Question on Belgian Golden Strong Ale

I have a Belgian Golden Strong Ale that I have fermenting at 74 degrees with Wyeast 1388. After two weeks of fermentation the SG is reading 1.030. It started at 1.081. Does this seem right? I am getting some activity out of the airlock still as well. This is a kit from NB and they recommend 2-4 weeks in the primary. What do you guys think? I figure I will check it again in a week and see if the SG is still dropping and if not maybe stir up the yeast.

Without knowing more about the beer, it's hard to say. Regardless, 1.030 is too high of a FG for the style though. You probably want it in the 1.016 - 1.020 range.

What would help knowing?

What was your grain/sugar bill? Did you use extract, or is it whole grain? If whole grain, what kind, and at what temperature did you mash?

I will get that extra info.

nitsuj80 said:

What would help knowing?

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Everything. A good amount of the fermentability characteristics will be based on the recipe, yeast pitching rates, aeration, etc.

Roust it nitsuj80, get the yeast back up in the wort. I am sure it will fall some-more.

Specialty grains

-- 0.25 lbs Dingemans Caramel Pils
-- 0.25 lbs Dingemans Biscuit

Fermentables

-- 7 lbs Golden Light dry malt extract (60 min)
-- 2 lbs Clear Belgian Candi sugar (60 min)

Hops
-- 2 oz Saaz (60 min)
-- 1 oz Saaz (1 min)

I used a 1.7 L starter, aerated with oxygen injection for 60 seconds.

I am thinking I will give it another week, check and then if it is not dropping much I will swirl, add yeast energizer, and raise the temp a few degrees. What do you guys think?

That thing should definitely keep fermenting, I'd think down to 1.016 or so, maybe even lower. Rousting is definitely a good idea.

I just made one of these last night. Per Jamils advice I have mine set up with a ferm-wrap. I plan to ramp the heat up over ten days from 65 to 82. Belgian yeast likes heat but it needs to be gradual. My advice would be to start ramping up the heat if you can to finish out that fermentation.

robg2251 said:

I just made one of these last night. Per Jamils advice I have mine set up with a ferm-wrap. I plan to ramp the heat up over ten days from 65 to 82. Belgian yeast likes heat but it needs to be gradual. My advice would be to start ramping up the heat if you can to finish out that fermentation.

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+1 to this. Every year, all the beer catalogs put out articles proclaiming "Summer's coming! No temp control? Brew a Belgian!". And yet, this board is chock full of threads with stuck fermentations on Belgian yeasts. Belgian yeasts certainly do well at relatively warm temps, but everything I have ever seen suggests that a consistent temperature profile is more important with Belgian beers than just about any other style. Those yeasts get crazy attenuation, but they can be very picky about their environments.

I don't mean to presume that you don't have good temperature control; your post doesn't really indicate one way or another. If you don't, you are probably getting swings that are causing your yeast to drop out. If you do, consider for next time starting at a lower temperature (~68Fish), leaving it there for a few days, and then gradually ramping up two degrees per day up into the mid-70s (or higher, depending on the specific yeast).

It is also worth noting that some of the Belgian strains slow down to a crawl once they get mid-way through fermentation. It is typical to leave Saisons, for example, in the fermentor for 7-8 weeks to get them to dry out properly. They tend to get their first 70% attenuation quickly, but then trickle out the remaining gravity points over several weeks.

Having just done this, and helped 4 others with similar issues on the same beer, there are some things I've learned.

First, on a beer that you add sugar to, wait until the primary fermentation slows a bit, then add the sugar (about day 3). If you add the sugar at the beginning, the yeast eat the easy stuff (CRACK) and don't want to work at those hard enzymes in wort.

Second, while this doesn't help in this situation, if you can re-aerate at about the 12 hour mark, do so. The timing on this is critical. You want the yeast to use up the existing O2, but before you would cause oxidation.

Third, as MalFet mentioned, use proper temp control. I wanted a full range of flavors, but wanted to focus on the spicy/fruity esters. Using White Labs Belgian Chart, I focused my temps on the 65-75 range for the first full week or so, then when things slowed down, raised it up to 78 for a couple of days.

My 1.076 dried out to 1.011, and I think it has probably lost a point or so in the secondary based on the carb and a refractometer reading. This took a little over 2 weeks in primary, and 3 weeks in secondary.

I would do some research, but you may be able to use a very clean yeast (S-05) and add to that, since you've likely created the ester profile for the belgian.
Good luck, and I hope this helps someone.

Thanks a lot everyone for the advice. I do have really accurate temp control as I have it fermenting in a chest freezer with a digital temp controller. Next time I will try some of the things you guys mentioned. At this point though I will give it another week and see where I am. If it seems to have stalled I will rouse the yeast, give it some yeast energizer, and then raise the temp from 74 to 78. Do you think that sounds like a good game plan?