Belgian Tripel

[translucent]

This is the beer i should be bottling in one to two weeks. Tell me what you guys think of it.
I did the recipe myself and this is the first time i've tried a starter.
(i realize that i didn't really need Belgian pale, i could have just done 12 lb of belgian pils and skipped that, oh well)


malt and fermentables
LB OZ
10 0 Belgian Pils
2 0 Belgian Pale
1 0 Belgian Candy Sugar Light
1 0 Belgian CaraVienne
0 8 Belgian Biscuit Malt
0 8 Belgian Aromatic
15 LB fermentables

hops

boil 60 mins 1.0 Saaz
boil 1 min 1.0 Saaz

extra additions

boil 15 min 1 ounces Ginger Root info
boil 15 min 1 whirlfloc tablet
boil 15 min 1 ounces Orange Peel, Bitter info

Batch size: 5.0 gallons

Step Infusion Mash
Double Infusion

heated about 15.0 quarts of water to 146°F to strike at 133° F
20 mins Protein Rest at 133° F
Brang about 7.0 quarts of water to boil, add to mash to reach 154°F
60 mins Conversion / Saccharification Rest at 154° F
brang about 7.3 quarts of water to boil, add to mash to reach 167°F
15 mins Mash-out at 167° F


Original Gravity
1.082 measured

Final Gravity
1.011 measured

Mash Efficiency
75% measured


Color(about, it seems slightly darker, could be from the starter wort)
9° SRM / 18° EBC

I used bottle dregs from Allagash white. I poured the dregs of 3 bottles into a pyrex flask and added 200ml of 1.040 gravity wart that was boiled and cooled. put airlock on and let ferment, at full Krausen I added another 300ml of 1.050 gravity wart that was boiled and cooled to the starter. airlock and fermented, at full krausen I added another 500ml of 1.060 gravity wart that was boiled and cooled to the starter. at full krausen I pitched into the Belgian Tripel recipe above at about 75 degrees.

Fermented in primary for 9 days @ 72 degrees
racked to secondary
still in secondary

[Germ]

Sounds really good. I've never propagated yeast from commercial bottles before. How did it taste when you transfered it into secondary?

[reidLinden]

Sounds tasty!

[Drtanglebones]

This could be pretty good! My only concern would be propagating from bottles--that can be a potential spot for contamination. I've done it once without problems though!

[Andy]

Should be a very tasty beer. I personally haven't played around with ginger much in belgian goldens. I think between that and the Belgian Wit yeast you'll have interesting flavors and depending upon the type of orange and whether or not you added any pith it could marry very well if given time to mature. I'm really blown away by the 86% attenuation... usually Wit yeast is in the 75% range with 85%+ usually being Saison yeasts, Achouffe (WLP550) ot possibly Rochefort (WLP540) or another Abbey/trappist yeast, but given higher fermentation temps and a good culture I think you squeezed max attenuation out of it, kudos!

Being a Belgian junky, I look forward to trying this!

Andy

On an aside, what calculator/software are you using? I calculate an SRM of roughly 12.9 with that grain/sugar load and a 5 gallon batch. With CaraVienna, Biscuit & Aromatic all being around 20L and they're being 2lb between them, I calculate 9 SRM from them alone.

[translucent]

I tasted the starter I created from the dregs and it was very good, no off flavors. I did the same thing when i transfered over to the secondary, it tasted like a flat belgian no goofy flavors. i didn't get too much orange or ginger flavor but i only got a little taste, it was slightly sweet. I barely used any pith, i just shaved off some of the exterior part of the rind, not enough to get down to the fruit. I estimated a 1.020 FG but it got way lower. I used hopville.com to get my SRM estimation...I generally just store my recipes in there, but I glance over the calucations to see if I at least am in the neighborhood when i do the actual brew.
before I bottle I will double check the gravity again, but i had my wife read it to make sure i wasn't crazy.

[translucent]

I should add on that I used yeast nutrients when i added the starter to the wort. Allagash White uses the house yeast strain from the allagash brewery, its used in a majority of the other belgian ales brewed there, according to one of the brewers that works there,(including their Grand Cru). The Allagash White is only about 4-5% ABV so I think the yeast culture in the White is really strong and ready to take on bigger beers as it obviously takes on bigger OG's in a lot of the other ales brewed at Allagash. I'm thinking that is why it worked so well. I was thinking of grabbing some yeast out of a Bell's Best Brown ale to use for my dIPA's as that is the same house yeast they use in their Hopslam from what I was told by Gary Nicholas from Bell's.
I used a lighter and/or sanatizer on everything in the entire process of grabbing the dregs. crossing my fingers that everything stays on track, if there was a very small contamination i might not taste it till it gets down the road a little ways. If this works, i will do it again
oh, and I saved the yeast cake from the batch when i transfered it, I have it in my fridge in a flask, airlocked. Anybody need about a liter of Yeast? (about 200ml of pure yeast slurry on the bottom) HA! I'm not sure if i'm going to try using it or not.

[Drtanglebones]

I'll give you credit for trying cool new methods! For a Belgian tripel you actually want a finishing gravity of 1.008-1.014, so you are right on!