Fusel alcohol taste after 3 months?

[Delirious187]

Hey everyone. I'm sure the first response will be to give it more time but I'm so eager to find out why this ocurred in my Belgian Dubbel. This was the clone recipe from the book clone brews. The only thing I over shot was my OG. I added too much light DME and ended up around 1.09. I didn't think that would be too much of an issue since lately I have been really focusing on my techniques. I have a ferm chamber JC 419, pitched 2 wyeast 1214 packs plus two bottles dregs of Chimay on a stir plate for 15 hours. Temp control was good started at 68F for 60% of fermentation then ramped up to 74F for a total of 14 days. Racked to secondary for 1 month at 60F then re-fermented in my corney keg for 3 weeks at 74F pitching .75 cup priming sugar dissolved in sanitized water and about a tbs of fresh 1214 and another Chimay bottle dregs. So last night I took my first pull from the keg. No Co2 hooked up. There was plenty of carbonation. The taste started sweet but finished with a sharp alcohol bite. I would have expected some fusel being a 9+% beer but it was almost too much. I guess I'm a little dissapointed given I focused so hard on temp control, pitch rates and conditioning time. Did i miss somthing or is it just really a time thing? I put the keg in the fridge last night to chill it. Any thought are appreciated?

 

[MachineShopBrewing]

What size starter?

Explain more about your temp control... Do you control ambient temp, or the actual ferment temp?

I'm sure the first response will be to give it more time

This response would be wrong. You should be able to drink a properly fermented dubbel right away with NO fusels.

 

[Delirious187]

Hey MSB thanks for the response. I used a 1 litre starter. Temp control was done in my insulated chamber with the temp prob taped to the side of the carboy using bubble wrap in between the tape and probe. So the probe was directly touching the glass approximately in the middle range of the carboy. I have a picture on my phone but I can't figure out how to upload using my phone now?

 

[Delirious187]

Well couldn't do it from my phone but here’s some pics. I'm quite proud of my design with the viewing window! Not to mention completely collapsable, being able to remove the screws with fender washers in the glued-in drywall anchors for easy storage. Otherwise it takes up a lot of space. Can hold 3 carboys with ease.

 

[Delirious187]

Bump.

Update. So my clone attempt has been kegged/carbonated and in the fridge for about a month now and the fusel taste is still pretty sharp. My question to all reading this is, what would be the affects if I removed the keg from the fridge and C02 and stored it away in my garage for a few months. Is going from say 36F (fridge temp) to ambient room temp of 65-75F a bad thing for the beer? I put a lot of effort into this batch and I'm having a hard time dumping it. And theres also the need to free up space in my fridge for another keg

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

Based on what you're saying, I just don't see how it could have gotten heavy with fusels... My understanding is that those typically come from high ferment temps (especially high pitching temps), neither of which you have here, especially since Belgian yeasts are usually much more tolerant of higher temps.

I can't believe I'm going to suggest this, but is it possible your temps were too *low*? I've spoken to the head brewer at a local place here that has an awesome Belgian house strain, but he's mentioned that it really throws a LOT of sulphur if you don't get temps up over 75 degrees. I don't know how Chimay yeast generally performs -- perhaps someone else who has used the dregs can advise?

Are you sure based on your palate that this is what you're tasting? Do you have any other experienced homebrewers around who can also taste it and give feedback?

(Nice fermentation chamber BTW!)