Need help with trappist beer

[powerpunk5000]

The local home brew store/ brewery is holding a competition but it's for a trappist beer style only, a blonde , duuble, triple ir quad.

I missed the comp for American IPA which I've brewed a number of ipas but never a trappist.

Its all for fun and I think the winner gets there beer on the tap at the brewery.

If anyone could help with some ideas that be great! Or tip suggestion ect

 

[Smellyglove]

Just do a search for how to brew whatever you'd like to brew, then maybe change your mind when you read descriptors of the other trappist styles. Read a lot, not just recipes. Yeast and fermentation is key, (as always), but this is key-key And so some sampling. I personally can't stand belgian beers with simple sugars in them, but that's me.

I've tasted sooo many directly bad trappist homebrew-attempts because the brewer just read/understood something like "use sugar, ferment high", and that's it. Fusel all over the place. Belgian beers and Imperial whatever are the kind of beers I've dumped in the drain most often when getting it from other homebrewers.

 

[Lefou]

From a cost perspective the Trappist single or blonde would be the easiest and least expensive to brew.
Doubles, trips, and quads may require the expense of extra ingredients like caramelized candi sugar as extra fermentables. Due to the extra alcohol they bring to the table they may require a bit more aging time to mature.
Belgian yeast, Saaz or Styrian Goldings hops are good choices, too.

 

[radwizard]

When is the comp? What kinda time frame are yo working with?

 

[Andrew Hodgson]

I would say this thread would be a good read:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/all-things-trappist.667014/page-6#post-8640041

 

[powerpunk5000]

When is the comp? What kinda time frame are yo working with?

October 5th I believe

 

[z-bob]

Keep it simple. A lot of pilsner malt, a little sugar, noble hops or Styrian Golding, and Belgian yeast. I would brew a blonde because it's easier to not screw up. Second choice would be a tripel. Read this thread for ideas: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/revvys-belgian-blonde-leffe-clone.202852

 

[trailrider]

The Beer and Wine Journal had a good three part write up on tripels back in 2015. Here's the link.
http://beerandwinejournal.com/tripel-i/

 

[Lefou]

Chris Colby's blog. I have that one bookmarked.
He gets into methods, grain, and water treatment. Good stuff.

 

[luckybeagle]

I'm late to the party, but Josh Weikert on Beer&Brewing has some fantastic recipes. His "Make your Best" series have been some of the best beers I've brewed when I follow them (I've done probably a dozen from his collection).

For trappist style ales, I've brewed his blonde, dubbel, tripel and quad, and have been very pleased with each one of them. If you're looking for a relatively quick brew, the blonde and tripel went from grain to glass (bottling) in just about 4 weeks with excellent results in my experience. The dubbel and quad took more time to mature, with the Quad just now coming into its own 2 months post bottling. The Tripel was copied to a T and, despite my failure at the time to reign in fermentation temperature (pre inkbird+chest freezer), I took home second place in a local competition on it.

https://beerandbrewing.com/make-your-best-belgian-tripel/

Good luck! WY3522 is used in 3 of those 4, and is a fantastic yeast that produces beautifully bright beers without crashing or fining.