluetooth temp logger is by @inkbird, it's a great little unit, you can get it here. If you buy one, be sure to leave them a review!

 

[Jayjay1976]

I used Dingeman's Belgian pale ale malt this time around, with a touch of Vienna in place of the aromatic, so it will turn out a little darker. Also, trying it out with a single infusion mash @148 to dry it out a bit.

Style Name: Belgian Tripel
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 6 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 7 gallons
Boil Gravity: 1.067
Efficiency: 62.5% (brew house)
STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.078
Final Gravity: 1.012
ABV (standard): 8.64%
IBU (tinseth): 43.74
SRM (morey): 6.07
FERMENTABLES:
12.5 lb - Belgian - Pale Ale (73.5%)
3 lb - Cane Sugar (17.6%) @10 minutes
1 lb - Flaked Wheat (5.9%)
0.25 lb - German - Acidulated Malt (1.5%)
0.25 lb - German - Vienna (1.5%)
HOPS:
1.25 oz - Jarrylo, Type: Pellet, AA: 10.7, Use: Boil for 60 min, IBU: 36.5
0.5 oz - Jarrylo, Type: Pellet, AA: 10.7, Use: Boil for 15 min, IBU: 7.24
MASH GUIDELINES:
1) Temperature, Temp: 148 F, Time: 60 min, Amount: 8.1 gal, Single infusion
2) Temperature, Temp: 165 F, Time: 10 min, Amount: 0 qt, Mash out
YEAST:
Wyeast - Trappist High Gravity 3787
Starter: No
Form: Liquid
Attenuation (avg): 76%
Flocculation: Med-High
Optimum Temp: 64 - 78 F
Fermentation Temp: 70 F

 

[Jayjay1976]

Fascinated with the wireless thermal sensor and the app you're using to graph your temperatures over time.
What is it?

Awesome brew, by the way, and great thread.

Hey @Lefou Inkbird posted a 20% off discount code on this thread, you can also reply OK to be entered in a drawing for a dual-stage temp controller.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/...tage-digital-temp-controller-giveaway.647248/

Here is the correct discount code for the bluetooth temp/humidity logger:

IBS-TH-1 20% code:K65FOXMB (Handy temp and humidity data logger)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0774BGBHS/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[Jayjay1976]

It was not a good day at the beer mines today.

I kinda panicked when I looked at my fermenter at 24 hours and the only signs of fermentation were a few blobs of marshmallow-looking yeast floating on the surface. I should know better but this little voice in the back of my head was telling me that this could be some kind of infection.

As I was washing some kölsch yeast to save, I had a few ounces of slurry left and on impulse I dumped it in the fermenter

I dunno what will happen now, the kölsch yeast won't tolerate the anticipated 9.5% alcohol, so hopefully the 3787 picks up some steam as primary fermentation progresses and takes it down to a respectable FG. Whatever happens it won't be repeatable, assuming the result is even something worth repeating.

In retrospect, I probably shouldn't have brewed back-to-back batches this weekend, especially on a whim without planning for the 2nd, and to top it off I pitched 4oz of trub saved from January without making a starter. I was excited to have all four of my fermonsters, my entire pipeline, filled with fermenting beer but I should have taken the time to plan better and be more prepared.

God damn I wish I could hurry up and learn patience. I'll post updates as to the fate of this new batch.