Oliver's Special Honey Tripel

This recipe is brewed in honor of a very special Orange tabby cat that
we had for 17 years. He was a wonderful cat with a lot of personality.
Hopefully this recipe will do justice to his memory. It is brewed to
emulate but not exactly copy the wonderful Westmalle Tripel of Belgium.

Brewer:	Christopher McMath		Email:	mcmath@colorado.edu
Beer:	Oliver's Special Honey Tripel		Style:	Belgian Tripel
Type:	Partial mash		Size:	6 gallons
Color:	8 HCU (~6 SRM)		Bitterness:	27 IBU
OG:	1.089		FG:	1.018
Alcohol:	9.2% v/v (7.2% w/w)
Water:	Allowed 10 gallons to dechlorinate overnight.Added gypsum to mash.
Grain:	9 lb. Belgian Pilsner 1 lb. Wheat malt 1 lb. Belgian Munich 1 lb. Belgian CaraVienne
Mash:	75% efficiency
	Step mash with rests at 122 for 30 min, 153 for 70 minutes and 170 for 30 minutes. Sparge with 6 gal of 175 degree water into brewpot(s).
Boil:	75 minutes	SG 1.077	7 gallons
	1 lb. sugar 1.5 lb. Honey 2 lb. Light dry malt extract
	Irish moss last 30 minutes. Honey used was orange blossom.
Hops:	1 oz. Saaz (3.75% AA, 75 min.) 0.33 oz. Tettnanger (4.5% AA, 75 min.) 0.50 oz. Saaz (3.75% AA, 30 min.) 0.33 oz. Tettnanger (4.5% AA, 30 min.) 0.50 oz. Saaz (3.75% AA, 15 min.) 0.33 oz. Tettnanger (4.5% AA, 15 min.)
Yeast:	Wyeast 1214, Abbey Ale, 1.5 qt starter + the dregs from a 750ml bottle of Chimay Red added to the starter. I allowed the yeast pack to expand to two inches, pitched it to a 1 pint starter at 1050, then allowed it to ferment to high krausen, then added 1 qt of cooled wort and the chimay dregs.Pitched starter to main batch at high Krausen.
Log:	Brewed 10/18/97. fermented at 65 degrees F. Bottled two weeks later and plan to bottle age for 2 months.
Carbonation:	.9 cups priming sugar/6 gallons
Tasting:	Update 12/10/97: This beer is really great. It has more flavor than some of the belgian tripels I have had. It has a nice rich malt character with apple and banana esters. The hops are subtle, but are there and the beer is nicely balanced. It has a great head. The only things I would change are a little more hops, since the utilization is less in a strong beer and more carbonation. I am not sure if the level of carbonation is affected more by the amount of sugar or the health of the yeast in my case. I didn't add fresh yeast at bottling, which many belgian brewers do, so the yeast may have been tired due to the high alcohol content of this beer. I might also try a simpler recipe with just pils and wheat plus pale candi sugar or lighter honey, with some coriander, since the beer is almost amber rather than the gold I was shooting for. Strong beer. Let me know if you brew this.

Recipe posted 10/21/97.