Tripel Tidings

Greetings fellow brew masters and beer connoisseurs! As part of our regular brew blog, we'll be documenting our way through each distinctive beer making experience. Some will probably be smoother than others. Our first brew blog, written by yours truly (the blonde in the middle), highlights the trials and tribulations of the ancient tradition that's become quite a beloved pastime. Now to begin our appreciation of the subtle craft of the home brewing lifestyle.

I write this blog on the day we've completed our 'tripel.' Its ready to be tasted and debuted. First, lets go back into time to the early stages of the creation of this tricky tripel.

Sunday Afternoon, February 21st: Tripel Beginnings

In part tradition and of course part necessity, we first made a regular stop at the 'Woodland Hills Home Wine, Beer and Cheese-making Shop.' After collecting our fair share of the tripel ingredients (for ingredients please look under our recipes), we made the journey homeward to start the batch. We've made a triple once before, but frankly, did not entirely follow through with adding the last batch of sugar. This time, its going to be complete.

What makes a triple, or 'tripel', so delicious and desirable in flavor is the higher amount of sugar added throughout the process. Its traditionally one of the strongest beers in alcohol content, especially among the Trappist Beers. 'Trappist' should not be used as certain style or type of beer, but instead is defined by the process and origin in which it was created. Commercial Trappist Beers are made in a Trappist monastery, and must be certified. What's incredible about this very long standing, old tradition is still the involvement of monks in the process of the making the beer. Now, I apologize greatly for the absence of a monk in our tripel, but everything else is sound in definition.

Following an intense litany of steps, we were able to create the 'wort.' The wort is the liquid that we steeped out of the boiling barely grains, malt and hops. When adding the hops there are three terms of note. The 'bittering hops' describes the hops that are added earlier on in the boil, and stew for about 45 to 60 mins. They isomerize the alpha acids, and boil away the flavoring and aroma. 'Flavoring hops,' added midway through the boil, at about 30 mins left or less, both isomerize the alpha acids as well add aromatic flavor, leaving behind a distinct, subtle bitterness.

The 'finishing hops' are added in the very last minutes of the boil. Fewer of the aromatic oils are evaporated at this point thus leaving behind the strongest addition of flavor. At this final stage, you usually can add other spices or flavoring agents, which will not be lost over the longer boil times. At about an hour, the wort boils down to the create a mix of sugars that will be fermented in the carboy over a period of 10-21 days depending on how long you wish for it to sit. The 'carboy' is a glass container that should be large enough to house about 5 gallons of delicious bubbling brew. Usually an airlock filled with a strong alcohol (whiskey being our jolly good choice), will keep it sterilized. The main magic in brew making is keeping every thing sterile. Its a challenge we all must face from our very first batch to our last.

Monday Morning, on February 22nd: Day 1 Fermentation

9 AM: Fermentation has officially begun. There seems to be a healthy

bubbling and foam developing. I'm somewhat hesitate in what's ahead for this batch. If the fermentation is this strong... what's in store might be a challenge.

10 PM: There she blows! I came home to find the air lock contaminated with the foam and liquid from the batch. Co2 gases are bubbling away. After consulting fellow brew mate Zack, we both agreed that it was imperative to build a blow-off valve. If this was occurring just over 24 hours of fermentation, we were in for quite a long ride. I cleaned out the air lock and within 30 minutes it was contaminated again. I made a makeshift tin foil top with poked holes until I was going to sleep. Before bed I reinstalled the airlock and didn't know what to expect when I awoke.

Tuesday on February 23rd: Day 2, The Blow-Off Valve

9:30 AM- When I can upon the carboy in the morning, I found the airlock was crusted and sealed by all the excess fermentation. I was concerned the oxygen had been depleted, which would therefore affect the yeast fermenting the beer. There would be no way for the beer to breathe! The little movement within the carboy led me to believe I still had time to save it.

I went to a nearby hardware store and bought two different sized vinyl tubing. The 1/4 inch was the perfect fit. I cleaned the airlock, and added hot water to the foam and let it sit. I also went ahead and cleaned the outside of the carboy. It was incredibly sticky from all the overflow.

After sterilizing the new vinyl tube, I attached it to the rubber stopper of the airlock and ran the tube into a small bowl of whiskey. I didn't want it to sit in still water, in case bacteria might develop. The whiskey was a move expensive route, though, so be prepared. The recipe called for an additional pound of brown sugar, to reactivate the yeast in fermenting stage. Its the third addition of sugar to the tripel. I added 1 pound of light brown sugar. I boiled 2 cups of water and added the sugar until it dissolved, funneling it in.

Putting the blow off valve pack into place, I left it alone. Within 30 minutes the valve was already transferring liquid to the bowl. We're going to need a bigger bowl... bad joke, but I seriously got worried!

Wednesday on February 23rd: Success of Great Measure

The blow-off valve was a great success. It was the first time I attempted to build this. After at least ten different beers, not one required one like this. There was an entire bowlful of gray fermented excess that apparently blew through the tube. I spared you that photo, not a pretty one. I saw no more movement today in the tube, so I opted to put the air lock seal back on. I expected the brown sugar to make the beer much more energetic for days, not just one. I looks like its steady until it will be ready to bottle in ten days or so.

Thursday, February 24th:

I returned the airlock back on the beer yesterday, but noticed today it still had been contaminated. I attached the sterilized blow-off valve to the carboy, again. Finally after it settled down by the end of the day, I again popped the air lock back on. I wasn't expecting the batch was going to be so cranky.

Sunday, March 14th:

So we decided to let the beer sit in the carboy an extra week before bottling it. We bottled it today. The bottling went smoothly. As always, sterilization is the key to great bottling success. The batch of 48 bottles were finalized with red caps as the finishing touch.

Sunday, March 28th:

The tripel has finally been tested tonight. Our next blog will be an entire evaluation of our beer, with detailed analysis. Before revealing its official name and its results, my fellow brew masters must try it first. To be continued...

Cheers,

Liza