Award Winning Belgian Tripel All-Grain Recipe

[@TheHomebrewChallenge]

Very cool! Belgian Tripel is my favorite style also. Will be coming back to this video when I design my recipe for it - great resource.

[@MeanBrews]

Awesome. Can't wait to see the episode!

[@BuffaloBeerReviews]

i agree.

[@BuffaloBeerReviews]

was starting to construct a belgian trippel. Thanks so much for this wonderful information. Cheers from Buffalo.

[@MeanBrews]

Glad it was helpful! Happy brewing

[@marklapadura9412]

I brewed your recipe and it is fantastic! Thanks and keep up the great work 🍻

[@MeanBrews]

Awesome! Thanks for the feedback

[@canadianJaouk]

One of my favorite style. Thank you for this fantastic data collection and presentation. I will definitely be incorporating this in my next tripel batch.

[@MeanBrews]

Glad you enjoyed it! Make sure to subscribe!

[@canadianJaouk]

@@MeanBrews too bad there was no bottle aging data. I would imagine for a tripel, it’s an important part of the final taste profile. How long did you age your winner? At what temperature?

[@MeanBrews]

at least a month in the keg or in the bottle. if bottle conditioning, room temp. if in the keg, I keep in the keezer

[@TheAlchemistsBrewery]

This was a great video and recipe. Will make a Tripel using T-58.

[@MeanBrews]

thanks! my favorite is White Labs 720 in a tripel

[@johnsmolley1941]

Great work. I was surprised only by the fermentation temps-IIRC many of the Belgian sourced brews climb into the eighties and on occasion even the 90's. I wish I could remember the source unfortunately but it had a lot of detail about fermentation). I will never forget my experience with yeast--cultured what I could from a bottle of Chimay and added it to some basic ale recipe and blown away by the flavor--it was then I realized it was all about the yeast stupid--this was well before White Labs, probably in the early days of Wyeast in the late eighties and prevailing practice was to sprinkle a packet or two of dry yeast, maybe a champagne for a Tripel. and at least here in the states the importance of strain wasn't widely appreciated.

[@johnviggogrnbech1089]

Great info! Subscribed :)

[@MeanBrews]

Thanks for the sub!

[@thevoice4758]

Greeting from Belgium. Pronounce it as "Karmeleat". I live in the region where they brew a lot of famous beers like Karmeliet, Viccaris, Duvel, Cornet, Malheur, ... to name some.

[@MeanBrews]

Thank you! it's my favorite beer. I'm so jealous of where you live!

[@thevoice4758]

@@MeanBrews :-)

[@Kberrysal]

Thank you for the information

[@MeanBrews]

No problem!

[@pedroreis9352]

Greetings from Portugal. Awesome content, keep up the great work, for sure it's highly appreciated by the brewing community as shown here. Do you know if M31 Triple yeast is similar to any of those you have shown in your video?

[@MeanBrews]

Thanks! M31 is supposedly the duvel strain. Same as WLP 570, WY 1388, OYL 018, and giga yeast GY 048

[@pedroreis9352]

@@MeanBrews Thanks, you put so much effort in your videos and still find time to reply to all these comments and a quick reply in my case. Really appreciate it, keep going forward with your awesome work!

[@pv4669]

I really like your videos. Kinda/sorta like Ray Daniels Designing Great Beers. Keep it up. Any chance you can show the final product in a glass to evaluate color and appearance? Thanks,

[@mart62730]

How did you get such precise information like the amount of additions or type of hops and yeast ? Very useful.

[@MeanBrews]

Lots of research, normalizing recipes, and analyzing data. Its a labor of love!

[@dominikglavina8612]

Hi, great recipe, I will try to follow it in my next brew. One question thou, is pressure fermentation suitable for this recipe and style?

[@MeanBrews]

Probably not. You don't want to suppress those esters.

[@jimwoodard1753]

One of my favorite Belgian tripels is Big Oyster Brewing's Noir et Bleu and it's flavored with black tea and dried blueberries. Unfortunately it isn't widely distributed and I don't get to the Rehoboth area very frequently. If you were to introduce dried berries at what point would you suggest it be done? I've just recently started brewing and have my first Bavarian Hefeweisen in my fermenter now. I really appreciate all your detail and explanations!

[@MatthewHerrold]

awesome! I would add them to secondary.

