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9/28/2024
just shipped this keg out to GABF, however it is not doing so great.
it has a bit of a band aid flaw, which i think happened in the previous batch to a lesser degree. not sure if maybe this is a trait that wears off over time. the beer is also super cloudy, which throws off its presentation. it just feels weird.
i wonder if the honey produces some of this off flavor. you can definitely taste the honey flavor of the honey malt. could consider reducing the honey and replacing with sugar.
would like to try this again when the time comes. for next time, should figure out efficiency issues, and need to pitch more yeast and oxygenate. consider using one of the bigger belgian yeasts like WY3787.
the oak is also not coming through, i added a bunch of cubes to the keg, wasnt getting anywhere, added a bunch more. the oak is there but kind of faint.
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8/29/2024
entering post brew adjustments and notes. i am not sure why i had such horrible efficiency especially because the grain bill is not that heavy before the DME and honey. the calculated pH is pretty low.
originally had set for 50% efficiency aiming for 1.117
this is now kegged with oak cubes. tasted some warm, tasted of band aid. i got this complaint in the past from blake. also on the first batch, it did not taste good at all until months later but i cant remember if it was band aid taste initially
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8/13/2024
brewing this today. i was looking over this recipe today and realizing for an 11% beer this was really low OG of 1087. It appears I had the attenuation set up to 95% previously for WY3789. I dont think I can depend on this....
Also I forgot to get DME at the homebrew shop so I ordered some from amazon. The only one they had was a 6.25lb bag but given the snafu above I think I will add the whole thing.
Recipe calls for 2lb honey but I've got two 3lb jars....maybe just add all three, to make things simpler and especially since im behind on gravity now with the adjusted numbers...
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8/7/2024
more than 3 years later, time to resurrect this beast. thinking about brewing this for the AHA Homebrew Rockstars pouring at GABF.
Last batch was really ideal so I'm tempted to keep it the same....but on the other hand, may try to sub DME for more malt, and adjust numbers to get up to full 5 gallon output.
....ugh ok making a lot more changes. warrior for warrior cryo. acid malt for phosphoric acid. keeping the DME adjusting the batch size. knocking down the expected efficiency.
should we stick with the wyeast or do dry yeast s33?
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1/6/2021
measured FG of 1.003 back in august and again today....??? changing the attenuation from 83 to 96 to get proper FG not sure if that is the way to do that or not..
honey really fermented away and dried it out. Doesnt taste dry though, or too thin bodied, tastes pretty sweet actually. body i think is appropriate for tripel. abv is a little high. hoping it doesnt taste too much like mead. maybe a tad too much oak. it was oaked twice, did not take notes....soaked oak cubes on vodka to avoid too much bourbon flavor. wasnt oakey enough so i removed the cubes and added a fresh charge for a month or so.
beer is delicious!
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8/6/2021
just added the sugars last night. i started with 1/2 gallon water and added 1lb dme and 2lb honey. Not sure the total volume of all that, should i just use 1/2 gallon? making the batch 4.25 gallons and 9.86% or estimate it at 4.5 gallons making it 9.32%? I guess I should just look on the fermenter to see how much total volume i have at the moment....
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8/4/2021
brew day. decided to go light on volume so to account for the the honey and DME mix i will add later. came out with about 5 gallons post boil but surprisingly less than 4 in the fermentor. efficiency was about 52% with just my grain. 5.66pH (meter might be broken). tap water, forgot the phosphoric acid. double crush. idk. attempted to ressurect some trappist high gravity from january which i think i used on the single. made the starter last night, doesnt appear to have any activity so far. went ahead and pitched it when the wort was down to temp.
now im adjusting the recipe to account for the additional volume and honey and dme. this means i will need to try to add about 0.9 gallon of dme/honey wort to the beer at some point later this week to end up with 9.11% beer. or i could do an even gallon for an 8.8% brew....
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6/30/2021
finalizing recipe. subbing 60 min styrian golding for some warrior. Just thinking might need more bitterness balance so aiming for about 40IBU on the higher end of tripel.
bumping 5 min addition from .5oz to 1.
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4/26/2021
reformulating 2019's tripel play into this honey oak tripel. added honey malt and replaced candi sugar with honey. removed 2 row for all pilsner. did not change hops - need to determine if more needed (probably - we've gone up from 7 to 9% abv) also need to deal with water - maybe just use tap and adjust pH. will add oak to secondary, be careful not to overdo it. prob soak in vodka instead of bourbon. bottle condition.
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8/15/19. this came out a bit darker than I expected, deep golden / orange; i didnt pay attention to the SRM of the specialty malts; but this is an acceptable color for the style.
next time i would like to aim for light, yellow color. Could consider using only pilsner malt and candi. Byo mayjune2012 suggesting 80/20, consider using table sugar. Store candi not traditional and more $$. Step mash 140 for 45 the step to 152 for 20 then mash out. Pitch 75% yeast count than normal for proper spicy esters
also the bottles were slightly undercarbonated at first but i think overall ok (ideally would be slightly more). Took a while to get to full carbonation
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7/23/19. Measured FG 1.010 so adjusting attenuation up to reflect. This will be about 8%. Need to reevaluate mash temp and time.
I cant believe I didnt take any notes on this prior to now...
