First Belgian as the title says, tripel. Extremely pleased. Only problem is that at 9.3%, this little devil is way too easy going down.
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First Belgian - Tripel.
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Ah yes, the trouble with tripels.
I have gone to Blipels which is a tripel recipe at a blonde strength! My favorite is Tripel Karmeliet. Still working on it. I have not been using sugar in them either which helps keep the ABV down.
Yeah, great beer but not exactly sessionable. How have you changed it so far and how happy are you with those changes?
I have settled on the Gnome yeast and lowered the strength down to the 6% range. I might add sugar back in to see about flavor but I have been getting good attenuation which is critical (1.006 is the goal). Some distiller's malt helps and plenty of time in beta rest range. I have the three base grains represented but am not sure how much they really add to the end flavor! I have not added any spices and am not sure if their beer has any spices or not. I had the beer in Brussels and it does have a ton of stacked bright flavors when fresh from citrus to pepper which usually get lost on the journey over to the states.
Saw a TV show called BeerMasters and the brewmaster from TK was on as a guest. He really emphasized bottle refermentation as their secret. So that is something to try. A keg referment might be what many of us do but the concept of letting the beer ferment out, transfer, than add new yeast (and probably some sugar) might add some bright flavors & aroma. Tons to experiment with in this style for sure.
Saw a TV show called BeerMasters and the brewmaster from TK was on as a guest. He really emphasized bottle refermentation as their secret. So that is something to try. A keg referment might be what many of us do but the concept of letting the beer ferment out, transfer, than add new yeast (and probably some sugar) might add some bright flavors & aroma. Tons to experiment with in this style for sure.
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Great ideas, thanks, too. Definitely bottle conditioning (and I'd love to do it in true Belgian bottles) from this point forward. Just wanted to get this one on as a first, to see if I got close. My wife says it's better than any she's ever had and I have to say, it's right up there for me too. Not that hard to get it right first time out of the park in my experience - the hard part is being able to do it again, then regularly. We'll see.
MicroMickey
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As alluded to in earlier posts, those Tripels really do go down a bit too easily. I developed a recipe for a Single which tastes like my Tripel but is a bit less likely to make me start drooling and getting loud if I have more than one.
Ehh, where's the fun in that?
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Just happened to catch at the very top that BYO back issue 10/22 appears to have an article on making a single from a tripel recipe, in case anyone is interested.
It is creepy how easy it is to drink big beers. I should brew one called "Recliner Magnet."
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That is priceless.
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Thanks man! My best bitter is about 3 days into cask conditioning, so this tripel is all I'm drinking right now. Well, someone's got to it. I'll take the fall.
I'd be very happy, in many ways, if that was my only beer.Thanks man! My best bitter is about 3 days into cask conditioning, so this tripel is all I'm drinking right now. Well, someone's got to it. I'll take the fall.
It is a great style to have around. I have made a couple before but it's been a long time. Ya got me thinking . . .
Oldskewl
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I have never been disappointed in how my Tripels have turned out and enjoy them very much. But at 9-10% I seldom drink more than 2. I have also contemplated making a lower ABV version but don't want to alter the profile too much. Considered scaling the whole recipe down equally or just cutting out the candy syrup completely or half the syrup and reduce base malt by a pound or so. Need to do some experimenting.
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Not getting notifications for some reason on only some threads. Sorry for the belated thanks man.
The problem is that the gravity itself is precisely what is giving you the yeast character you're getting. I usually will cite the difference between Weihenstephan Hefeweizen and Vitus. The mash conditions and fermentation conditions are almost identical on these beers, but the Vitus ester profile is far more expressive. Where the standard 5.4% weiss is characterized by a fairly subtle banana character (relative to ones like Hacker-Pschorr and Konig Ludwig), the 7.7% weizenbock is over-the-top with bananas, other fruits, and bubblegum which is more or less absent in the lower gravity example.
If I had to strategize a way to "cheat", you could maybe try lowering the grains and upping the % dextrose as that drives ester development independently of gravity, so you might be able to get the same results at 8% ABV vs 9.2%. Purely speculation of course.
Oldskewl
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Yeah, I kinda figured the ABV is part of what give the beer its character. I do like BIG BEERS. I know in Hazy IPAs, I prefer an 8.5% version over a 6.5% version. I just like the body and overall flavor. I never thought of going the other way...by reducing the base malt and increasing the dextrose. I guess that will be another experiment.
Great insight. I have moved away from sugar in my blonde beers but might try a sugar heavy blonde recipe to try and emulate a tripel flavor profile. So many things to try with this style. Then there is keg/bottle refermentation...
PCABrewing
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I call that a victory!
Curious. Rather than tinker with a known recipe, has anyone tried diluting a tripel or golden strong to a lower ABV at bottling? Just wondering if the outcome is the same as with recipe scaling ... other than the fact that you'd end up with more bottles.
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