i wish i had made this a belgian white it just screams for a bit of orange.... i need to buy some oranges.
Be glad you did not make a Belgian White . . . made mine almost two months ago. I racked it after 8 days [I know, not necessary]. Its FG was high, but it had been steady for three days. I was very careful to do it slowly and not add any air, and it started fermenting again, I ended up using a blowoff from my 5 gallon carboy. It actively fermented for a full four days after that. Still not entirely sure why. Then, I let it go in the secondary for three weeks. By the end the FG was perfect. I bottled it up, and it tastes great [little watery due to lack of carbonation and being green], but it is taking forever to get enough carbonation. Every week there is a little bit more than the week before, but it still isn't quite right and even if fridged for four or five days it still goes flat within 20 minutes of being opened. On the other hand, I can guarantee if I had taken it straight to bottles instead of racking it, I would have had some serious bottle bombs.
So, yah, while I like my Belgian White, I'm still waiting on it. Definitely not a two week beer.
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As for Garam Masala - I actually cook with it fairly often, even make my own, I love the stuff. Hmm, Indian Indian, could be a good idea. After you mentioned it, I was actually thinking of using Garam Masala as a gruit. That is, do an IPA style without the hops and use a ton of Garam Masala instead. I think that could turn out really good.
I think with something high hopped plus Garama Masala it might be fine, but you could end up with a mess of flavors. You would probably just want a hint of it, rather than having it be a dominating flavor.
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For racking, wait at least 7 days total if not 2 weeks. Best way to know for sure is to take a wine thief, pull some out, and test it with a hydrometer. Do that once per day for three days in a row. You can, of course, taste each time
. If the SG is the same three days in a row, it is ready to rack. If it is still changing, then you need to leave it alone.
I find if I test the first two days and it is still changing, I leave it for two to three days before testing again. Then two days, if it doesn't change test the third day, still no change it is ready to go, if it changes again I give it another couple days. Then again, some people do it sooner from what I've read, so your mileage may vary.
Plus, y'know, I've only done two beers :fro:, so my advice is worth about as much as you paid for it!