Belgian Strong Fermentation - Page 2

**Zen_Brew** · 03-19-2010, 05:11 AM

1.105 is a pretty big beer. A big starter and lots of oxygen at the start are keys in beers that big. You should likely have added some yeast nutrients as well to something that big at the beginning, and it's helpful again after a couple days, as the yeast can really deplete their nutrient reserves on something that big. It will still benefit from a bit of fermaid K or yeast energizer added into the fermentor. I'd start out with 1-2 grams mixed in a bit of sterile water, give the wort a light swirl, and keep your ferment temps in the middle to upper end of the yeasts recommended range.

pacebrew · 03-22-2010, 01:03 AM

room heated up and it kicked into high gear, about 1022 right now. About ready for secondary, and then it will be ready for the barrel.

**joety** · 03-23-2010, 09:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zen_Brew

1.105 is a pretty big beer. A big starter and lots of oxygen at the start are keys in beers that big. You should likely have added some yeast nutrients as well to something that big at the beginning, and it's helpful again after a couple days, as the yeast can really deplete their nutrient reserves on something that big. It will still benefit from a bit of fermaid K or yeast energizer added into the fermentor. I'd start out with 1-2 grams mixed in a bit of sterile water, give the wort a light swirl, and keep your ferment temps in the middle to upper end of the yeasts recommended range.

Thanks, I do have some yeast energizer I bought for a future currant wine. I'll give it a shot. I'm in-flight back to Milwaukee from a skiing trip in CO and I'm curious to see how it's done in the new insulated box for six days.

**joety** · 03-28-2010, 03:47 PM

Yeast energizer generated some immediate off-gassing, but no fermentation that I could tell. Would it be a waste to pitch another smack pack of the same yeast?

**joety** · 04-19-2010, 03:08 AM

Ok, my Gulden Draak is still at 1.031. According to Beer Captured, it should be in the 1.020 to 1.026 range and it tastes a bit too heavy. I tried pitching another smack pack of 3787 and ramping up the temps, and it bubbled modestly for a four/five days, but not much of an improvement. I racked it to a keg but I'm thinking I should take one more kick at the cat.

What about pitching a package of champagne yeast?

pacebrew · 04-19-2010, 06:45 PM

It's possible there are no more fermentables. And it's just reached it's course. What was your mash temp?

**joety** · 04-19-2010, 09:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pacebrew

It's possible there are no more fermentables. And it's just reached it's course. What was your mash temp?

152

More details are in post #9.

Matt Up North · 04-20-2010, 01:15 AM

You are done sir. Nothing more is going to happen to that beer. You really needed to pitch more and oxygenate well in the beginning in order to have good luck with such a big beer. At this point you need to get right back on the brew it again bus and do it better. That way you have less time to actually wait for the beer you were looking for.

I did the same thing for a Belgian strong that started at 1.100 and finished at 1.035. I was super pissed, but chalked it up to not enough yeast and not enough O2. I waited six months before trying something big like that again. It worked really well the next time because I made a huge starter and shook the chit out of it and it turned out perfect with 80% attenuation. Wish I hadn't waited the six months

pacebrew · 04-20-2010, 01:30 AM

Well you may be able to add enzymes to the veer and they will break sugars to easier to eat pieces but you risk over attenuation. I read up on it somewhere no link to provide.

**joety** · 04-20-2010, 03:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matt Up North

You are done sir. Nothing more is going to happen to that beer. You really needed to pitch more and oxygenate well in the beginning in order to have good luck with such a big beer. At this point you need to get right back on the brew it again bus and do it better. That way you have less time to actually wait for the beer you were looking for.

I did the same thing for a Belgian strong that started at 1.100 and finished at 1.035. I was super pissed, but chalked it up to not enough yeast and not enough O2. I waited six months before trying something big like that again. It worked really well the next time because I made a huge starter and shook the chit out of it and it turned out perfect with 80% attenuation. Wish I hadn't waited the six months

Definitely needed a bigger starter, but I injected twice as much pure o2 as I normally do. I still don't understand, though, why the new yeast wouldn't help if my starter was the problem. I am providing fresh, unstressed, yeast and it didn't even move the hydrometer.