In the Fermentor: Golden Tripel II

Following in the footsteps of my Westvleteren XII inspired Quad is this Tripel recipe. If you look at the hops, yeast and grain-bill, you'll notice that they're essentially the same as what's in the other beer. Although the Tripel dials up the bitterness just a touch with a larger first hop addition, the real difference is its switch to clear Candi Sugar. In the end, I should have two very different beers, despite them sharing all but one ingredient.

On a side note, my Mash efficiency was much better than usual on this batch. Normally, I get a little above 70% with my stove-top setup. This time I was just shy of 80%. Because of that, the Original Gravity of this beer is extremely close to what I got from my Quad. Comparing the two beers when they're done should be very interesting.

Here's the five-gallon recipe:

Grains:
7 lbs Castle Pilsen
6 lbs Castle Pale Ale

Hops:
0.5 oz Magnum (14.9% a.a.): 90 min
1 oz Styrian Golding (3.8% a.a.): 20 min
1 oz Styrian Golding (3.8% a.a.): 7 min

Extras:
2 lbs Homemade Candi Sugar: 5 min

Total Boil Time:
90 min

Yeast:
Safbrew T-58

Mash Schedule:
Protein Rest: 122F for 20 min
Saccharification Rest: 150F for 75 min
Mashout: 168F for 15 min

Original Gravity:
1.089
Estimated Final Gravity:
1.019

IBU: 36
SRM Color: 6

Fermentation Schedule:
2 Weeks Primary
6 Weeks Secondary
2 Weeks Bottle Conditioning

Cost: $17 per case
Commercial Equivalent: New Belgium Trippel: $32 per case
Savings: $15

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