MattTimBell
Well-Known Member
Hi all,
Last year around this time I made a quad / old ale using one of White Labs Belgian strains. This year, I decided to remake it because my father-in-law and I liked the old one so much.....but the results are shockingly different, despite precautions. In short, last year primary quit at about 1.03, and secondary didn't really drop it much at all. This year, the yeast has dropped WELL below anything I've ever seen in any batch fermented with s. cerevisiae at 1.01, rivaling only an experimental batch I fermented using Brett B and another batch that I'm fairly sure got infected.
My questions:
Is it possible White Labs Belgian Strong Ale did this? If not, am I sunk? Anything I can do to "salvage" this batch?
I put "salvage" in quotes because a taste sample is around what I'd want, although a bit light bodied for my taste. The large amount of special B and honey malt I used has left some good residual sweetness, and the phenolics and oak cubes are pretty well balanced. My main worry, though, is that if it is infected I'm going to get gushers past bottling.
-- Matt
Last year around this time I made a quad / old ale using one of White Labs Belgian strains. This year, I decided to remake it because my father-in-law and I liked the old one so much.....but the results are shockingly different, despite precautions. In short, last year primary quit at about 1.03, and secondary didn't really drop it much at all. This year, the yeast has dropped WELL below anything I've ever seen in any batch fermented with s. cerevisiae at 1.01, rivaling only an experimental batch I fermented using Brett B and another batch that I'm fairly sure got infected.
My questions:
Is it possible White Labs Belgian Strong Ale did this? If not, am I sunk? Anything I can do to "salvage" this batch?
I put "salvage" in quotes because a taste sample is around what I'd want, although a bit light bodied for my taste. The large amount of special B and honey malt I used has left some good residual sweetness, and the phenolics and oak cubes are pretty well balanced. My main worry, though, is that if it is infected I'm going to get gushers past bottling.
-- Matt
