Open fermented Belgian Tripel

[dancness]

Does anyone have experience open fermenting a Belgian Tripel? I was thinking of trying this out, leaving the lid off for the first 72 hours of fermentation and then sealing the lid after that. I was thinking it would produce more fruity esters. Are fruity flavors desirable in a Belgian Tripel?

I will be fermenting around 68 degrees F.

 

[erikpete18]

Have you tried open fermenting anything else, or is this the first? The folks in the wild/sour section may be able to help more. I think a lot of people try to catch a wild yeast first and then once making sure it will ferment something reasonably tasty grow it up and pitch it into a batch, but surely someone has tried open fermenting. I'd expect some bacteria (lacto, acetobacter), wild yeast (sacc, brett?), and maybe a little mold will land in there, but it would be hard to predict without trying it out.

Are you hoping to catch a primary yeast with the open ferment, or are you going to add a yeast culture of your own as well? If you're adding a yeast culture, that strain will make most of your esters. The wild bugs you catch could certainly provide some esters, but they could be all over the board (sour, barnyardy, fruity, etc.). I know the whitelabs belgian strains are listed in a chart somewhere with the different esters produced at different fermentation temps.

 

[rexbanner]

Have you made a tripel before? Have you used the same yeast? Did you think it didn't taste fruity enough?

If the answer is no to any of those, I wouldn't do it. You can get a lot of fruitiness from belgian yeasts, even at low temperature. Open fermentation also seems completely pointless to me.

 

[KoedBrew]

If I were going to do it I would throw like a cheese cloth or a clean T-shirt over the top until you know you have a good fermentation going and see a good Krausen. After you see that you will be safe until fermentation slows down.

 

[dancness]

To answer your questions:

1. I'm using WYeast 3787 (Belgian Trappist Ale yeast)

2. I've never brewed a Belgian Tripel before.

3. This would be my first attempt at an open fermentation.

 

[Changeduser123]

To answer your questions:

1. I'm using WYeast 3787 (Belgian Trappist Ale yeast)

2. I've never brewed a Belgian Tripel before.

3. This would be my first attempt at an open fermentation.

I do not use WYeast, but the white lab equivalent, White Labs Trappist Ale WLP500, is already very fruity with a lot of banana flavor. It is also very active and may re-decorate your fermenting room, but that's another subject .
The way I see this is that breweries that use open fermentation have a very stable environment, and over the time they exactly know what wild yeasts are available in their fermenting room. I am not sure I would try to reproduce this at home, not knowing which yeast will take over. I would rather play with the temperature in order to accentuate one particularity of the strain I am using.

 

[dancness]

"It is also very active and may re-decorate your fermenting room, but that's another subject ."

I am afraid of this happening. My problem is I have a 6.5 gallon bucket which I usually use for primary fermentation, and I have a 5 gallon carboy that I use for secondary.

I've heard that I might need a blowoff tube for this yeast strain, but I can't attach one to my bucket.

What should I do to prevent a redecoration of my fermenting room? I was thinking of doing the open ferment to prevent an explosion while I'm at work.

Oh by the way, my batch size will be 5 gallons.

 

[erikpete18]

In that case, I'd maybe shy away from the open fermentation. Don't let me stop you if that's what you want to do (that's the whole point of this hobby!), but doing an open ferment just to get more esters probably isn't the best way to go. You're just as likely to get something bad than something that will dramatically improve your beer.

 

[rexbanner]

I do not use WYeast, but the white lab equivalent, White Labs Trappist Ale WLP500, is already very fruity with a lot of banana flavor. It is also very active and may re-decorate your fermenting room, but that's another subject .
The way I see this is that breweries that use open fermentation have a very stable environment, and over the time they exactly know what wild yeasts are available in their fermenting room. I am not sure I would try to reproduce this at home, not knowing which yeast will take over. I would rather play with the temperature in order to accentuate one particularity of the strain I am using.

I've been using wlp500 a lot lately. If you keep it at around 64, you don't need a blow-off and you don't get any banana flavor. I have no experience with it at higher temps because I hate banana and keep it low to avoid it, but at 64 it still has plenty of fruit flavor that it adds, it's really a remarkable yeast, at least to me since on 90% of batches I use 05. I've never used it on a tripel but I'd be interested if anyone could tell me if it's a good match.

 

[dancness]

"I've never used it on a tripel but I'd be interested if anyone could tell me if it's a good match."

Northern Brewer includes that yeast with their Belgian Tripel extract kit, so I would think that they match up pretty well.

 

[beerloaf]

I've been using wlp500 a lot lately. If you keep it at around 64, you don't need a blow-off and you don't get any banana flavor. I have no experience with it at higher temps because I hate banana and keep it low to avoid it, but at 64 it still has plenty of fruit flavor that it adds, it's really a remarkable yeast, at least to me since on 90% of batches I use 05. I've never used it on a tripel but I'd be interested if anyone could tell me if it's a good match.

I used WLP500 with my current tripel but at higher temps. Around 68-72 mostly. I also made a starter out of it due to the high gravity. Mine started at 1.084 and last I checked it was down to 1.012 this was within a week. I made the Dragonmead Absolution clone in the database and so far smells pretty damn good. I will be bottling this weekend or early next week since by then will have been fermenting for 11 days in primary and 21 days in secondary. The brew before that I used WLP550 and that turned out well also for an Abbey Blonde.

beerloaf

 

[dancness]

beerloaf, this is pretty much exactly what I'm going to do.

