Tripel threat

[Maritimer]

I'm looking at a trying a tripel in the near future. Want to keep it simple.

11lbs pilsner (75.9%)
1lb 8 oz Munich(10.3%)
4oz crystal 30(1.7%)
1lb 12oz white sugar (12.1%) after boil

0.5oz warrior 60min.
1.0oz EKG 10 min

1.5L starter w/white labs trappist (using DME and 10% white sugar)

boil 90 min.
OG 1.081
est.ABV 9.5%

Also, I'm not sure about the mash temps.
here's what I'm thinking...
15min rest at 130F
raise to 147F for 60 min.
heat to 168F over 15 min - mash out.
at best it's an educated guess, I haven't brewed a high gravity batch on my set-up yet. Maybe the 130 rest isn't necessary, I want to get a nice dry finish in the final beer.

Any thoughts suggestions?

[berley]

I've never experimented with a 130 F rest, but I'm sure you'll get a really dry beer just doing the 147 F rest.

Also, I'd leave out the Crystal 30 L altogether.

Just curious, why the table sugar in the starter?

[Maritimer]

Thanks for the input.
My thinking was the yeast would be better adapted if I had a similar sugar ratio in the starter.
I added the crystal to get a little color, but you're probably right, It's not conducive to the style.

[berley]

Gotcha. Don't bother putting the table sugar in the starter, though... yeast will think of table sugar as dessert, and it's not necessary at all to have a similar ratio in the starter. The starter will be better off without it.

[Maritimer]

I see, good to find this stuff out now. Don't want to have an awful batch of 9% beer on my hands.

I'm curious to know what others have used in their Tripels sugar wise.
I saw a previous post where X mentions adding sugar later in fermentation.
"Use plain table sugar instead of the candi (you could also consider adding the sugar well into the fermentation, I do this now with significant sugar additions). And I'd mash at 148f."

What would the benifet be of adding sugar later on instead of all at the beginning? slower fermentation?

[berley]

Yeah, I saw that too. I completely agree with what he said. I've done a Tripel the exact same way, and it turned out great. Most of what I've read says that if you're using white sugar, table sugar is fine (as opposed to dextrose or white candi sugar, which are both more expensive).

The advantages of adding sugar when fermentation starts to slow are...

1) Gives a lower OG when you pitch your yeast, so you can get away with making a smaller starter (a lb of sugar is about 8 gravity points, from what I recall).
2) The whole dessert thing I mentioned. Yeast prefer sucrose over maltose because it's easier to ferment. Let them break down the maltose from the grains first, then give them the sugar. The analogy a lot of people use is giving your kids their meat and vegetables, THEN ice cream. If you give the ice cream first, they won't want to finish with the healthy stuff.

[berley]

I should clarify... so, when you see fermentation visibly slowing (airlock activity slowing down), get your table sugar and boil it in some water, let it cool, then pour it directly into your fermenter. No need to shake the fermenter.

[Maritimer]

that makes perfect sense. Thanks for the advice!

[berley]

No problem. Good luck with it!

[John G]

From what I've heard/read:

Sugar in the starter will supposedly grow yeast that do not have the ability to ferment maltose, so as mentioned above it's best to keep simple sugars out of the starter. The starter grown on maltose will have no issue with metabolising sugar in your brew.

Sugar is often added later on in the ferment of your main batch for the same reasons above since yeast in the multiplying phase of fermentation will use the sugar over the maltose to grow and therefore a portion of the growth will produce yeast that do not have the ability to metabolise maltose. This may result in an under-attenuated brew similar to underpitching.

[HopGrower]

Don't want to have an awful batch of 9% beer on my hands.

That's what stills are for.