Belgian dubbel mash/fermentation question

I will be brewing a dubbel on Saturday, and have a couple of questions about the mash. Here is my conundrum: my "fermentation chamber" is a closet, where it is very difficult to regulate the temps, especially if it gets hot (which is supposed to happen this weekend). I know about wet t-shirts on the carboy, and all that, but here's the crux of my question. The last time (which was the first time) I brewed with sugar, it was bad news. Real hot alocohol tastes. Clearly, I used too much sugar.

My thoughts on this beer were: do the sacch rest at 148 to create a nice, dextrinous wort. But if I upped it a little, to say, 151, is it possible that that can help keep the yeast from ramping up the temps too quickly? I know that it won't be as light as it would have been, but I guess my question is: is it possible to help regulate the temperature of your fermentation by adjusting the temperature of the mash?

The yeast will still go through the fermentables in the wort at the same rate, whether there are a whole lot of fermentables or not. Now my only thought is possible underpitching yeast will slow this down. And with a dubbel(what yeast you using) the slight off flavors from temp might be nice, Although I did one and it tasted like peppercorns from it fermenting too hot.

kmlavoy said:

I will be brewing a dubbel on Saturday, and have a couple of questions about the mash. Here is my conundrum: my "fermentation chamber" is a closet, where it is very difficult to regulate the temps, especially if it gets hot (which is supposed to happen this weekend). I know about wet t-shirts on the carboy, and all that, but here's the crux of my question. The last time (which was the first time) I brewed with sugar, it was bad news. Real hot alocohol tastes. Clearly, I used too much sugar.

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No, not clearly. Hot alcohol comes from many sources. Just using sugar doesn't doesn't mean it'll be hot. First, what were your fermentation temps the first time around? Second, how much yeast did you pitch, did you make a starter, etc. Usually hot alcohol will come from stressed yeast and high fermentation temps, not sugar.

My thoughts on this beer were: do the sacch rest at 148 to create a nice, dextrinous wort. But if I upped it a little, to say, 151, is it possible that that can help keep the yeast from ramping up the temps too quickly? I know that it won't be as light as it would have been, but I guess my question is: is it possible to help regulate the temperature of your fermentation by adjusting the temperature of the mash?

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148 for a dubbel sounds low to me. You want a little malty sweetness and body in a dubbel, actually. I'd mash at 151-152ºf. And no, adding more long chain dextrins to the wort isn't going to assuage the heat from aerobic yeast activity. You need to use water, frozen water bottles, and the t-shirt. Get your fermentation temps down. Otherwise, and I say this in all seriousness, it's not even worth brewing. There are 3 things that, to me, make up 95% of the path to quality beer: fermentation temps, yeast pitching rates and sanitation. You get those under control, and you'll make pretty good beer. You ferment a dubbel at 78ºf, and it'll be beer, but I'd bet on it being way too estery and phenolicy. Focus on cooling that fermenter down, and make damn sure you have a nice big honkin' yeast starter too.

Evan! said:

No, not clearly. Hot alcohol comes from many sources. Just using sugar doesn't doesn't mean it'll be hot. First, what were your fermentation temps the first time around? Second, how much yeast did you pitch, did you make a starter, etc. Usually hot alcohol will come from stressed yeast and high fermentation temps, not sugar.

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Yeah. Exactly what he said.

Evan! said:

Get your fermentation temps down. Otherwise, and I say this in all seriousness, it's not even worth brewing.

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And yeah, exactly what he said again. If you're making a dubbel then you can, if you want, let the temperature rise a little over the course of fermentation (that'll help the yeast finish off all the fermentable sugars, and may get you a little different flavor profile from the yeast). But you really want to keep the ferm temps down at the start. Starting it hot is a bad, bad thing, and a couple of days of obsessively adding iced water bottles to help keep it cool at the start of fermentation will really pay dividends.

Word up.

Thanks for the tips guys. It seemed a bit far fetched, but I'd never heard that what I was thinking doesn't work, so, you know, ask someone. I think I may be getting the hang of this mashing thing. It makes sense now that I think about it. The candi sugar is going to lighten the body plenty, so I need to mash a bit higher to make sure I don't end up with a wimpy dark tripel.

The real shame of all this fermentation temp problem is that I have a basement which stays a perfect 68 degrees all summer, but owing the fact that I live in the city of Chicago, the threat of rats is very real. Too real for me to chance putting a carboy down there. I need to get me a freezer I can stash stuff in.

kmlavoy said:

I will be brewing a dubbel on Saturday, and have a couple of questions about the mash. Here is my conundrum: my "fermentation chamber" is a closet, where it is very difficult to regulate the temps, especially if it gets hot (which is supposed to happen this weekend). I know about wet t-shirts on the carboy, and all that, but here's the crux of my question. The last time (which was the first time) I brewed with sugar, it was bad news. Real hot alocohol tastes. Clearly, I used too much sugar.

My thoughts on this beer were: do the sacch rest at 148 to create a nice, dextrinous wort. But if I upped it a little, to say, 151, is it possible that that can help keep the yeast from ramping up the temps too quickly? I know that it won't be as light as it would have been, but I guess my question is: is it possible to help regulate the temperature of your fermentation by adjusting the temperature of the mash?

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Put wet towels on the carboy and leave the wet t-shirts for the women.