Tripel cloying / syrupy / gross.

[IJesusChrist]

I made a tripel with 9.5lbs pilsen DME, .6lb american caramel, 1.5lb invert sugar. Yeast: 1388 belgian strong yeast (no starter).

My FG is very high (I think) - sitting at ~1.023. I already bottled it, thinking not much of it, but its become obvious that this is cloyingly sweet. I'm not sure if its the sweetness that is so unbearable, but it's very heavy. Granted this is only around 1 month old, and ~8% ABV.

Additionally the hop schedule was
2 oz hallertau domestic
2 oz goldings
1 oz sterling

all for ~50 minutes of boil.
The ibu's calculated are around 45 - a bit high for a Tripel, and it reflects that - it's hoppy and too bitter, almost giving a salty taste.

1. Is this FG normal for a tripel? The OG was around 1.09
2. I'm open to popping all the bottles, and adding some other yeast to eat away any remaining sugar (EC-1118 or something), and then kegging.
3. Anyone have experience with tripels have some tips, maybe a better hop selection/schedule?

 

[m00ps]

I think the sweetness is a combination of the caramel malts, no starter, and using mostly extract

extract batches have a tendency to not dry out as much. They really should start making lower and higher fermentable extracts so you could get to lower FGs

no starter probably means the yeast was pretty stressed and likely didnt perform as best as it could. Probably couldve gotten a few more points here

I dont like any caramel or crystal malts in my Tripels because you want them as dry as possible. There will already be sweetness from just having that high of an OG and the fruit esters from the yeast, add caramel malts and things become cloying

 

[IJesusChrist]

I think the sweetness is a combination of the caramel malts, no starter, and using mostly extract

extract batches have a tendency to not dry out as much. They really should start making lower and higher fermentable extracts so you could get to lower FGs

no starter probably means the yeast was pretty stressed and likely didnt perform as best as it could. Probably couldve gotten a few more points here

I dont like any caramel or crystal malts in my Tripels because you want them as dry as possible. There will already be sweetness from just having that high of an OG and the fruit esters from the yeast, add caramel malts and things become cloying

The original recipe asked for carapils as well - what would you replace the caramel for?

Edit: the recipe is a clone. I got the recipe from the brewer that makes the tripel.

 

[m00ps]

I always make my tripels with 20-30% wheat. It helps with body and head retention and is pretty traditional to style. Id replace some of the Pilsner with wheat DME