Tripel Double Brew Day

"The Duke" is born!

Today, Levante brews the first iteration of our Belgian Tripel, The Duke. A golden strong ale clocking in at 9.5% abv, light in color, with a crisp dry finish.

This is a high-gravity monster, with a boat load of 2-row pale malt as the base. A generous hopping with a selection of noble hops gives The Duke balance, and the nobility the name implies. A high gravity trappist yeast allows for the extreme alcohol content, and gives fruit and ester flavors.

We purchased two 55lb sacks of Briess pale malt for this project, and it was also used as the base for another incarnation of The Chief IPA today. Both use a hefty amount of pale malt.

Beeradvocate.com gives a good description of the style:

The name "Tripel" actually stems from part of the brewing process, in which brewers use up to three times the amount of malt than a standard Trappist "Simple." Traditionally, Tripels are bright yellow to gold in color, which is a shade or two darker than the average Pilsener. Head should be big, dense and creamy. Aroma and flavor runs along complex, spicy phenolic, powdery yeast, fruity/estery with a sweet finish.

Sweetness comes from both the pale malts and the higher alcohol. Bitterness is up there for a beer with such a light body for its strength, but at times is barely perceived amongst the even balance of malts and hops. The lighter body comes from the use of Belgian candy sugar (up to 25% sucrose), which not only lightens the body, but also adds complex alcoholic aromas and flavors. Small amounts of spices are sometimes added as well.

Tripels are actually notoriously alcoholic, yet the best crafted ones hide this character quite evil-like and deceivingly, making them sipping beers.

Tim adds a bucket of base malt to the mash tun.

This brew completely maxed out our system, as you can see from the picture above. The massive amounts of malt are necessary to give us the high gravity that we are looking to achieve. Belgian candy sugar is also added to the boil to boost alcohol content, and to add to the crisp dryness of the tripel.

A blend of spices, including coriander, dried orange peel and ginger are steeped into the beer as the boil ends to enhance flavor and add complexity. This is going to be a delicately spiced, yet powerful sipping beer, that is sure to please.

That's it for today. After the marathon double brew session, we sampled a bottle of our incredibly refreshing Bianco White Ale.

Cheers!

Eric and Tim

Owners, Levante Brewing Co.