Bottling belgian tripel

After 2 weeks of primary and 2 months of secondary I finally bottled my tripel today. Added in some s33 also to help carb. I'm sure you can't tell a whole lot how it is going to taste when you are bottling it but I pulled a swig of it and it had a very strong boozy flavor. I wasn't impressed but we will see how it turns out

Anyone know if this one is one that i should expect to change a good amount in the bottles?

remember to repost 12 months from today with the results
Cheers
Paul

Ughhh. That sounds awful. I don't have the patience for that. Really hope it doesn't take that long

Typically the higher alcohol percentage the longer it should age. The alcohol taste should dissipate over time but a beer of this style should not be rushed. Brew something else and let this sit in the back corner of your basement, you will be much happier you did.

Good to know. I was hoping that between adding the yeast at bottling (although I guess that just helps with carbing) and the fact that it fermented for so long it would be ready to go in the normal amount of time. Guess I will just have to get brewing again! Anyone had any experience with this particular style?

I've brewed a couple triples and never had a boozie or hot alcohol flavor. I did however, have one I put too much orange peel in and tasted like I had grape fruit in it. After about 6-8 no that citrus bitter taste went away.

If it ferm'd hot, could be fusel alcohols, which often don't dissipate very much.

I brewed a Belgian 8, at two months it tasted horrible. Now, after 6 months, it's one of my favorite beers, need to brew more soon, and plan to brew it routinely so I always have some ready.

If it ferm'd hot, could be fusel alcohols, which often don't dissipate very much.

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This could be the problem. Unfortunately there are a lot of people giving the advice to ferment Belgians hot. This can cause fusels that give that hot alcohol taste and gives great headaches.

What yeast did you use? and what temp did you ferment at?

I used wyeast 3787 with a starter. I fermented around 70-75 degrees. So you think that flavor is here to stay?

I did secondary in a 6.5 gal carboy and that makes me nervous now after some research that it could've caused oxygenation. Not sure if that could've caused it too

yes, the beer should improve with time. what was your OG and FG?

SCBrewster said:

I used wyeast 3787 with a starter. I fermented around 70-75 degrees. So you think that flavor is here to stay?

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was that 70-75 the air temp, or the beer's temp? fermentation produces heat and will bring the temp of the liquid above ambient (typically between 5 and 10 degrees higher). so if air was 75*F, the beer could have been in the 80's - which is too hot, especially in the early stages of fermentation. 3787 can deal with temps in the 80's, but best to get there after the peak of fermentation, i.e. once activity starts to slow, 3 to 5 days after pitching

SCBrewster said:

I did secondary in a 6.5 gal carboy and that makes me nervous now after some research that it could've caused oxygenation. Not sure if that could've caused it too

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oxidation wouldn't give you hot alcohol tastes. it would lead to stale, cardboard like flavors.

My OG target was 1.076. I didn't take my FG. Fermometer temperature was around that temperature. So if temperature inside the bucket is 5-10 degrees higher than that then yeah you are right it probably was too hot :/

was that 70-75 the air temp, or the beer's temp? fermentation produces heat and will bring the temp of the liquid above ambient (typically between 5 and 10 degrees higher). so if air was 75*F, the beer could have been in the 80's - which is too hot, especially in the early stages of fermentation. 3787 can deal with temps in the 80's, but best to get there after the peak of fermentation, i.e. once activity starts to slow, 3 to 5 days after pitching

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I agree with sweetcell it does sound like it got too hot. The higher the ambient temp the bigger the temp increase in the brew. Towards the low end of the recommended range a temp increase of 3-5 degrees is pretty normal. AT the high end of the temp range the temp increase can be 10 degrees or more. So if you fermented at 75 ambient temp your brew could have been at 85 or even higher. Definitely will cause the hot alcohol taste you describe.

SCBrewster said:

Fermometer temperature was around that temperature. So if temperature inside the bucket is 5-10 degrees higher than that then yeah you are right it probably was too hot :/

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a fermometer (stick-on LCD thermometer) should give you a decent impression of the actual beer temp. plastic buckets don't transmit heat quite as well as glass but you should have been close. so if it read 75, doubtful that the brew was over 80... which is high for a belgian but not completely crazy. 3787 should be able to handle that. did you make a starter or just pitch the smack-pack as-is?

Yeah made a starter. Hopefully you are right. I'm counting on a change when it's carbed up and sat in the bottles for a little. Only time will tell I suppose!

SCBrewster, i suspect that your beer will be OK with some aging. tripel is a relatively light beer in terms of flavors (i.e. it doesn't have the huge roastiness of a stout to hide behind) so things like hot alcohols are more prominent. also, you tasted the beer while flat. carbonation changes thing a lot.

please report back once it's carb'ed, and then again in a few months. i definitely want to hear how this beer evolves.

Sweet cell, I will definitely do that. Thank you for the words of encouragement.

SCBrewster said:

I used wyeast 3787 with a starter. I fermented around 70-75 degrees. So you think that flavor is here to stay?

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Was that the ambient temp? If so, with a high gravity beer you were probably closer to 75-80 or even up to 85, which would definitely give you some fussels. Just some of my experience, I generally try and keep the ferm temp a degree or two below the yeasts minimum using a swamp cooler for 24-48 hours after fermentation starts, and then ramp it up. I know these belgian yeasts perform well at higher than everage temps, but I would rather error on the side of fermenting too low, than too high.

Alright my tripel is god awful. Just cracked it after a week. Guess it's gonna go back in the closet for quite a few months. I guess I was wrong its not really a boozy taste. Idk how to describe it. But as of right now it is for sure undrinkable

SCBrewster said:

Alright my tripel is god awful. Just cracked it after a week. Guess it's gonna go back in the closet for quite a few months. I guess I was wrong its not really a boozy taste. Idk how to describe it. But as of right now it is for sure undrinkable

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Assuming it's not infected, so long as it's not syrupy sweet, give it 4-5mo and it'll be much better.:rockin: