Question about tripel

[Tolmikivi]

Hi guys!

Im planning on brewing my second beer and this is what I have in my mind:

https://www.clawhammersupply.com/blogs/moonshine-still-blog/belgian-tripel-homebrew-recipe
The recipe says that after fermentation on room temp for 3 weeks the beer should mature in 45F/7C.

The question is when do I bottle it? After 3 week fermentation and then mature it on bottle? Or should I tranfer the beer in another fermentation bucket and bottle after the beer is lagered?

 

[Tolmikivi]

And if anyone have brewed with this recipe I'd like to hear how it worked!

 

[thehaze]

I haven't brewed this particular recipe, but once the beer is finished fermenting, you can safely bottle it and condition it for a few weeks at 7C and then start drinking it. But I would say 3 weeks in the fermenter is a long time and unnecessary. If you follow a correct fermenting schedule and allow the yeast to do its job, the beer will be ready to bottle in 2 weeks. Once bottled, carbonation would have developed in the course of 5-10 days. Being it a Tripel, it will probably need a bit more to " settle " and reach its peak. So it's up to you how patient you are. I usually try a bottle at 5 days, just to make sure carbonation is developing, and then again at 10 days. Depending on the style of beer, I start drinking it as soon as it is ready - aroma and taste wise.

 

[Tolmikivi]

I haven't brewed this particular recipe, but once the beer is finished fermenting, you can safely bottle it and condition it for a few weeks at 7C and then start drinking it. But I would say 3 weeks in the fermenter is a long time and unnecessary. If you follow a correct fermenting schedule and allow the yeast to do its job, the beer will be ready to bottle in 2 weeks. Once bottled, carbonation would have developed in the course of 5-10 days. Being it a Tripel, it will probably need a bit more to " settle " and reach its peak. So it's up to you how patient you are. I usually try a bottle at 5 days, just to make sure carbonation is developing, and then again at 10 days. Depending on the style of beer, I start drinking it as soon as it is ready - aroma and taste wise.

Thank you for your advice! This is what I am going to do.

 

[Miraculix]

I haven't brewed this particular recipe, but once the beer is finished fermenting, you can safely bottle it and condition it for a few weeks at 7C and then start drinking it. But I would say 3 weeks in the fermenter is a long time and unnecessary. If you follow a correct fermenting schedule and allow the yeast to do its job, the beer will be ready to bottle in 2 weeks. Once bottled, carbonation would have developed in the course of 5-10 days. Being it a Tripel, it will probably need a bit more to " settle " and reach its peak. So it's up to you how patient you are. I usually try a bottle at 5 days, just to make sure carbonation is developing, and then again at 10 days. Depending on the style of beer, I start drinking it as soon as it is ready - aroma and taste wise.

In general, a good advice. I only want to add one thing. Being it a triple with a high alcohol content, just make sure not to drink everything as soon as it seems ready carbonation-wise. These heavy beers tend to be better after a few months in the bottle. Just keep like maybe ten bottles and have one every two or three weeks, to see how the beer develops over time. You can find out its peak time this way. When you brew it next time, you can then mature the whole batch till it's best.

 

[SilvioJesus]

Ferment for 2/3 weeks then bottle it. Let it carb at room temp for 5-10 days (I actually let it carb at around 22ºC for 3/5 days). Then lager it for how many months you can endure. You should see a significant difference - a good one - at around the 6 month mark. I actually have a belgian quad(-ish, 10,5 ABV) lagering right now for the past 2 months after bottling, it already tastes like a perfectly good belgian quad, but it has room to improve. Belgian abbey beers (like all guard-ready, bottle conditioned, high abv brews) need patience.

 

[Tolmikivi]

Thanks! I sure will give my beer a lot of time and love!

 

[Franz]

I only want to add one thing. Being it a triple with a high alcohol content, just make sure not to drink everything as soon as it seems ready carbonation-wise. These heavy beers tend to be better after a few months in the bottle.

Cannot stress this enough. When I first tasted my belgian strong ale after 3-4 weeks of bottle refermentation I found a lot of weird flavours and a really harsh alcohol profile, I even considered dumping it. Now, 8+ months later it is probably my best beer yet. With big beers good things comes to those who wait!

 

[Beermeister32]

Second beer should be a Dubbel. Third beer should be a Tripel!

 

[jrgtr42]

I have a tripel on myself right now.
That recipe looks pretty good - mine was 11.5lbs pilsner, 1lb vienna malt, and 2.5 lbs cane sugar - I got whatever was cheapest at the supermarket. Something like the doesn't require the candi sugar; it's 100% fermentable anyways, and doesn't add any flavor.
But keep your eyes on your feremtnation temps - mine was lower that it should have been, in retrospect; I like fermenting low, I feel like I get better results for most of my beers in the low 60s, at the expense of a little more time taken to get there.
In this case, I wish I had fermented warmer - probably around 70 to get some of the spicier esters out of the yeast.
It's still a tasty beer, but I know for next time.

 

[HB2 HughBHomeBrew]

In general, a good advice. I only want to add one thing. Being it a triple with a high alcohol content, just make sure not to drink everything as soon as it seems ready carbonation-wise. These heavy beers tend to be better after a few months in the bottle. Just keep like maybe ten bottles and have one every two or three weeks, to see how the beer develops over time. You can find out its peak time this way. When you brew it next time, you can then mature the whole batch till it's best.

This is great advice it's so hard for me to follow. I just did a very similar recipe, also BIAB, but used 3 pounds of sugar and 13 pounds of fermentables and had an OG 1.088! (at a final volume of 6.1 gallons) Fermented down to 1.008 for an ABV 10.5%! My yeast was also the Abbaye Ale but it was propagated from a previous Dubbel where I did use 2 of the packs of dry yeast and harvested and then pitched 2 16 ounces of beer/slurry that I saved in Mason jars. Fermented at 72F and it did ferment fast. But I can't give advice on the bottle conditioning because I carbed it in a keg, but then I bottled from the keg, partly because in bottles, I know there is a better chance of me keeping some of it around long enough to age. It tastes good already, though! Another reason to have in 12 ounce bottles, not keg is that I like to draw a nice full pint off my kegs and at 10.5% - look out!