Homebrew: Belgian Tripel

Another homebrew process has come to an end. The most arduous task of the process, drinking it, has now started. I'm pretty happy with how this beer turned out; the whole process went very smoothly. This is my sixth brewing effort and I'm still trying to figure out if it's taken over the top spot held by the porter I brewed.

This brew was a Belgian Tripel. Here are the ingredients I used (courtesy Midwest Supplies):

4 lbs Extra Light Dry Malt Extract
3.3 lbs Pilsen Light Malt Extract
1.5 lbs Light Belgian Candi Sugar
8 oz Caravienne Grains
4 oz Aromatic (pre-mixed)
1 oz Sweet Orange Peel
Hops: 2 oz Styrian Goldings, 1 oz Willamette
Yeast: Wyeast Belgian Schelde Ale

I think upping the ante with the yeast definitely helped this beer. The only thing that I can critique myself about doing, having tasted the beer, is my hop filtering. I should probably get a hop ball or infuser for my next brew because this beer tastes a little more bitter/hoppy than I wanted it to. Unfortunately, my hydrometer broke on day 1 of brewing so I was unable to measure the alcohol content of this beer, but I would estimate it to be somewhere around 8-9%. I think the sweet Belgian-esque flavor comes out when this beer comes to room temp. As you can see above, it turned out with a nice color and head; there was also some lacing around the glass as I drank it. This will be the first beer that I'll cellar to see how it tastes over time.

I'm also happy to say that a Ferrari was used during this brewing process:



Ok so it's only a bottling tree for drying sanitized bottles. But in all honesty, it's red, it's made in Italy and it's literally manufactured by a company called Ferrari (see right). So I can tell people I own a Ferrari...a $35 Ferarri, but a Ferrari nonetheless.

My next brew, if I get supplies soon, should be ready by August...any suggestions/ideas?