Tripel

As the rain continued to fall for a week straight, I anxiously sat inside aching to brew the first batch of the term. On Tuesday, when the sun peaked through the clouds I ignored the Weather Underground's prediction of more rain. I made a quick yeast starter, set up my propane stoves, weighed out some grain, and began the brew day. The target brew was a Tripel--a strong golden Belgian ale. The style of a Tripel is thought to have originally been brewed in response to the prohibition of the sale of spirits in bars in Belgium in 1919. Monastic breweries targeted the population of spirit drinkers and produced a beer that was high in alcohol yet almost as light as the pilsners that were popular at the time.

To give a bit of an intro if you are unfamiliar with the components of beer and the brewing process, beer consists of four main ingredients: water, barley, hops, and yeast. The basic goal of the brewer is to convert the starches (amylose and amylopectin) in the barley into sugar (maltose and other simple sugars) which can then be digested by the yeast and converted into alcohol (ethanol), carbon dioxide, and about a hundred other compounds that make up the flavor of beer.

Unmilled Barley Photo by: Luke Madden

The process begins by milling the malted barley, and then steeping the barley and other grains in hot water. The process of steeping the grains is called the mash, and its basic purpose is to breakdown proteins, convert starches into sugars, and depending on how it is conducted, add color to the beer. During the mash, the temperature is carefully adjusted in order to promote the activity of different enzymes--proteins that catalyze reactions.

The Mash

I will often begin the mash at 115 degrees Fahrenheit, and then bring up the temperature to around 130 degrees for a half an hour for a protein rest, followed by another increase in temperature to 150-160 degrees for a sacchrification rest that lasts for around an hour. During the protein rest large proteins are broken down into smaller amino acids, and the sacchrification rest is conducted to break the long chains of starches into simple sugars that will later be devoured by the yeast.

Saccharification Rest

Once the starches have been converted into sugars, the grains are separated from the sweet liquid--the wort. I use a three tiered system in which the top pot--the hot liquor tank--is filled with water around 175 degrees, the middle pot--the mash/lauter tun-- contains the mash, and the bottom pot--the boil kettle--collects the sweet wort. Water comes from the hot liquor tank and drips onto the grains. At the same rate that the water is sprinkled over the mash, the sweet wort passes through a strainer and enters the boil kettle.

The Three-tiered System

In this photo, water is passed from the hot liquor tank to the mash tun through a rotating sparge arm that evenly distributes water over the mash.


After the sweet wort has been separated from the grains, it is time for the boil. This is where the process begins for brewers who use malt extract rather than whole grains. The wort is generally boiled anywhere between an hour and two hours but for the Tripel, I utilized a 90-minute boil. This is the step of the process where the majority of the hops are added as well as other sugars.

Boiling the Wort (those are hops floating in the foam)

Hops! Photo by: Luke Madden

As soon as the boil ends, the wort is cooled down as quickly as possible. I use a wort chiller that connects to the faucet to run cold water through a copper tube and then back up into the sink. Using this system I can cool the wort down to 75 degrees in about twenty minutes. Cooling the wort in this manner prevents excessive oxidation, decreases the amount of time the beer is exposed to microbes, decreases the production of dimethyl sulfide, precipitates out unwanted proteins, and saves me a lot of time. Before I used a wort chiller I would have to wait a few hours until the wort cooled to a temperature that the yeast could survive in.

Cooling the Wort

The cooled wort is then strained into a carboy--a glass ferment0r. The yeast is then added, and then it is time to clean up and celebrate with a home brew.

Straining the Wort into the Carboy

While I enjoy a home brew, I take a hydrometer sample that displays the density of the wort relative to water. More sugars in the wort increases the density and produces a higher reading (gravity). I came up a bit short on the original gravity for the Tripel, so I added a pound of caramelized sugar (sucrose) to the fermenter once active fermentation was visible.

Hydrometer Reading Displaying an Original Gravity of 1.070
Photo by: Luke Madden

Here is the recipe for the Tripel as it would read in my brewing notes:

5.5 Gallons

13 lbs. Belgian Pilsner
.5 lb. Aromatic
1 lb. Flaked Wheat
.25 lb. Flaked Oats
.75 lb. Clear Belgian Candi Sugar

Single infusion mash at 150-153 for 70 min.
90 min Boil

.61 oz. Whole Perle Hops at 90 min 7AA
.25 oz. Whole Willamette at 15 min 4AA
.25 oz. Pellet Czech Saaz at 5 min 3.2AA
.25 oz. Whole Willamette at 5 min 4AA

1 oz. Sweet orange peel at 15 min
1tsp Irish Moss
3tsp DAP

Wyeast 1214

1lb Light amber caramelized sugar added at high krausen. Sugar made with 2lbs organic cane sugar, 1 tsp DAP and 1 cup water. Temp to 270, then add 1 more cup of water. Softball and add to preheated mason jar.

Primary fermentation temp. at 82degrees

OG: 1.070 but adjusted to 1.080 with addition of sugar