Help me hop my tripel

bwmac2 · January 15, 2014, 7:04pm

A tripel is in my upcoming brew schedule. Recipe is a very simple pils/sugar about 82/18 and maybe a touch of aromatic or wheat. 1.080 OG. 1.008 FG. Bitterness about 35-38.

Westmalle seems to be the commercial standard for tripels. Reading up on the topic in BLAM by Hieronomus, he reports Styrian Goldings, Tettnang, and Saaz to be the primary hops in Westmalle.

First tripel I made I used Perle for bittering and Styrian/Saaz at 30. This was a fine beer but I though I’d change it up a bit for the second batch. I am leaning towards the Tettnang for bittering at 75 or 60 and a blend of Styrian and Saaz somewhere between 30 and 15. 90 min boil.

Other than the bitterness, the hop character isn’t forward on tripels so it probably doesn’t matter much how I get to 35 IBU with these hops other than avoiding late additions. Regardless, I would appreciate comments and suggestions from forum.

Thanks mates.

denny · January 15, 2014, 7:20pm

Your plan sounds fine to me.

dobe12 · January 15, 2014, 8:09pm

Mine is very similar. Mostly Pils, some sugar, a bit of aromatic. I bittered with Saaz and Magnum and added 1oz of Saaz at 5min.

1.095
1.008
37 IBU

It’s been in the primary for about a month. I plan on racking to secondary, adding some French oak and aging for a little while.

I did a step mash resting at 130F for 15 min then 148F for 60min.
I’d recommend a low mash to help get the FG down low.

bwmac2 · January 16, 2014, 1:57am

Dobe12 - flavor and taste aside, after a bomber of my first tripel, I am seriously buzzed. If you started at 1.095, that’s some serious ABV!!

For the forum, a more specific question about a hopping schedule is 'considering that Westmalle uses Styrian, Tettnang, and Saaz, what would be the most likely bittering hop/hop blend and timing?"

I am thinking Tettnang, but don’t really have a clue as to why.

sa_brew · January 16, 2014, 5:29am

I don’t think you can go wrong with finishing with Styrian Goldings and or Saaz for the correct hop character. I have not been a fan of most of the beers that I have tasted with Tettnang, but I have not tasted very many and I am not sure if they were quality hops. If you do use Tettnang, you should probably make sure they are German and not the American version.

wahoo · January 16, 2014, 12:46pm

One thing I’ve done with my tripels on occasion is to add a little bit of fruity american hop at the finish. Something like Amarillo. I’m not talking a huge amount, .25-.5 oz. It plays pretty well with the belgian estery yeast. I think styrian goldings would play a similar role… I find styrians to have an “orange marmalade” type aroma.

bwmac2 · January 16, 2014, 5:34pm

Thanks again. I want to minimize hop character and keep it in line with Westmalle. Tettnang at 75, Styrian/Saaz at 20.

denny · January 16, 2014, 6:16pm

FWIW, this recipe turns out amazingly close to Westmalle. I’m pretty sure Westmalle doesn’t FWH, but the results are so close that I really don’t care if they do or not!

http://wiki.homebrewersassociation.org/Westcoastmalle

dobe12 · January 16, 2014, 6:43pm

[quote=“bwmac2”]Dobe12 - flavor and taste aside, after a bomber of my first tripel, I am seriously buzzed. If you started at 1.095, that’s some serious ABV!!

For the forum, a more specific question about a hopping schedule is 'considering that Westmalle uses Styrian, Tettnang, and Saaz, what would be the most likely bittering hop/hop blend and timing?"

I am thinking Tettnang, but don’t really have a clue as to why.[/quote]

I believe mine checks in at 11.4%. I wasn’t shooting for that high of an ABV. I was looking for around 10%, but got higher efficiency and attenuation than I was expecting. Not complaining at all though!

bwmac2 · January 17, 2014, 4:41pm

[quote=“Denny”]FWIW, this recipe turns out amazingly close to Westmalle. I’m pretty sure Westmalle doesn’t FWH, but the results are so close that I really don’t care if they do or not!

http://wiki.homebrewersassociation.org/Westcoastmalle[/quote]

Thanks DC. The hopping schedule in your recipe helps confirm that I’m in the ballpark. I did a side by side with Wesmalle on my first tripel and would categorize mine as close as well. Just for kicks on the next batch, aside from mixing up the hops a bit, I plan to pull 1-2 gal of first wort, and boil it down for some slight carmelization.