Advice needed for a Tripel recipe

[WelshPaul]

http://www.homebrewchef.com/WestmalleTr ... ecipe.html

This caught my eye recently but there are 3 things that I'm wondering about:

1 - I can't find Wyeast 3787 yeast from any of the suppliers that I normally use; is there a White Labs equivalent?
2 - There are a lot of different stages to this mash (acid rest, protein rest, etc); are they all strictly necessary?
3 - I have a coolbox mashtun: how do I increase the temperature for each of these rests without topping up with hot water?

Thanks

 

[PD]

a1 WLP500 Trappist Ale Yeast I would have thought as a substitute

a2 Yes if you wish to make a cloned version.

a3 You can't

 

[WelshPaul]

OK, well that's idea out of the window then! How do other brewers manage to raise the temperature of their mash then?

 

[rpt]

3. Is this not what decoction mashing is for?

 

[WelshPaul]

3. Is this not what decoction mashing is for?

You mean, strain off some of the mash water, boil it and then add it back to the mashtun? That could work, I suppose, although it may be a little haphazard when it comes to getting the temperatures correct..

 

[TheMumbler]

WLP530 is the yeast you are looking for.

Mr Malty is a useful resource for finding the equivalent wyeast/whitelabs yeast.

I guess the recipe you link to is using HERMS/RIMS hence no addition of water. Is there any reason why you can't start with a thick mash and add water to raise the temperature?

Otherwise decoction can do this for you. It does have an effect on flavour/colour though and is a pain to do IMO.

I think you would probably get a nice enough beer with a single infusion, in the same ballpark but not exactly like the one in the recipe. Wiser heads may tell me I'm wrong though.

 

[rpt]

3. Is this not what decoction mashing is for?

You mean, strain off some of the mash water, boil it and then add it back to the mashtun? That could work, I suppose, although it may be a little haphazard when it comes to getting the temperatures correct..

Yes. Apparently decoction mashing was used in the days before thermometers although whether the beer made was consistent, I don't know.

 

[WelshPaul]

WLP530 is the yeast you are looking for.

Mr Malty is a useful resource for finding the equivalent wyeast/whitelabs yeast.

Superb! Thanks for that.

 

[phettebs]

Decoction mashing allows the brewer to step the mash through different temperature ranges. I've done several and I did not at all enjoy the process. You can do single, double, or triple decoctions. After hitting your initial strike temp and letting the mash rest a bit, the literature tells you to remove about 1/3 of the thick mash (not the liquid) and move it to the stove. You slowly raise the temp to the next target temp and then hold it there so the enzymes can do their work.

Once you've done that, you heat it up to a boil while carefully stirring to avoid scorching the malt. Then you add that boiling malt back to the mashtun which, in theory, should raise the whole lot up to the temp that you hit on the stove. Then, depending on the number of decoctions you are doing, you repeat the process for the next temp in the step.

All told, that can be a 3+ hour process. I don't have time to do that. My local brew forum is NorthernBrewer and there's a German brewer on there. He put this page together to talk about decoction and it's what I used when I did my first.

http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php?ti ... on_Mashing

Another method is to use a stepped mash via infusions of at or near boiling water. I've done that and it's less of a PITA but still not exact. I use Beersmith to help calculate volumes and temps when I do that.

I've been sticking with single infusions and it has been fine for my needs. For my tripels, I just use a single rest temp now. I don't bother stepping them at all.

Baz

 

[carl_saint]

Would having a heating element inside the mash tun allow you to do this more easily?

 

[phettebs]

Yes, but you'd have to worry about scorching the malt right around it. I've seen pics where the pros have big stirring arms that keep it all moving.

 

[WelshPaul]

I'm tempted to give it a go using the decoction method since I have most afternoons free so I'll see how it goes. I just need to wait for the Homebrew Company to get some more of that yeast in stock!

 

[MacKiwi]

Hi WelshPaul - I've got a culture of Westmalle yeast that I started from a bottle of the real thing. I'm planning on stepping it up to 2 litres soon, and then splitting it. I'm happy to send you some.

I'm obviously planning on brewing a triple too, and was planning on basing on that Homebrew Chef recipe. But I think I'm going to ignore the steps and just do a single infusion mash. I don't know how close I'll get to the real thing, but it should still be a decent beer.

 

[WelshPaul]

Thanks MacKiwi, I may take you up on that offer if it isn't in stock by payday; I still need to order a load of pilsner malt anyway. Let us know how your tripel brew goes!

 

[MacKiwi]

Just send me a PM if you want it. I have Omer and Grimbergen yeast too, if you fancy something even further off the beaten path (the benefits of having a Belgian friend with a garage full of beer from his homeland). Will be interesting to see how our respective brews go, given we're following the same recipe, I'd be up for a bottle swap if you are. Probably be a few weeks before I start mine, but have the grain ordered already...

 

[pittsy]

when i do my wheats i use decoction but i step infuse for the first few rests but if i didn't do decoction i would just start off with around 9l and work my way up to around 20l before sparging , so i say go for it by adding water and when your mash tun is full drain liquid only and heat that and add back to mash unless you want to do decoction .