Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Belgian-Style Tripel Ingredients and Procedure

Fermentables
3.3 lbs Light LME          Briess CBW Golden Light
3.3 Amber LME            Briess CBW Sparkling Amber
3 lb Pilsen DME             Pilsen Light Spray Dried Malt
1 lb Light Candi Sugar
8 oz Maltodextrin

Specialty Grains
4 oz Aromatic                Crushed Aromatic Malt

Hops
2oz Bittering                   Kent Bittering Hops - 4.5% alpha acid
.5 oz Aroma                   Kent Aroma Hops - 4.5%  alpha acid

Yeast
1 Sachet                         Nottingham Ale Yeast

Specs
IBU's: 24 - 30
ABV %: 8.5 - 9.0
OG: 1.083 - 1086

Procedure
1) Sanitize everything - 1 carboy, 1 big plastic spoon, 1 airlock, 1 hydrometer (did not sanitize 7 gallon pot or thermometer)
2) Steep grains
I poured about 2.5 gallons of water into the brew pot and set burner to high. I poured the 4 oz of crushed 'aromatic malt' grains into grain bag and tied a knot at the top of the bag. When the water was at 150, I put the grain bag into the brew pot and reduced heat. I steeped grains for approximately 20 minutes and checked water temp about every 3 to 4 min, adjusting as necessary to attempt to keep the water as close to 150 as possible. Removed grain bag and set drain bag in a clean bowl. The water was then wort.
4) Start boil
I set the heat to high to bring the wort to a gentle, rolling boil. As this was heating, I tossed the grain bag, and poured the drained liquid back into the pot. I poured the dried malt extract (DME) - the 3 lb Pilsen Light Spray Malt and Maltodextrin - into a bowl and added that so I could just dump it all at once (as it tends to crust as it leaves the bag. Then I poured the LME - two cans of Briess CBW, one Golden Light and one Sparkling Amber - in and the Candied Sugar as the wort turned into a boil
5) Add hops
I then slowly sprinkled the bittering hops into the boiling wort. I did this extremely slowly as the initial addition of the hops causes a sudden foaming, that goes back down and allows the rest of the hops to be added without that foaming. I then boiled for 50 minutes after which I added the aroma hops and boiled for 5 more minutes.
6) Cool wort and transfer
I then filled my bath tub full of cool water and placed the brew pot in. After about an hour I poured the wort into a carboy, but will probably try to strain next time. I attempted to avoid transferring the heavy sediment (trub) from the brew pot to the carboy.
7) Add water
I then added enough clean water to the carboy to bring the total volume of wort to approximately 5 gallons, stirred, and took an initial specific gravity with the hydrometer.
8) Pitch yeast
I poured the yeast satchet in and stirred it up; capped the carboy, filled the airlock just under halfway with water, and stuck it in.

Monitor and record
9) Fermentation starts
 I left the airlock set up for the first day, and then began to monitor closely. As I suspected - the high specific gravity beers (by proxy, high alcohol beers), there is so much activity that it frequently reaches the airlock and can block or just build a significant amount of pressure. As I'd already had the Russian Imperial Stout explode on me, as soon as I saw the beer overflowing the airlock, I opened it up and pulled the top and inside of the airlock so that the gas could release straight out. As I heard a constant whistle, I had no worry that air was getting in and affecting the taste. This lasted for approximately two to three days, and I put the airlock back together when there was still very active fermentation so I didn't have to worry about oxidation.

10) Wait
I will bottle this as soon as my English Brown Ale is gone, and I have the larger bottles - especially with the bulk aging, the larger canister available, the better (in my experience).

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