Small batch Belgian Tripel

[MrJay83]

Hi,

I'm brewing a small batch Tripel this weekend and only dawned on me that the chiller that came with my Brewzilla won't be much use to this 12 litre batch.
I'm thinking to transfer the wort to my 25l no-chill cube and place that in another tub with some ice & water. I was then thinking that once it got to the correct temperature I would open the cube to let fresh air in and shake for a minute or two to aerate.
Does this seem like a good approach or has anyone got a better alternative?

Thanks
J

 

[Agentgonzo]

Sounds good.

If you have a couple of big metal pots, you could divine the wort amongst both pots, then put them in the bath/sink to chill

 

[MrJay83]

Seems another sensible way to get the temp down but it's the aeration I'm more worried about. For a Tripel would a good shake in the cube do the job? I haven't done one before but at 1.080 OG I'm assuming you need it fairly oxygenated.

 

[Agentgonzo]

Seems another sensible way to get the temp down but it's the aeration I'm more worried about. For a Tripel would a good shake in the cube do the job? I haven't done one before but at 1.080 OG I'm assuming you need it fairly oxygenated.

I assume that with a small batch but using the regular amount of yeast, it'll be plenty sufficient.

 

[MrJay83]

I'm going with two packs of MJ M31 (Brewfather calc). I would have thought one would be enough but I want to give it the best chance I can.

 

[Agentgonzo]

I'm going with two packs of MJ M31 (Brewfather calc). I would have thought one would be enough but I want to give it the best chance I can.

One will be plenty for 12L

 

[chthon]

1 packet should be more than enough. The last tripel I brewed, was with 6,2 g M41 at OG 1,076.

Don't overpitch too much with Belgian yeasts. What I do additionally is stretch a cheese cloth over my fermentation vessel and start an open fermentation. After four or five days close the vessel, or transfer to a closed vessel.

 

[MrJay83]

1 packet should be more than enough. The last tripel I brewed, was with 6,2 g M41 at OG 1,076.

Don't overpitch too much with Belgian yeasts. What I do additionally is stretch a cheese cloth over my fermentation vessel and start an open fermentation. After four or five days close the vessel, or transfer to a closed vessel.

I was planning to do something like that with my Fermzilla. 2 or 3 days like as you say (I've heard these gas hard), then add the bubbler post for the rest and after that, swap for the gas post to push the beer oxygen free into bottles using my carb cap.
Did you need to add any additional yeast to your bottles? I saw a video where the guy added a bit of champagne yeast for carbing.

 

[chthon]

I was planning to do something like that with my Fermzilla. 2 or 3 days like as you say (I've heard these gas hard), then add the bubbler post for the rest and after that, swap for the gas post to push the beer oxygen free into bottles using my carb cap.
Did you need to add any additional yeast to your bottles? I saw a video where the guy added a bit of champagne yeast for carbing.

No. After letting it ferment out for another three weeks I bottled it without additional bottling yeast. Of course, the temperatures were also nice for fermenting out and carbonation, because I brewed this on 8 August, bottled it beginning September, and tasted my first bottle two weeks later.

Also, I see that the M31 is up to 10% ABV, while the M41 is up to 12% ABV. The times I used M31, I got 90% and 94% AA, so with a little luck it will probably still be in range.

Maybe also not unimportant: I also added some extra yeast nutrition after the primary fermentation.

 

[MrJay83]

I think I'll add just a tiny bit of bottling yeast with the colder weather coming in. I store mine under the stairs. Always a bit colder than the rest of the house but seems to be very stable.
Yeap... I was going to add a bit more nutrients than usual. I recently seen a guy that just chucks in some bread yeast adult the end of the boil.

 

[Birdsnestbrewery]

Never used bottling yeast and never had a problem with bottle conditioning.
The closest I have got to that was making an Orval clone, which used a MJ Belgian yeast for primary then added the dregs from a couple of bottles of Orval during secondary, a while before bottling.