One Year Fermenting, Now What?

I brewed a Belgian Tripel from Midwest over a year ago. Taking their advice, it has been sitting in a secondary for the last year. Now that a year has passed and it is "ready" to bottle, do I need to do anything special? Or, should I treat it as usual and mix the sugar in before bottling?

Thanks

 

Your had it sitting in secondary for a whole year? Wow! I admire your patience. You will need to pitch some yeast as all of the original yeasties have dropped out of suspension by now.

 

Believe me, it has not been easy. I have brewed many others since then, but I figure, adter one year it should be the elixer of the brewing gods.

 

WOW talk about patience -- I was way too quick to get my Trippel into the bottle....

Keep us posted on how this one turns out!

 

Wow! Amazing patience.

Your yeast is almost certainly dead by now, so like HOOTER said, you'll probably need to pitch some more yeast to get it to carbonate in the bottle. Any alcohol tolerant ale yeast will do - Nottingham or Safale US-05 should do the trick.

 

Rather than pitching new yeast, would I be better off kegging it and force carbonating it?

Thanks

 

Absolutely not.

 

If you have that option, that would certainly be much easier and give you greater control over carbonation levels. You can always counter-pressure fill from there if you need some bottles.

You've done all the aging it'll ever need in the secondary, so you're not going to get much of a benefit from additional bottle conditioning on yeast.

 

Wow.. I've got one of these in primary now (2 weeks) and was going to rack to secondary after 3 weeks.. I don't have the patience to wait near this long... what is a reasonable secondary time? Bottle time?

 

Come on!!! Ya gotta bottle those babies! Champagne bottles, amiright?

Cheers to your patience, brother.

All the best!

 

Yes. Send me a bottle or two!!

 

That is friggin amazing, 1 year?!?!? WTF, how did you manage to talk yourself out of bottling every month for a year? That will probably bee some delicious a$$ shizzzmm..MMMM!! I like Trippels, but I Loooove Dubbels. Awesome job!

 

So you're the one who got the good username before me!

 

Mind explaining why, instead of just saying 'no' and being a jerk about it?

Kegging and force carbing would be an excellent way to carbonate it, plus if you use a beer gun or BMBF to bottle that'd work out even better.

 

have you tasted it yet?

 

Well, NorthernBrewer says 3 months for their Tripel, so I subracted 3 weeks primary, and 3 weeks bottle , and left it in the secondary for the remainder of the 3 months (6wks)

 

My guess (and opinion) is that it is not the force carbing that is the issue. Rather putting a year old tripel on tap. Just doesn't seem right - a nice Belgian like that deserves to spend its days in a bottle

 

I have this question here, my beer has been in the secondary for 3 weeks now, will I have to add yeast or should there still be enough for bottling? I'm a newbie at this and I'm aquiring some bottles and I have surpassed the reccomended time in the fermenter. I'm guessing it wont hurt it but I dont know if there will be any yeast left in suspension (and I'm guessing its a good thing fermenting it longer than reccomended)

 

I have left beer in carboys for 8 months and not had to add yeast for carbonation. Three weeks in nothing to the life of yeast. I routinely leave my beer in the primary for 4 weeks and have gone up to 3 months without issue. "Recommended time in fermenter" by whose standard? There is almost always yeast left in suspension. One of the guys on here left a beer in carboy for a year and carbonated fine without adding any addition yeast.

 

Im just gonna go ahead and give ya another "WOW" to add to your collection.

 

And I was proud that I was aiming to leave my Imperial sit for 2-3 months before bottling.... a year? Damn, that's impressive. Enjoy it.... slowly...

 

I say you keg it.

 

ok sweet, thanks

 

Honestly, I'd probably let it go another year. If you want to drink it this young that's fine, but this is why you always want plenty in the pipeline--if you don't rush things, they'll taste a lot better.

 

OK, the gautlent has been thrown down. After reading the above post, I have come to the conslusion that I will order another Belgian Tripel from Midwest (Belgian Tripel w/ Safbrew T-58 dry yeast :: Midwest Supplies Homebrewing and Winemaking Supplies). I will brew that ASAP, let it ferment a year. I will keep the one from last year in the carboy for one more year. That will result in a batch of one year and a two year tripel. I will check back in a year with the results

By the way, I agree with RRBB... and Mlee000. When the time comes I will bottle them.

Eljefebrewer - sorry mate. I will make it up to you somehow.

 

There are always yeast in suspension, just not very much. I aged a beer 1.5 years and just added sugar to bottle as normal. It took longer to carb.

