"The Sky At Night" Tripel Recipe

[mysterio]

Aye i've got a few too, Orval, Leffe, Liefmans, Cantillon, Delerium Tremens, Westmalle, Duvel. The Orval one is a bit of a pain too. I like the tulip design of the duvel and delerium though.

[196osh]

I would like to get a Delerium one, but the real one I would like is this one:



Mmmmmm Rochefort. I will be trying to clone that when I have a temperature controlled fridge.

[simple one]

Its a thing of beauty.

[Barley Water]

Ok, I just can't resist, I've got to jump in on this one. I agree with the previous posters, if you want a triple, get rid of the chocolate malt and skip carmelizing sugars. I would also probably not do the late hopping since although some interpretations are faily well hopped, there is usually not a lot of hop aroma going on in the style (I also personally like the beer just a little sweeter rather than bitter, a personal preference). You might want to take the oportunity to use some of the semi refined sugars you can purchase at your local ethnic market. If you are going to add sugar, why not try and get an additional flavor component? I have had really good luck with jaggary which I source at the local Indian grocery. I use it in a Beglian Blonde and it comes out really well so I am sure it would be great in a triple. The other thing you can do is add spices if you like and again, the ethic makets have a ton of unique choices. For me, the thing that makes doing the stong Belgian ales fun is that you can get really creative.

Anyhow, watch how you handle the yeast, you are doing a very big beer and if you don't pitch enough yeast you could end up with some very nasty fusel alcholols and end up with a very hot, solventy flavor. Temperature control is a great big deal with these styles and I would suggest starting out at about 65F and slowly increase the fermentation temperature to around 75F of so. That should keep the excess esters and phenols down to a low roar while at the same time letting the beer attenuate fully. Finally, I would carbonate the beer pretty agressively. I like to bottle these bigger offerings, it's way too easy to drink way more than you really want to if you keg it plus it's hard to serve out of a keg system when the beer is that highly carbonated. If you bottle carbonate (which I think adds a nice artsy touch) I would over yeast the beer with some neutral ale yeast since you will have put your primary strain through hell just getting the beer to attenuate the way it should. Good luck and have fun, hope your beer comes out good.

[simple one]

Thanks. I will be posting the final recipe on here once I have finished tweaking it. And I will be starting a brewday thread as soon as the 1214 has femented 8L of bitter and is ready to be pitched on to.

I have flipped my opinion after drinking a kwak (even if it isn't a true tripel) and I am going for less sugars, just EKG and Saaz as hops and a one late edition around 20-15 mins to give some more spicyness. I am going to try and keep the colour and taste as light as possible.

[196osh]

A Kwak is more like a speciality ale, even though on BA it is listed as a Strong Pale Ale, but thats just my opinion.

I would try the Westmalle or St Bernardus Tripels if you have a chance, they are real Classics of the style. My personal favorite is the Tripel Karmeleit.

Barely Water I love reading your posts on Belgians.