Mashing A Tripel.

[Lindsay Dive]

Hi All,

We all know that when you are making a Tripel you have quite a large amount of grist.
I want to know if most of the mashers that have taken on a Tripel actually change their sparge regime.
I normally flysparge and with a normal (as opposed to a Tripel) beer and won't change because my efficiency runs into the very low nineties.

I have only made one Tripel in the past and found that I had to adjust the boiling time to bring the wort volume down to an acceptable level before continuing with the hop additions. The sparge went on far too long as there was still malt being extracted from the grains. Hence, I finished up with too much in the kettle.

I am about to make another Tripel and that's the reason why I'm asking this question.
I feel that batch sparging would be a much better proposition when making a Tripel.
Or, do I continue on and carry out the same procedure as described?

On another note, last time I used WLP 530 Abbey Ale Yeast. What are your preferences? The Tripel I made was quite a nice beer, however, it had a very slight hint of paint thinners on the nose but you could not taste it. I put that down to slightly high fermentation temps.... 22C.


Regards,
Lindsay.

 

[DJR]

Isn't the key with tripels using light candi/dextrose as a high percentage (even 30%) of the grist, added to the kettle?

When i did a tripel i just went for a 17L batch size to make it easy, made a 1055 wort and then added dextrose.

WLP530 can get solventy, but the one i made i kept below 20C and it came out spicy with some banana added on a day when it got up to 21C.

If you want to batch sparge, you can do 2 batches of water to sparge with, this may help get out all those sugars left at the end.

 

[Lindsay Dive]

DJR,

It was a 25 litre brew with 7 kilos of Pilsner Malt and 890 grams (11.3%)of candi sugar. I put the candi sugar in the boil with 10 minutes from flame out.
The problem I have is extracting the sugars from the 7 Kilo mash to give the right amount of liquor in the kettle.
I did'nt do too much wrong as the S.G. was a healthy 1.087.
Maybe I'll do the same again.
The head retention and lacing on this beer is unbelievable. I'll take a piccy next time I'm into it!
I don't think I would be keen on a Tripel with 30% dextrose....that sounds like headache material to me.

Regards,
Lindsay.

 

[Peter Wadey]

G'day Lindsay,
If I interpret correctly, you kept adding sparge water beyond what you planned because the runoff was still above your normal cutoff point.

If you don't want to reduce a larger volume, then how about reducing the runoff rate and aiming to use your normal volume? A prostrate problem might be what your tun needs.

NB: This doesn't come from experience brewing Triples (or trouble with the plumbing ).

Pete
T-68hrs

 

[Lindsay Dive]

G'day Lindsay,
If I interpret correctly, you kept adding sparge water beyond what you planned because the runoff was still above your normal cutoff point.

If you don't want to reduce a larger volume, then how about reducing the runoff rate and aiming to use your normal volume? A prostrate problem might be what your tun needs.

NB: This doesn't come from experience brewing Triples (or trouble with the plumbing ).

Pete
T-68hrs

Hi Pete,

I know I did not explain myself too well!!
Prostate Sparging is exactly what caused the problem and that's why I'm suggesting that I may batch sparge next time. Dump all the malt......fill the tun up, wait probably fifteen minutes or more and then dump the malt again. What do you think of that?

Regards,
Lindsay.

T - 68 hrs, that's not minus 68 is it or should it read T=68 hours.