[@eenecho412]

Im going to brew you recept. If reconice what you explane in de film en dat confirms my chooses in mij recepten. Thx mate

[@MeanBrews]

How did it turn out

[@MrJef1964]

Hi, in one of your slides you talk about orange peel. Could you please tell me the average amount used, as on the slide its the amount of coriander used. Thanks a lot.

[@MeanBrews]

orange peel and coriander rates were identical

[@Vykk_Draygo]

Just cracked a bottle of my first Tripel. Best beer I've made yet (only because my barleywine is still bottle carbing, taking forever). Went pretty simple, with 80% Briess Pilsen, 10% Briess Aromatic, 10% golden candi syrup, and about 18 IBUs of Challenger at 60, and 14 IBUs of Challenger at 15. 1.068 OG, 1.009 FG, with Mangrove Jack's M31 yeast. Got some nice esters out of the yeast, so spicy and fruity. Tastes almost like I added spices, but I didn't This is dangerously good for a beer approaching 8%. Way too easy to drink. Belgians always take me back to my first beer: Adelbert's Scratchin' Hippo biere de garde. Been far too long since I could find Adelbert's locally.

[@MeanBrews]

Awesome! Thats a ton of aromatic for the style! I'm curious on the choice of Challenger. It is absolutely the weirdest hop I've ever used.

[@Vykk_Draygo]

​@@MeanBrews It's a small batch (1.5 gallons), so 10% is just 6 oz. I could be persuaded to do 5% and 15% split for aromatic and syrup. The syrup is already detectible at 10% though, so wheat or more base malt would probably be more appropriate. As for the hops, I had exactly enough for the batch (.67 oz). I originally designed the recipe with Tettnang and Saaz, but I've already got a bunch of partially used packets (1.5 gallons is an awkward batch size for hops). That said, I think Challenger is actually well suited to the style. It's not very prominent here, giving way to the yeast and malt. I did actually think about it, and didn't just throw it in (recipe writing is my favorite part of brewing). I wouldn't go so far as to SUGGEST it as a replacement, but I would say it works well enough. I'd offer to send a bottle for sharing / critique, but that might be weird. I have a Christmas ale sitting in primary, waiting for bottling, that I also used Challenger in. I think in that beer the hops are more at odds. Something to do with the spices I used, the yeast esters (Voss Kveik run hot), and the hops. Currently the bitterness and spice is out of whack with the malt. I think letting it age will help. I HOPE letting it age will help. xD (Should have just used EKG instead.) Curious, what do you find odd about Challenger?

[@markthrower224]

I brewed a Tripel Karmeliet clone about 8 months ago did a 6 week bulk condition been in the bottle about 6 months now and starting to shine

[@MeanBrews]

Awesome. There's a great thread on Tripel Karmeliet recipes on homebrewtalk if you haven't seen. Mine got first in 2018 at Operation Fermentation which won me the right to brew a 15 Barrel batch of it with Great Heights Brewing here in Houston. It was well received however they couldn't use licorice root due to fda requirements on licorice derivatives.

[@markthrower224]

@@MeanBrews I'm in San Antonio I studied that thread for weeks and the recipe from the CandiSyrup website I used the WLP720 yeast I didn't get the attenuation I wanted

[@MeanBrews]

Yes attenuation is poor with 720 but it sure does make a fantastic light colored Belgian beer. 720 is my house strain for trappist single and blond

[@markthrower224]

@@MeanBrews Congratulations on your success by the way

[@MeanBrews]

@@markthrower224 Thank you!

[@nicolashorbach4933]

Hi, First thank you again for all your videos ! they are full of precious knowledges. About your Triple Karmeliet clone, did you use Trappist yeast as well ? I made two different tests trying to clone this beer but booth ended up with a too strong yeast taste. I used Triple Double and Gnome from Imperial yeast. Thank you !

[@MeanBrews]

you need to use white labs 720 to replicate triple karmeliet

[@nicolashorbach4933]

@@MeanBrews Thanks for your answer ! I'll try with that one. However, Do you know any Imperial yeast that works about the same ? I'm about to enter to a home brewer contest sponsored by Imperial yeast and obviously we have to use their own strains. I would love to make something similar to the Triple Karmeliet, love that beer !

