GoP

Update 9/13/08 - Bottled just under 5 gallons. Nice and peppery. Hazy because I forgot the clarifier on brew day, but delicious. No competition until the haze settles out. High expectations for aging on this one. Primed with 4oz corn sugar.
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The Westmalle Trippel is delicious. This is not it. But based on a clone recipe for it from BYO. But definitely not going to be Westmalle's trippel. It was mainly an excuse to use the grains of paradise!

Again, low mash efficiency. I may have to chat up someone that knows what they're doing here...

Batch #20
GoP Trippel
--12.75 lbs German Pilsner Malt
--1 lb Clear candi sugar
--1 lb Amber candi sugar
--1 oz Glacier 6% AA (90min)
--1 oz Mt Hood 5.2% AA (15min)
--1 oz Mt Hood 5.2% AA (5min)
--1/4 tsp lightly crushed grains of paradise (5min)
--White Labs WLP500 Trappist Ale Yeast (2L starter)
OG: 1.070 [target 1.081 >:( ]
FG: 1.006
ABV: 8.4%
Calc. IBU: 38

I added the grains of paradise, subbed in Mt Hood and Glacier (available and in my freezer, respectively), and split the 2 lbs clear sugar into 1 lb clear, 1 lb amber. Also, I'm an idiot, and didn't see the Belgian pils bin right next to the German at the shop. Whatever. Obviously, I'm not trying to make Westmalle.

I mashed in at 135F in 4 gallons. Over the next hour and a half or so, I ramped the temperature to 148F by adding ~3 pint amounts of hot water. After 10 minutes at 148F, I added enough water to get the temperature to 167F and let the mash sit for another 10 minutes before starting the lauter. With no sparging I was able to extract 7 gallons.

This was a two hour boil. I boiled the Glacier for 90 to account for the slightly lower AA compared to the Styrian Goldings called for in the Westmalle clone recipe. The sugar went in with 30 minutes left. I lightly crushed the spice (just enough to split the corns in half or so) and boiled that for the last 5. Chill. Pitch yeast.