Doubts about Belgian Triple

I´ve got in my primary a Belgian Triple from Brewferm Kits,
( 2 cans + 1kg DME for 19 litres ¿is that 5 gallons? )

OG read in the instructions was 1075, 8% alcohol. My OG was 1072.

Gravity 8 days after pitching = 1028
Gravity 12 days after pitching = 1028

Temperature in the room = 19 – 20ºC ( 66 – 68ºF )

If it´s expected to be 8% alcohol, I assume FG should be 1012 – 1015.

Today it has been 16 days in primary, and I planned to bottle next Sunday (3 weeks after pitching).
I will take another hidrometer reading today.

What should I do in case it reads 1028?
Should I open the lid and stir it?
Should I leave it and bottle with that FG?

I must apologize for my language, It´s been long since I don´t speak English.

Thanks and Greetings from The Basque Country

i would leave it and bottle it, do not stir or introduce oxygen.... you could pitch more yeast.... the problem is probably that you did not pitch enough yeast....

Welcome to the board.

Belgian Ales need to be fermented a bit warmer than most ales. Raise the temperature to 24-25C and gently stir the fermenter. Give it another week at least, big beers can take a long time to finish.

+1 to David's advice. A temperature rise is appropriate, nay, required for this style. When you stir the fermenter, do it gently, with the handle of a sanitized spoon being careful not to introduce oxygen. Best of luck. Let us know how it goes.

Thanks to all of you,

I will try to raise the temp, stir it, and go on with my plans of bottling on Sunday (if i get a lower FG). I will post the results.

Another question: One gallon = 3,8 litres? or 4'5 litres?

I think when you talk about 5 gallons It means 19 litres, but i would like to be sure.

Marius said:

Thanks to all of you,

I will try to raise the temp, stir it, and go on with my plans of bottling on Sunday (if i get a lower FG). I will post the results.

Another question: One gallon = 3,8 litres? or 4'5 litres?

I think when you talk about 5 gallons It means 19 litres, but i would like to be sure.

Click to expand...

1Gal = 3.79L

Sorry for the snarky website, but its the most expedient means I can think of to convey this:
Unit conversions in google
Its very handy.
Cheers!

Thanks noisy,

I had a mess with all those Uk gallons, Us gallons, liquid gallons...

You can imagine what it is to read this forum with a calculator and an English dictionary. I just learned two more words: "expedient" and "handy", "snarky" seems to be hidden somewhere...

Snarky = Sarcastic (sarcasmo).

I fermented my triple around 27C and it really came out good. Interesting flavors.

Marius said:

Thanks to all of you,

I will try to raise the temp, stir it, and go on with my plans of bottling on Sunday (if i get a lower FG). I will post the results.

Another question: One gallon = 3,8 litres? or 4'5 litres?

I think when you talk about 5 gallons It means 19 litres, but i would like to be sure.

Click to expand...

Hey Marius,

Don't bottle it yet. You need to give the higher temperature time to work. Also, if you gently stir it, you'll need to give it time to settle out again.

This is a big beer, it can stay in primary for 3 weeks or a month with no problem. After that, you may want to consider moving it to a secondary fermenter. Give it more time before bottling; it'll be better for it.

Joe C said:

Snarky = Sarcastic (sarcasmo).

I fermented my triple around 27C and it really came out good. Interesting flavors.

Click to expand...

Thanks Joe,

Do you think it will be enough with three weeks in primary and bottle condition for a month, or will this beer be better with some weeks in a secondary?

Big beers tend to get better with age, so the more time it spends in the secondary the better.

OK, This is what I decided yesterday:

Temperatures here are rising a bit, yesterday the Beer´s Room was 23 ºC ( 73'5 F) I wish it stays like that ten more days.

I carefully opened the lid and ¿stired? the beer with a sanitized spoon, (i also stired the yeast cake, don´t know is this is right).

I will leave it like this till ten more days for the yeast to settle, so it will be for weeks in primary and then bottle.

I will not secondary because i had plans of bottleling this one and brewing another one this Sunday, but if I leave this one longer I need my secondary to ferment the new one (i cannot wait one more week for brewing, damm addiction).

Really, I never had a beer in primary for so long, it´s so hard to wait...

I think it's a good plan. Let us know what happened with the gravity when you bottle.

Your plan is sound, personally I would give it a bit more time , however if you need to open up space, by all means go for it. Let us know how it turns out. And welcome, hope you enjoy this site as much as we do.

Following your advices I opened un the lid and stired gently the beer, temperatures have risen a bit, It´s been for a week between 23 and 24 ºC
and finally yesterday (24 days after pitching the yeast) i took a reading wich reached 1018.

I go on with my plans of botteling this Sunday (it will be 4 weeks in primary),
I will take another gravity reading on Saturday.

If it says 1018... Would you bottle it?

Thanks.

Marius, you are in a bind, a dillema. If the gravity stays at 1.018 for three days or so you can bottle safely.

If the gravity drops again over the next three days to say 1.016 or so than you really do need to wait for the gravity to stabilize. If the brew keeps fermenting _and_ you add priming sugar and seal it up in bottles...

Big beers (OG greater than 1.060 at my house) do need more time in the bucket before bottling than smaller beers. Even running seven carboys walking a big beer through my brewhouse is a pain in the neck becasue I have something in a container for so long.

FWIW (For what it is worth) I brewed a Tripel with my dad on 03-06-09 (March 6th). I am probably going to rack it to secondary this weekend, I'll probably bottle late August and hope it is ready around Christmas.

Again, now that your gravity is under 1.020 if it stays stable for three days, go ahead and bottle, it'll probably be pretty good.

And don't sweat the units too hard. I used to own an English automobile and just switching back and forth between English and American gallons and so on was a pain in the neck. Plus you are walking into that bringing metric to the mix.

Welcome.

Thanks a lot Poindexter,

I've never used a secondary, but after this experience with big beers I ordered a secondary last week, it will take one week more to arrive. The point with all this is that I have a Brewing-Plannig with my SWMBO and a couple of friends so we don´t have to Buy Beer, for that we must brew around 20 gallons a month and with our lack of equipment (two primaries and aa bottlelling bucket) it is really hard to give time to beer.

I will follow your instructions, if the gravity gets lower I'll cry a bit and wait one more week.

One more question:
How much priming sugar suits this style?