Westmalle Abbey Tripel clone

5 Gallon; OG = 1.082; FG = 1.012; IBU = 35; ABV=8.5

Brouwerij Westmalle, Malle

Our Lady of the Beloved Sacred Heart at Westmalle was founded in the wake of the French Revolution, in 1794, by Royalist monks fleeing the guillotine. They began brewing in the 1830s and the brewery became more commercial in the early years of the 20th century.

The Westmalle beers are bottled in a custom-designed, raised-letter brown bottle. They’re served at cellar temperatures in a typical stemmed, wide-mouthed goblet, with a row of dimples around the base of the bowl.

Ingredients:

• 5.5 lbs. pale malt
• 1 lb. light caramel malt (10° Lovibond)
• 4 lbs. unhopped extra-light dry malt extract (DME)
• 1 lb. clear candi sugar
• 3 AAU Styrian Goldings hops (1 oz. at 3% alpha acid)
• 3 AAU Tettnang hops (0.75 oz. at 4% alpha acid)
• 3 AAU Fuggle hops (0.5 oz. at 6% alpha acid)
• 2 AAU Saaz hops (0.5 oz. at 4% alpha acid)

Step by Step:

Heat 12 quarts water to 163° F. Crush grains and add to liquor. Hold mash at 152° F for 90 minutes. Runoff and sparge with 15 quarts water at 170° F. Add DME and candi sugar, stir well, bring to a boil. Add Styrian Goldings hops, boil 30 minutes. Add Tettnang hops, boil 30 minutes. Add Fuggle hops, boil 25 minutes. Add Saaz hops, boil 5 minutes (90 minutes total boil). Remove from heat. Add to fermenter along with enough pre-boiled and chilled water to make up 5.25 gallons (if necessary). Cool to 70° F, pitch yeast. Ferment at 68° F for two weeks, rack to secondary and condition cool (50° F) for three to four weeks. Prime with DME, bottle and age eight to ten weeks at 45° to 50° F. Will improve with more aging, up to about a year. Serve at 50° F in a wide-mouthed, stemmed chalice.

All-grain option:

Replace the DME with another 6 lbs. pale malt. Increase mash water to 18 quarts and sparge water to 20 quarts. Mash time and temperatures will be the same. Add candi sugar and proceed as above from boiling.

All-extract option:

Omit pale malt, reduce caramel malt to 0.5 lb.. Steep caramel malt in 3 gallons at 150° F for 30 minutes. Remove grains. Increase DME to 8 lbs., add candi sugar and proceed as above from boiling.