[@MeanBrews]

I would use B48 Tripel Double. thats the westmalle strain

[@vladsquared]

I'm curious about the protein rest, I thought it wasn't recommended with modern barley and even detrimental?

[@MeanBrews]

I've heard the same but the recipes that win still do it. I think a shorter protein rest can be beneficial still even with fully modified malt. Also if you're using any flaked grains or wheat malt they can help as well.

[@donaldmorrill1636]

Great information!! Thanks!! Wish I had seen your video before I tried my 1st tripel. Will my Wyeast 3522 pilsner, wheat, aromatic, belgian candy brew be drinkable? Over pitched into 66 degree wort. I let it free rise to 74 degrees, and then backed it down to 68. I mashed in at 150 and let it sit for an hour, then vourlaufed through a Herms coil to ramp up my temp. Will this even come close to the step mashing you recommend? Beer is a week old at this point.

[@MeanBrews]

I'm sure it'll be great! 3522 is Achouffe so should produce the right esters and phenols. malt selection looks spot on.

[@jemoederheetjelmer]

Hi greetings from the Netherlands (yes we do drink a lot of Belgian beers). Tripel Karmeliet is also my favoriite tripel, you should look into pronouncing it right though.

[@MeanBrews]

Thank you! Sorry for pronouncing it incorrectly. I'll look it up!

[@jemoederheetjelmer]

​@@MeanBrewsI didn't mean to be harsh about the pronunciation, your video's are great and really informative. Thank you and keep it up!

[@MeanBrews]

No worries! I need to know how to pronounce my favorite beer!

[@wafflez7]

Thank you so much for the info Matthew! I got my recipe with Westmalle water profile, grain bill at 72% pilsner, 14% carapils, 9% flaked oats/barley, 5% Honey malt. Hops add up to 25 IBU with additions at 30 and 10 minutes. Currently I'm co-fermenting with a Lallemand Kveik and BE256. Given my lack of simple sugars as adjuncts, would you recommend to carbonate with sugar or CO2? Thank you!

[@MatthewHerrold]

either will work, you might want to use some CBC1 if you plan to bottle condition.

[@wafflez7]

@@MatthewHerrold Got it, thank you very much!

[@neilarnote9708]

Great videos! Thank you for mentioning WLP 720 as I'm prepping to brew Karmalite clone. Could you please share your clone recipe :)

[@MeanBrews]

yes. I'm squelch20 on homebrewtalk. Recipe is posted here: www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/tripel-karmeliet-clone.496272/

[@neilarnote9708]

@@MeanBrews Thank you so much! I was able to scale up your recipe to 5 gals. However I don't trust the scaled up spices. How much licorice root would you recommend for 5 gallons?

[@MeanBrews]

i'd probably go 0.75 oz licorice root for 5 gallons. this beer won me a pro-am with Great Heights Brewing company.

[@neilarnote9708]

@@MeanBrews Awesome 😎 I brew tomorrow!

[@MeanBrews]

How did this turn out?

[@paulb9478]

Just sampled my first bottle of this after three month off ageing. Amazing! Used lallemand abbaye yeast. Compared it too a bottle of westmalle its different but impressed by the quality. How long would you recommend ageing this?

[@MeanBrews]

I think you're probably in the sweet spot right now. Never really aged it that long (it didn't last in the keg!)

[@paulb9478]

Just my last bottle of this in the back of the fridge. 11 months old and it was sensational. Great recipe!

[@Disconable]

Very interesting video! It looks like a lot of work to make this. I would only comment that your microphone is a bit boomy

[@MeanBrews]

It is alot of work, but I love this hobby so its a labor of love. Thanks for your "Feedback" on the microphone.

[@davidbeiler6364]

where do you get your datasets?

[@MeanBrews]

From the internet mostly

[@davidbeiler6364]

@@MeanBrews any specific sites?

[@MeanBrews]

@@davidbeiler6364 AHA, Brewers Friend, The Beer Recipator, the maltose falcons archives, Homebrew talk, HBD.org, Beertools.com, beer.tzo.com(now defunct), rackers.org, beerdujour.org (now defunct), among many others but those are the most cited.

[@Xyzlor]

NOOB question.... In the recipe: Mash Water: 5.21 gal Sparge Water: 2.92 gal / 7.8 gal HLT water What is "HLT water" ?

[@MeanBrews]

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