Batch #17 - Belgian Tripel

I thought it would be nice to brew a Belgian Ale today.  The below recipe is a bit stronger than a traditional Belgian.  Today's brew day was nice and warm, however I did not hit the numbers I was hoping to.  I have been trying to dial-in and learn Beersmith2, unfortunately this was some of my issue today.  Fortunately after the brew day I immediately figured out my issues and am confident things will be tighter next go around.

Here is today's recipe:

Batch Size - 5 gallons

Grains

10 lbs 6oz - Belgian Pilsner

14 oz - Cara-Pils

14 oz - Flaked Maize

1 lbs 11.7oz - Sugar

Hops

1.22 oz - Hallertauer

0.41 oz - Saaz

Yeast

Wyeast 1762 - Belgian Abbey II - Target 420 billion cells

The brew schedule was as follows:

Mash

1.25 q water/lb

60 min at 153 degrees

Mashout to 170 degrees

Sparge for approx 1 hour

Boil

60 min boil

Start - Add Hallertauer Hops

50 min - Add Whirfloc

55 min - Add Saaz Hops

Fermentation

Primary - 14 Days @ 70

Keg Condition - 14 Days

Here are the specs on this brew:

IBU's - 15

Color - 3.7 SRM

Calories - 100 per 12 oz

Estimated OG - 1.072

Actual OG - 1.060

Estimated FG - 1.010

Estimated ABV - 8.1%

New Estimated ABV from OG - 6.6%

As you can see I ended up with too low an OG.  I took a gravity reading pre-boil and should have been at 1.050, but was at 1.047.  I figured this was not too far off given the high gravity of this beer so I did not adjust.  Where my big mistake was made was I (for some reason) had the brew at a 90 minute boil.  The software then calculated a higher starting pre-boil volume assuming I would boil it down.  However I only did a 60 minute boil, so I ended up with 8.1 gallons in my brew pot.  Generally due to trub loss, wort I can't get out of boil kettle, and shrinkage, I normally lose almost 2 gallons.  Working backwards I really should end my boils around 7.5 gallons (as I look to put in 5.5 gallons into fermenter).

After later running the numbers if I had boiled this down I could have come close to the OG I should have hit.  Oh well...

My next mistake was with my yeast starter, this is still a bit new for me.  The yeast had settled down in the flask, so I was pouring off the excess starter beer to leave the yeast, but I had stirred a bit of yeast up in the process that I didn't want to lose.  I ended up with 2L of starter yeast that I pitched into the wort.  I ended up overflowing my fermenter a little.

Who knows though, maybe this brew will surprise me.  We'll see though, right now I don't have high hopes.