Belgian Tripel Recipe

[Brew_Dave]

Hello Brewers,

Like many I'm a big fan of the Belgian beers, particularly the Trappist beers. Up until now I've used all grain kits and recipes that I've found online, for my next brew I want to have a go at writing my own recipe.

After watching David Heath's videos on YouTube and other online research I've decided to have a crack at a Belgian Tripel. Please could you take a look and let me know what you think? I've basically no idea what I'm doing, so any advice would be excellent.

ABV: 9.3%
OG: 1.080
FG: 1.009
EBC: 14.2 (Brewfather says this is out of style)
IBU: 25
BU/GU: 0.31

Grain Bill:
Pilsner Malt - 6.4kg (80%)
Clear Candi Sugar - 1.2kg (15%)
Carramunich - 400g (5%)

Mash Profile:
Mash at 60 degrees for 20 minutes, 65 degrees for 20 minutes, 69 degrees for 20 minutes and then mash out at 75% for 10 minutes

Hop Additions:
45g Saaz at 60 minutes, then 20g at 15 minutes.

Yeast:
Wyeast Labs 3787 Tappist Style High Gravity - 1 pack.

Cheers

 

[cushyno]

Your recipe is not far from Greg Hughes Belgian Tripel. You may wish to drop the Caramunich to 250g. That should sort out the colour.
Also increase your late hop addition. GH has a late hop addition of 50g Styrian Golding, but Saaz would be ok, maybe 45g at 15 min?

 

[Brew_Dave]

Yeah I was thinking of dropping the caramunich for aromatic malt - same quantities.

Thanks

 

[chthon]

Very nice recipe. You really don't need any cara/crystal malt in a tripel. Most tripels have higher IBU ratings, my two favorites, Westmalle and Affligem, have a higher bitterness.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

I would replace the caramunich with 250g of Carapils. Consider using EKG as your hop.

 

[UKSkydiver]

This is my Belgian Tripel

I added some black malt as I wanted it darker and at 15.6 EBC it was also out of style, but it's not like it was as dark as a stout. I was happy with it.

 

[Trapdoor]

Brew_Dave you dont happen to live in Gosport do you?

 

[Brew_Dave]

Brew_Dave you dont happen to live in Gosport do you?

Hello, no I’m not.

 

[Brew_Dave]

Okay - quick update for everyone.

As mentioned above I dropped the Caramunich for some Aromatic. The beer has been conditioning in bottles for 5 weeks, opened my first one yesterday - very nice but two criticisms at the moment...

1. Very little head or head retention
2. Has a very slight hot alcohol flavour to it - imagine the feeling you get after drinking whisky, but very slight

I will leave the beer in bottles for another few months to see how it ages.

Cheers

 

[Richard_H]

I did a similar AG Tripel around 4 months ago but with about 20% carapils and no sugar. I have 'sampled' about 1 a month and its aging nicely with zero alcohol flavour despite being 9.3%, however head retention has barely improved. The plan is to age the majority for 12 months and probably make the following changes:
1. 5-10% wheat malt to improve head retention and mouthfeel.
2. Use some sort of bottle conditioning yeast when bottling, I understand this is quite common in Belgium when for strong bottle conditioned beer.

 

[Brew_Dave]

Okay - quick update for everyone.

As mentioned above I dropped the Caramunich for some Aromatic. The beer has been conditioning in bottles for 5 weeks, opened my first one yesterday - very nice but two criticisms at the moment...

1. Very little head or head retention
2. Has a very slight hot alcohol flavour to it - imagine the feeling you get after drinking whisky, but very slight

I will leave the beer in bottles for another few months to see how it ages.

Cheers

Update for everyone. This beer has been conditioning for several months, and every now and again I have a sample bottle.

The flavour is now excellent, the slightly hot alcohol flavour I mentioned above has completely gone and the head retention is superb.

Thanks to everyone for their help and comments.

Happy Brewing

 

[Richard_H]

I had another bottle of mine around the 6 month milestone and it has improved massively, carbonation is still low but a lovely thick head now appears and it hides it's high alcohol content very well. I plan on saving the rest for Christmas, might be worth you hiding a few for winter

 

[Brew_Dave]

@Richard_H I'm aiming to keep them conditioning until the 10th of October (which will be six months conditioning time). I will do my best not to have another one until then.

Tempted to try a Quad at some point.