Need advise. First Brew

Hey everyone. First off let me say I am so glad to have found this forum. Everyone here seems to have a ton of knowledge about brewing. I am hoping to get some advise on my first brew.

I brewed a belgian tripel on 3/12/2012.
SG was 1.090 piched 2 vials of WL530 at 70 deg. I know I should have used a starter, but I wasn't sure of the process so I just pitched straight from the vials.

I aerated before the pitch and after. Fermentation took off by the next morning temp was 67 deg. Carboy temp went down to 61deg after 4 days. Took a gravity reading on 3/25/2012 and it was at 1.029 carboy temp was 59 deg. Just checked gravity today 3/29/2012 and it was still at 1.029 carboy temp 59 deg. The recipe says I should have a FG of 1.018.

Tasted a sample it was a little sweet with an alchol finish. It tasted good no off flavors just a little sweet.

Question is do you think I have a stuck fermentation or do you think the yeast are just done eating.

Shoud I pitch some dry yeast or just say to heck with it and bottle. I don't want to have bottle bombs.

Here is the recipe.
1lb Cara-pils barley
9.9lbs of LME
1lb of DME
2oz Sazz
2lbs of Belgian candy sugar.
1oz of East Kent Goldings.

2 days into ferementation it said to pitch 1lb of brown sugar (which I did).

I know everyone is sick of these posts, I did search the forums but didn't find what I was looking for.

Any help would be great. Thanks in advance for the help

give it more time. Bigger beers need more time to finish. Plus that yeast will work better above 65, It hasn't yet been 3 weeks. The last few points of gravity take a long time to come out. (btw, all the info in the post is good)

I'd bring the temp up, and swirl the carboy (this should cause some co2 to come out. Don't remove the airlock, just swirl. One way of bringing the temp up is to put it in a room with a shirt or towel wraped aroudn it. If that doesn't do it much, put an incandecent light on in the room, that will heat the air and thus carboy.

Give it another week and let us know.

I agree with ACbrewer. Bring it up a couple degrees and give it another week.

If fermentation took off you were ok, I pitch vials in a pinch and have never had a problem. A big beer like that will take time to finish out and high alcohol content should not be a problem since u pitched two vials. Most big beers stall when not enough yeast is used. Wait another week and if it still doesn't change, I would try to pitch a dry yeast or another vial and see if that finishes it off. Sounds like you just need to rdwhahb for a little longer.

Thanks. You guys are awesome. Would a heating pad work to bring up the temp? The carboy is sitting in a party bucket wrapped in a towel and sleeping bag. Its in the basement because the wife won't let me bring it upstairs.

Steelie211 said:

Thanks. You guys are awesome. Would a heating pad work to bring up the temp? The carboy is sitting in a party bucket wrapped in a towel and sleeping bag. Its in the basement because the wife won't let me bring it upstairs.

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You don't want it to get too warm, though. A heating pad might get too hot on the side of the fermenter. Can you move it anyplace warmer at all? A closet?

Yooper said:

You don't want it to get too warm, though. A heating pad might get too hot on the side of the fermenter. Can you move it anyplace warmer at all? A closet?

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Not really. I know i'm not helping my cause. The carboy is wrapped in a towel and the heating pad is not touching the carboy its about an inch and a half away. I was trying to create some residual heat around the fermenter. is this futile?

Just watch the temps with a heating pad. If you are getting the temp where it needs to be than i say your good lol. Also what was mentioned before, big beers take time. The worst part of homebrewing is waiting...

Ok. Just took the heating pad off and moved the carboy upstairs. Better to as for forgiveness than permission. Our upstairs temp is 70 deg. Guess I'll just have to watch the temps.

I like where your heads at

Steelie211 said:

Ok. Just took the heating pad off and moved the carboy upstairs. Better to as for forgiveness than permission. Our upstairs temp is 70 deg. Guess I'll just have to watch the temps.

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70 is a pretty warm, since a fermenting wort can increase its internal temperature by another few degrees. Just watch it closely to make sure you aren't getting too hot.

Eckythump said:

70 is a pretty warm, since a fermenting wort can increase its internal temperature by another few degrees. Just watch it closely to make sure you aren't getting too hot.

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Thanks for the heads up. Just checked the carboy temp its at 65. Hoping this works.

I forgot to mention this before, but the yeast manufacturer's website is the best resource for information on the yeast strains. Here's White Lab's info on 530:
WLP530 Abbey Ale Yeast
Used to produce Trappist style beers. Similar to WLP500, but is less fruity and more alcohol tolerant (up to 15% ABV). Excellent yeast for high gravity beers, Belgian ales, dubbels and trippels.
Attenuation: 75-80%
Flocculation: Medium to high
Optimum Fermentation Temperature: 66-72°F
(19-22°C)
Alcohol Tolerance: High

Yooper said:

I forgot to mention this before, but the yeast manufacturer's website is the best resource for information on the yeast strains. Here's White Lab's info on 530:
WLP530 Abbey Ale Yeast
Used to produce Trappist style beers. Similar to WLP500, but is less fruity and more alcohol tolerant (up to 15% ABV). Excellent yeast for high gravity beers, Belgian ales, dubbels and trippels.
Attenuation: 75-80%
Flocculation: Medium to high
Optimum Fermentation Temperature: 66-72°F
(19-22°C)
Alcohol Tolerance: High

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Thanks Yooper. Great info. I'll make sure to check the manufacturer's website on the next brew.

Thanks for all the help. If swirling and bringing the temp up doesn't work. Should I even try to pitch more yeast? (if yes what kind) or should I just bottle and move on to the next brew?

Thought I would bump. Any help would be appreciated.

Dang you've got balls going for a Belgian as your first brew. My first brew was too simple, just LME and hops. Ironically, my FG was still a wee high. I don't have much to add, but I would say 70 degrees is not too high for a Belgian, it will aid in the characteristic style of that trippel. Also, my wife nagged me when I was brewing my first when I added hops, she HATED the smell! Then I bottled it and she fell in love with the smell and wanted beer batter bread made. Moral of the story, the fermenter has the good smell in it, she will not mind it being up stairs when you go to bottle it, and she melts to the smell.

Yeah. I just decided to jump in with both feet. Now i'm wondering if I was a little overzealous. Who knows. Whatever happens I made beer