Belgian Dubbel -- Secondary or Extended Bottle Condition

Hey all,

Just brewed a Belgian Dubbel (first one ever) and wanted some of your expertise and advice on aging this beer. See grain bill and schedule below:

Mash 90 mins @ 151.
Brewing method: BIAB
Batch size: 5.5 gallons into fermenter

10# Belgian Pilsner
0.5# crystal 60
0.5# special B
0.5# Munich
0.5# Aromatic
1# Belgian candi sugar (d90)

90 minute boil

2oz styrian goldings at 60 mins
Belgian candy sugar added at 20 min of boil

1L WLP530 starter pitched at 68F

Currently on day 3 of primary - fermenting @ 64 F very vigorously (thank the baby jeebus for blow off tubes)

OG was 1.070

Finally my question! In your experience, have your bigger Belgians benefited at all with the transfer to secondary, with the increased risk of oxidation and contamination? Or do you give them a longer primary and then bottle and age? Also, how long do you normally age a Belgian with a gravity in the 1.070s???

Thanks guys!!

I've brewed both a Tripel and a Dubbel that have come in over 1.070 and I have had very good results with about 4 weeks in the primary and then an extended aging in the bottle. I found that after about 4 months both brews really started to come together. I am aiming for at least 6 months on each before they're truly ready though.

I would say its a good exercise on beers that you're aging for an extended period to sample one once a month just to see how the flavor changes as it ages. Once you hit that flavor you want I would stick them in the fridge to slow down that aging process.

Hope that answer helped!

I like to primary Belgians for three weeks, and drop to 50F for 2 weeks (usually in primary). Then rack to bottling. I would guess that Dubbel really pops between 3 and 6 months.

Awesome! Thanks for the replies! This is my first beer above 1.060, and I heard they needed a bit of babying. I just didn't know exactly how to do it. Sounds like the consensus is the extended primary and then bottle age. I'll update when I open the first one In a few months.

Cheers!

I brewed a similar dubbel with WLP530 and OG 1.07. WLP530 is a beast, had a blowoff around day 2-3. Kept it in primary for exactly 8 weeks @ 70-72F and then bottled. FG was 1.005. No additional yeast was added at bottling time.

I opened the first bottle after 3 months. Carbonation was a little weak and flavours had not quite developed.

Next bottle was opened after 6 months. Carbonation was perfect and overall the beer tasted much better.

Since it was a small batch and I only ended up with 18 bottles, next one is due for tasting after 9 months (around Christmas).

How did you find the yeast character in your beer? I'm fermenting mine a little cooler than you did and I'm wondering if I should ramp it up a bit to get more esters and phenols in the finished product.

I like to leave my big Belgians in primary for 6 weeks or so then bottle for longer conditioning.

MetalandBeer said:

How did you find the yeast character in your beer? I'm fermenting mine a little cooler than you did and I'm wondering if I should ramp it up a bit to get more esters and phenols in the finished product.

Click to expand...

WLP530 is Westmalle strain, so I was hoping to get something similar to Westmalle dubbel. I used a darker syrup, D-180, so I was hoping to get the caramel, plum and dark fruit flavours.

I didn't get any of that at bottling time and I was sort of disappointed.

6 months in the bottle and it's a different beer altogether. Those dark fruit flavours are finally starting to show up.

So, give your beer some time. As someone else suggested earlier, open a bottle every month to track the progress. My batch is small, so I decided to open a bottle every 3 months and I'm glad to see patience is paying off.

By the way, in a different batch I've gone as high as 85F with WLP530 to get a pronounced pepper and clove flavour. Very satisfied with that yeast.

brew_darrymore said:

WLP530 is Westmalle strain, so I was hoping to get something similar to Westmalle dubbel. I used a darker syrup, D-180, so I was hoping to get the caramel, plum and dark fruit flavours.



I didn't get any of that at bottling time and I was sort of disappointed.



6 months in the bottle and it's a different beer altogether. Those dark fruit flavours are finally starting to show up.



So, give your beer some time. As someone else suggested earlier, open a bottle every month to track the progress. My batch is small, so I decided to open a bottle every 3 months and I'm glad to see patience is paying off.



By the way, in a different batch I've gone as high as 85F with WLP530 to get a pronounced pepper and clove flavour. Very satisfied with that yeast.

Click to expand...

just curious - where are you storing your bottles - and what ambient temp?

cjones said:

just curious - where are you storing your bottles - and what ambient temp?

Click to expand...

I live in an apartment, so storage is scarce, but I have a locker, which is where I store the bottles. The locker is dark and temperature is stable, 68-70 in the winter to 74-76F in the summer.

I use only swing-top Grolsch-type bottles of various capacities, 0.45L, 0.5L and 1L and that is a bit of a problem as the bottles have different heights. The smaller bottles I keep in plastic milk crates and the 1L ones are in wine cardboard boxes that I got from the liquor store.

thanks, congrats on the good aging. - temps help I will give the next one a try like that

"By the way, in a different batch I've gone as high as 85F with WLP530 to get a pronounced pepper and clove flavour. Very satisfied with that yeast."

Wow! 85?! That must've been a spicy meatball!

lol

MetalandBeer said:

"By the way, in a different batch I've gone as high as 85F with WLP530 to get a pronounced pepper and clove flavour. Very satisfied with that yeast."

Wow! 85?! That must've been a spicy meatball!

Click to expand...

LOL

I am into Belgian dubbels and quads and use WLP530 a lot in the 75F-85F range. I get fantastic flavours after some aging, as these are high ABV batches.

Wanted to give everyone who commented on this thread an update. I found this yeast to be a little finickety. It blasted through the first 0.5 gravity, bringing it from 1.070 to 1.020 in about 8 days. Then those little buggers went for a long sleep. After ramping up the temperature (74 Fahrenheit) and agitating the carboy, it took a full 3 more weeks to finally get this one down to 1.010 (apparent attenuation of 85%). Bottled this tonight (5.5 weeks total in primary) and its a dark ruby red, toffee, raisin bomb, with an abv a hair under 8%. I'll put em I the closet for conditioning and then in the cellar for aging. Planning on opening the first one on New Years Eve. Thanks again for all the advice folks.

found this yeast to be a little finickety. It blasted through the first 0.5 gravity, bringing it from 1.070 to 1.020 in about 8 days. Then those little buggers went for a long sleep. After ramping up the temperature (74 Fahrenheit) and agitating the carboy, it took a full 3 more weeks to finally get this one down to 1.010

Click to expand...

This yeast is famous for that. It rips through the first part of fermentation, and then takes a lot longer to finish up. The only time I had an overcarbed beer was with this yeast. Now I routinely give it plenty of time to finish. I do love the flavor of this yeast fermented right around 70. But I usually warm it up after a few weeks to help it finish.

Yes, do give it plenty of time to age. I begin tasting them early, but it seems that at least 4 months really starts to improve the brew. For Thanksgiving I had a bottle of a BDSA that was five years old and it was amazing. Sadly it was the last bottle of that batch.

Wanted to give everyone an update to this beer. It's been about a month in the bottle now, and I was a little apprehensive about opening one so early given the almost 8% abv. I primed the batch with about 5.25 oz table sugar for 3.0 volumes of C02. It's pretty well carbed -- not Belgian Dubbel carbed, but carbed for an ale. There's no alcohol hotness, and there's plenty of raisin and bread in the taste. It could definitely use another month or two in the bottle for some of the flavours to develop, but I'm calling this recipe a success. Thanks again to everyone for the help!