From what I can tell, the part that makes it a Tripel is really the yeast. They recommend Wyeast #3522 Belgian Ardennes Yeast. This was my first experience with a smack pack and it was really convenient. I've always used dry or liquid before. It took almost 48 hours to start bubbling, but when it did it took off like crazy!
The kit used 5 oz. of hops total. The smell coming out of the airlock is amazingly hoppy, mixed with the odor that you'd expect from a Belgian yeast. It also contains 12.15 lbs of malt extract and 2 lbs of corn sugar, which makes for a LOT of fermentables.
Northern Brewer packs their malt extract in plastic jugs and moves enough products that I'm expecting this extract is "fresh". Their recipe also calls for two thirds of the extract to be added in the last 15 minutes. I'm hoping that these factors, plus all of the hops and other flavors in this beer, will combat some of the "extract twang" that I'm trying to get away from.
They also provide a cute/stupid story about how this "mash-up" came to be:
"Once upon a time a poor homebrewer was lamenting the lack of time that the modern world allowed him for his hobby, and so he cried himself to sleep. While he slept, a collective of Ardennes Forest Beer Gnomes (Houblonmonstres, in Flemish) came into his house and took pity on the poor homebrewer. Unfortunately, the Gnomes were already three sheets when they broke into his home, and so they combined the ingredients for an IPA and a Belgian Tripel. This recipe is the result of their drunken meddling: an elegant and pale strong abbey ale carpet-bombed with American and continental hops. You're going to have to do the brewing yourself, though."
So far, I've been really impressed with this kit. We'll see if that feeling persists in 2 months when it's ready to drink.
Houblonmonstre Tripel IPA
from Northern Brewer
O.G: 1082 / Ready: 2 months
Fermentables
- 3.15 lbs. Pilsen Malt Syrup (boil for 60 min.)
- 6 lbs. Pilsen Malt Syrup (boil for 15 min.)
Boil Additions
- 1 oz. Yakima Magnum (60 min)
- 1 oz. Saaz (15 min)
- 1 oz. Cascade (15 min)
- 1 oz. Saaz (5 min)
- 1 oz. Cascade (5 min)
Special Ingredients
- Priming Sugar - 2 lbs. (Add at end of boil.)
Yeast
- Wyeast #3522 Belgian Ardennes Yeast. Optimum temperature: 65-85° F
UPDATE - 11/9/2009
Bottled this yesterday. The best way to describe it it that it tastes like a tripel that accidentally got hopped with an IPA hop schedule. It's different, but really good. I'm looking forward to when it's ready to drink. I think it's going to be great.
I've also finally gotten around to uploading some of my pictures.
The beer after moving ot the secondary. It looks a lot darker in this picture than it actually was.
This is a little bit that wouldn't fit into the zecondary, so I put it in a growler with an airlock rather than getting rid of it. This shows off the color a lot better than the growler.
Did you drinking this one yet ?
ReplyDeleteYeah I have but I haven't had a chance to update the post yet. It's pretty good (I'm drinking one right now as a matter of fact). It smells and has the mouthfeel of a tripel, but has the hop bitterness of an IPA. It's a really interesting mixture of the two styles. I think it would appeal more to hopheads than to people who are diehard triple lovers, though.
ReplyDeleteThe extract kit had absolutely none of the "extract twang" that you find sometimes with kits.
Overall, I would recommend this one. Let me know if you try it.
Since I don't have a carboy large enough for a blow-off hose setup, and it appears you used a bucket + airlock with decent results, I'd like to know about your yeast pitching.
ReplyDeleteWhat size bucket did you use? Did you make a yeast starter for this? If so, how much? I'm thinking of doing a 2L starter for this, but I have heard that the fermentation is so vigorous, it can start flowing right out of your airlock.