What kind and size of fermenter did you use (im using 6.5 gal bucket), and did you have any problems with blowoff?

Edit: well I'm not doing the Dragonmead Absolution clone, I'm doing a Belgian Tripel extract kit. But other than that, I'll be doing everything the same as you (same ferment temp, making starter, same yeast strain, etc)

 

[beerloaf]

I used a standard 6.5 gal bucket for primary and a carboy for secondary. I would have actually left it in the bucket for the entire time however the brew bug bit me on the butt and I just had to brew a stout. So I needed the bucket for that. Yes I would highly recommend a blow off tube vs. an airlock. This yeast has a very high attenuation and is very active. I had blowoff about 10 hrs into it. It did that for a few days then settled down after which I put an airlock on it. Last I checked mine, which was when I put it in the secondary a few weeks ago, it was around 10% abv. I will recheck this weekend and make sure it won't drop anymore, which I doubt it will after fermenting 32 days, then bottle. Good luck with yours.

beerloaf

 

[KoedBrew]

danceness...You want to hook a blow off tube to a bucket? Take one of those $1 Air locks and cut it right where it gets to the wide, liquid holding area. Then just attach a hose to the top of that.

Couple other things
1. Do you have a spare shower? That is where I put my open fermentations and/or batches that may explode. When I do Ciders I usually leave it open for the first 72 hours.

2. Someone else mentioned it but TEMPERATURE! If you want those fruity esters you don't need to do open necessarily, just change the Temp. If you ferment at a higher temp say 70+ you will get a lot more esters...which a lot of Belgian Brewers do. They start in the 60s and by the 3rd day or so they are in the 80s. But you will get a more violent fermentation at the higher temps. If you ferment below 65 or lower, it will not give you as much of the fruity esters you want.

Good luck. I would say try an open Fermentation, but probably not on your first Tripel...you have no reference point. If you want to though, Go For It!

 

[topend]

OP, I will be very interested to learn what happens for you and your tripel. I have the NB Patersbier in one of my ferms with the Trappist 3787. That will be followed by the NB Tripel using the yeast cake from the Parersbier. I'm concerned about wild ferm with the tripel and have been considering a blowoff hose to prevent a mess.

Sent from my iPhone using HB Talk

 

[dancness]

KoedBrew, would one of those airlocks be wide enough so as not to get clogged?

I think they are only maybe 1/2" in diameter.

 

[Nowuries]

OP.. you may be interested in this video : http://www.brewingtv.com/episodes/2010/5/17/brewing-tv-episode-4-open-fermentation.html

And I think a few episodes later they do a taste test...

 

[Shaneoco1981]

I used WLP500 with my current tripel but at higher temps. Around 68-72 mostly. I also made a starter out of it due to the high gravity. Mine started at 1.084 and last I checked it was down to 1.012 this was within a week. I made the Dragonmead Absolution clone in the database and so far smells pretty damn good. I will be bottling this weekend or early next week since by then will have been fermenting for 11 days in primary and 21 days in secondary. The brew before that I used WLP550 and that turned out well also for an Abbey Blonde.

beerloaf

I am not sure how particular about clones being exactly alike, but there is no way u r going to hit Final Absolution's 13 1/2% ABV with an OG of 1.084. I just brewed a Tripel and I had an OG of 1.092 and I am still only around 9%.

 

[Shaneoco1981]

I used WLP500 with my current tripel but at higher temps. Around 68-72 mostly. I also made a starter out of it due to the high gravity. Mine started at 1.084 and last I checked it was down to 1.012 this was within a week. I made the Dragonmead Absolution clone in the database and so far smells pretty damn good. I will be bottling this weekend or early next week since by then will have been fermenting for 11 days in primary and 21 days in secondary. The brew before that I used WLP550 and that turned out well also for an Abbey Blonde.

beerloaf

You know Final over on PA? I am surprised that it is distributed over there. It is a rather small brewery around me. It is a fantastic beer, I am just surprised.

 

[beerloaf]

I am not sure how particular about clones being exactly alike, but there is no way u r going to hit Final Absolution's 13 1/2% ABV with an OG of 1.084. I just brewed a Tripel and I had an OG of 1.092 and I am still only around 9%.

The Dragonmead Final Absolution is around 1.085 OG with 8.5% ABV this according to their website...
http://www.dragonmead.com/Beers.html#Final Absolution Belgian Style Trippel

I pretty much followed the recipe in the database on the forums and only switched out one of the hops. Mine was at 1.012 last time I checked, which was over 2 1/2 weeks ago. That put it at around 10.13% ABV at that time. So yes I'm over 9% at the moment. I kept this relatively warm at around 68-72. Compared to my stout which I'm keeping around 64-67. I still believe that this yeast strain is a beast compared to others.

beerloaf

 

[beerloaf]

You know Final over on PA? I am surprised that it is distributed over there. It is a rather small brewery around me. It is a fantastic beer, I am just surprised.

Not as far as I know you can't get Final in PA. We have some pretty draconian alcohol laws here. You can only buy beer by the case from a beer distributor and smaller quantities from bars/restaurants. That's pretty much it. I decided to make this because I always wanted to make a Tripel and love Belgian beers.

beerloaf

 

[KoedBrew]

It never clogged for me?