Aging a Trippel
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Aging a Trippel
Morning Gang, looking for opinions here. I cooked up a Belgian Trippel (Extract) kit from B3 about 2 weeks ago now. I am curious how long you guys would let it age on the Cake before Bottling? I was thinking about 5 weeks, but Traci and I are starting to get really eager to try it.
I think I would go by final gravity readings to determine when to rack / bottle. I generally rack off the yeast cake in 2 - 3 weeks to avoid autolysis especially at warmer temps (like for Belgians). Then I secondary for 3-4 weeks at cellar temps before kegging / carbonating.
If you're bottling, then let it age more in the bottle. That is the general consensus from "Brew Like A Monk". And I would age the bottles at ferment temps for the first couple of weeks and then about 7-10 degrees cooler from there on out. From what I read, some of the Belgians really benefit from aging, AND bottle conditioning / carbonating gives a different result than force carbonating in my experience ... bottle carbed Belgians seem to have a finer / lacier head. You may consider bottling a few to "lay away" ... perhaps scheduling tastings every other week for a while to see if you can taste a difference.
Good luck!
Dan
If you're bottling, then let it age more in the bottle. That is the general consensus from "Brew Like A Monk". And I would age the bottles at ferment temps for the first couple of weeks and then about 7-10 degrees cooler from there on out. From what I read, some of the Belgians really benefit from aging, AND bottle conditioning / carbonating gives a different result than force carbonating in my experience ... bottle carbed Belgians seem to have a finer / lacier head. You may consider bottling a few to "lay away" ... perhaps scheduling tastings every other week for a while to see if you can taste a difference.
Good luck!
Dan