Adding ABV to Belgium Tripel ?

[beercapt]

My neighbor and I attempted our first Tripel 7 weeks ago. The ABV is lacking. From the feedback we've received, we need to pitch more yeast volume and add about a pound of light DME or sugar.

Reading in these forums, I've noticed comments that increasing sugar may dry out the beer.

My objective is a flavorful Tripel with 9% ABV. Any thoughts? Thank you.

 

[nicadrick]

Are you trying to fix a beer that has been in the fermenter for 7 weeks? Please provide more info:
SG/OG:
Current (FG)

 

[beercapt]

Are you trying to fix a beer that has been in the fermenter for 7 weeks? Please provide more info:
SG/OG:
Current (FG)

No. Primary was 8 days, secondary in keg under CO2 at 40 degrees for three weeks before we started sampling it. It has gotten better over the last couple weeks, so a longer secondary seems wise. We harvested the yeast from it and have pitched it into our dubbel to great effect. We plan on using the original yeast in our second trippel.

 

[IffyG]

Drink this beer as is and try again.

 

[beercapt]

Drink this beer as is and try again.

As quickly as we can! .

 

[xjmox14x]

I'm assuming you mean on your second try?

As, adding new yeast and sugar to an already conditioned beer... I can't imagine that going over terribly well.

As for pitching more yeast, that will only help increase alcohol if it had a problem getting down into the dry range, like sub 1.010. More yeast won't help you much if your final gravity was around 1.005. More yeast WILL help if you bump up your OG with more fermentable sugars and your yeasties need all the help they can get trying to bring a 1.080 beer down to 1.010.

 

[permo]

No. Primary was 8 days, secondary in keg under CO2 at 40 degrees for three weeks before we started sampling it. It has gotten better over the last couple weeks, so a longer secondary seems wise. We harvested the yeast from it and have pitched it into our dubbel to great effect. We plan on using the original yeast in our second trippel.

You moved it off of the yeast to quickly......the yeast need time to work.

 

[beercapt]

I'm assuming you mean on your second try?

As, adding new yeast and sugar to an already conditioned beer... I can't imagine that going over terribly well.

As for pitching more yeast, that will only help increase alcohol if it had a problem getting down into the dry range, like sub 1.010. More yeast won't help you much if your final gravity was around 1.005. More yeast WILL help if you bump up your OG with more fermentable sugars and your yeasties need all the help they can get trying to bring a 1.075 beer down to 1.010.

Ah. Sorry. Misunderstanding, here.

We won't change our first Tripel. We are drinking it. It turned out good enough to drink. It just doesn't have the ABV we desire for our second batch.

We are going to brew another one, with extract, using the same kit we did the first time (except we will use the yeast we saved from the first Tripel we did).

The question is, should we add a pound of sugar or light DME to the wort to increase ABV and not change the flavor?

 

[xjmox14x]

Ah. Sorry. Misunderstanding, here.

We won't change our first Tripel. We are drinking it. It turned out good enough to drink. It just doesn't have the ABV we desire for our second batch.

We are going to brew another one, with extract, using the same kit we did the first time (except we will use the yeast we saved from the first Tripel we did).

The question is, should we add a pound of sugar or light DME to the wort to increase ABV and not change the flavor?

I'd say whatever suits your tastes. Simple sugar or candi sugar is highly fermentable and will dry your beer out a little more than the DME will while boosting the alcohol level. This is fairy typical of tripels as they're not necessarily the driest of beers, but they do usually have a light to medium body. Light DME will boost your alcohol as well but will add a touch more body than the sugar will.

 

[nicadrick]

I agree with iffy. drink or dump and do it again.

24 hours after vigorous fermentation has begun add simple sugar fermentables to fermenter to boost abv. Always control your ferm temp. Use your favorite brewing software to figure out how much simple sugar you'll need for the desired ABV. Using simple sugars over DME will help to dry out this beer and allow for better drinkability.

 

[beercapt]

You moved it off of the yeast to quickly......the yeast need time to work.

I agree, but all the yeast had crashed out of it at this point. We used the dry yeast from the kit, and used a starter, but volume-wise, there wasn't much there. Pitching more into our dubbel seemed to work quite a bit better, so our thought was to pitch the first generation havested from our first Tripel, and pitch mor of it.

 

[beercapt]

I'd say whatever suits your tastes. Simple sugar or candi sugar is highly fermentable and will dry your beer out a little more than the DME will while boosting the alcohol level. This is fairy typical of tripels as they're not necessarily the driest of beers, but they do usually have a light to medium body. Light DME will boost your alcohol as well but will add a touch more body than the sugar will.

Excellent advise! Thank you .