Tripel

I just wrapped up another successful brew day this afternoon with a batch of a Belgian tripel style, which is a deceptively strong Belgian ale of very light color and body, but with evident alcohol undertones and fruity/perfumey yeast characteristics. It was developed only in the last century by Belgian abbots, religous brewers in a limited number of abbey breweries around Europe, specifically the monestary at Westmalle. It uses almost entirely Belgian Pilsener malt for the malt bill (the lightest, crispest malt available), though my recipe contained a pound of Vienna malt (another light malt with a stronger malt flavor/texture) to buffer what I felt was a bit of a one-dimensional grist. Perhaps just as importantly, Belgian tripel brewers use inverted sugar solids (of fructose or glucose, but not sucrose like found in table sugar) to flavorlessly increase alcohol content while keeping the residual density (body) of the beer comparibly low for the strength. This results in the type of beer that doesn't strike one as particularly potent, yet shows its strength as you stand up. To further balance the strong alcohol presense, specialized strains of Belgian yeast produce far more esters (observed as fruitiness) and phenols (observed as spice, like clove, pepper, or currant) than your typical domestic yeast. This particular batch is being fermented with a Bastogne Belgian yeast, which is excellent for subduing some of these characteristics, as Ella (the Anniversary Ale) fermented with a very estery yeast and came out perhaps a bit more fruity than expected. In this respect, the new batch should taste somewhat like an Imperial Pilsener (think Molson XXX for a less than suitable, but probably familiar example), with twice the strength of your average beer but enough other flavors to comprise an enjoyable drink. That's the plan.

Anyway, hopefully the tripel turns out as expected. Beyond that, the Blackstrap Brown ale is still carbonating in the bottle, while Annabelle is just about ready to be bottled as well (though constant surface bubbling makes me fear that she may be infected...we'll see), and the IPA has been dry-hopped and still has a bit of time left to mellow in the carboy before I can transfer her once more into another fermentor and bottle her up.