That said, it would be easier to just pitch some yeast. Half a pack would probably do it. Make sure it is something highly flocculent.

 

eljefe: We're going to need some pictures of the finished product when the time comes. Give us some beer porn to drool over.

 

1 year wow, and now you are letting it age another? I guess if you have an out of the way cool spot you could put it and eventually forget about it. I never thought a beer could be aged for years and get better.

 

I say bottle it. You've already put a year into this beer, and letting it bottle condition is just going to let it age more gracefully. You could force carbonate and then bottle, but it just isn't the same and for long term storing, the yeast in the bottle just seem to hold the beer up better.

As for repitching yeast, I would certainly do it. A package of notty or safale is 2 bucks, and any chance that there might not be enough in the beer to give you the carbonation levels you want. The sugar will determine the carbonation and the new yeast will just get you there no matter what. Heck, you don't even need a whole pack of that yeast, either. Just like an 1/8th of a teaspoon will do.

 

So when you bottle this triple are you going to add yeast and sugar? I think this amazing triple deserves a stay in bottles. I like the idea about champagne bottles. Post a respond when its finished and let us know how it turned out and what you ended up doing.

 

Four months later, my dilemma remains the same. My pipeline is/has run dry. I am slowly but surely trying to buy and build what I need to move to all grain. As a result, I have not brewed for months.

I am down to one keg (kick my Amarillo IPA from Midwest tonight - I must say it has been my favorite so far). As I look for options in my fridge, I can hear the Belgian calling me to bottle her. The temptation is getting to be too much. I have stock piled champagne bottles and could bottle or keg at a moment’s notice.

To me, this is an incredibly sick marathon where I elected to hold out for two years for no reason and now I am suffering the consequences.

More to come...

 

Wow, I haven't had anything in primarys or secondarys for longer than 1 and a half month.. you're crazy and ... so smart and patient.. I admire it doubt i'll be able to do anything like this

 

OK... I must know... how did this turn out? You MUST have drank it by now, no?

I'm getting ready to brew this same recipe this coming weekend, and my plan is to let it secondary for one year, also.

Was it worth it?

 

Glad to here the Amarillo IPA is tasty, I've got a batch in primary right now. Have to wait a few more weeks and then keg it up but I'm stoked.

 

Just found this thread now, and I'm intrigued. This has inspired me to begin thinking about doing the same, put my heart in to a Belgian Tripel and just let it age for a year or so, amass a bunch of Champagne bottles, then have a beautiful treat to keep me through the cold Chicago winter of 2010.

I'm bottling my Amarillo IPA tonight, and I'm really stoked too. I just tasted it last night, and there is no doubt in my mind that this will be the best I've brewed to date.

 

Yeah, it's s pretty exciting prospect, isn't it? I'll be brewing mine this weekend on my birthday, then plan to secondary for eleven months until next august & bottle. If all goes well, I'll have a good ~8% tripel to drink and share next September on my fortieth birthday!

 

After two years of "fermenting" I have finally kegged my Midwest Belgian Tripel. I force carbonated the beer and just tapped the keg.

Not sure what the extra year bought, but the results are decent.

It definitely tastes like a Belgian beer. It does not have the alcohol overtones of what I find in other Tripels, perhaps because of the age. I am definitely getting a nice buzz so there is something worthwhile in there.

I have read enough posts to realize I may be the only one who tastes this, but I find a subtle and distinctive taste with extract beers (which this was). It could be poor technique that improved over time. However, I taste it in this beer. It is not bad but I can tell it is home brewed.

I am amazed that in the time this beer has sat fermenting:
- I have moved on to kegging and all grain.
- The Steelers won the Superbowl.
- The Penquins won the Stanley Cup.
- I became a member of this site.
- I have watched more curling than I thought possible.
- I successfully filled my basements with unused emtpy beer bottles, fermenting buckets, kegs, carboys, #1 Water cooler jugs, a scarey looking home made wort chiller, 10 gallon igloo coolers, large steel pots, sanitizers galore, and a ton of hoses everywhere.

I think the next two year beer will be an imperial stout. In that time I hope to open a brewery, lose all my money because I opened a brewery, have my house be overtaken with the hops I planted last year, and make many great batches of beer.

 

nice job!! cheers! i would love to try a beer aged that long. i would be too excited to wait.

 

you sir are my new idol...

 

I've got one in secondary I have had there for 9 months; I plan to bottle soon, so you have me beat. I might just do a tripple and add it to the up and coming list.