Belgian/Canadian Tripel Recipe Question

Question

This will be my very first homebrew, but I have been doing a lot of reading, research and practice. My question is, does anything about this recipe I have created look off to any experience brewers?

%   LB  OZ  Malt or Fermentable 

66% 7   5   Muntons Extra Light Malt Extract 
18% 2   0   Sugar, Table (Sucrose) 
9%   1  0   Invert Sugar 
2%   0  6   Honey 
2%   0  4   Belgian Aromatic 
2%   0  4   Munich Malt 

Hops

use     time        oz      variety         form    aa
boil    60 mins     3.5    Slovania Celeia  pellet  2.8
boil    15 mins     0.5    Slovania Celeia  pellet  2.8
boil    2 min       0.25   Czech Saaz       pellet  4

use     time    amount      ingredient
boil    5 min   0.5 ounces  Coriander Seed
boil    5 min   0.5 ounces  Orange Zest


Wyeast 3864 Canadian/Belgian

Original Gravity        Final Gravity   Bitterness  Alcohol
1.087                   1.019           23.6 IBU    9.1% ABV 

I cultivated the yeast from a La Fin Du Monde bottle. I think it should be similar to Wyeast 3864 Canadian/Belgian.

Thanks, Carson

Answer 1

That's a pretty complicated recipe for a tripel. Usually a tripel is just malt and sugar. I don't see the need for the invert sugar and/or honey in your recipe. The aromatic and Munich are also unnecessary, but there's so little of each that it probably won't hurt.

This is a very ambitious beer for your first homebrew. You need to be aware that it will require a large yeast starter, not just the pack if Wyeast. See www.mrmalty.com for details and advice about making starters.

Answer 2

A couple of things -

As mentioned, the aromatic and munich malts aren't going to really do much in there. The yeast and additives will mask anything they have to offer. I'd say increase them to get flavor, or drop them for simplicity. Otherwise just be sure to reeeeeally work that yeast starter. Also, you might want to consider dextrose instead of table sugar, as it will ferment cleaner. Personal taste here, but I might up the orange peel and coriander to 1oz each, but I love those flavors, and to each their own.

Also, you're going to need to let this beer sit a looooong time before touching it. I would suggest giving it a month in the Primary, and then another 2-5 in a secondary.

Answer 3

I think you have too high a percentage of sugar in the form of honey, invert sugar, and table sugar. These are all highly fermentable and will leave the beer with very little body. I would suggest cutting back on the table sugar by a pound or more because it's not bring much to the party except alcohol. The honey and the invert sugar will add some character to the beer besides adding alcohol. You can make up the difference with more malt extract.

The Munich malt is not typical for the style but wouldn't hurt to leave in since the amount is small. The spices and orange zest are also not typical for the style since the yeast strain provide many similar flavors if fermented at higher temps.

I would also expect your final gravity to be much lower than 1.019 since you do have a significant amount of sugar in the recipe.

I looks to me like this would be more of a Belgian specialty beer with the different grains and spices added. Just cut back on the sugar and I think you will have a decent beer.

Answer 4

Carson- how did it taste in the end? I've tried a couple of times to use orange peel, camomile and coriander seed and got really horrible flavours that I didn't like. The second time I tried I halved the quantities and still got similar results no joy so I won't do it again unless I find out that there's a particular kind of orange or something that I got wrong. I've had more luck with honey though and would try the special flower honeys in future.

In terms of ageing I found a 9% Alc beer was significantly better at 12 months than 2 or 3 months. I've even kept back half of a second batch in secondary for over a year and still yet to bottle it. It really adds subtlety to flavours and smoothness to the finish to mature it for that time. But you need an awful lotta patience!