Big Beer Fermentation Question

[jeffdill]

I brewed NorthernBrewer's Belgian Strong Golden Ale, but added another pound of candi sugar. It came with the Wyeast smack pack. I'm a little confused about how to know what volume yeast starter I made, but I followed the directions of using 1/2 cup DME with a pint of water and did that three times (one each day the three days before my brew day).

My OG was 1.086 on 3/11 when I brewed. I just checked it now (9 days later) and it is 1.030. The sample has good flavor but is definitely too sweet. The blowoff tube is still bubbling...not at a fast rate, but not slowly either. I've been fermenting around 72 degrees F.

tl;dr - here's my question: How many days does a "normal" beer of this OG take to ferment out? Is 9 days pretty much the end? And if it gets stuck for multiple days at the same gravity, how do I give it a jumpstart again?

 

[Jay1]

I've done a 1.080 with one smack-pack (1056), no starter and had it down to 1.020 in 8 days. If you still have activity, your probably not even close to being done. If I were you, I would totally forget about (hard to do) it for another week at least.

 

[homebrewdad]

Big beers can take longer to ferment.

Belgians can take longer to ferment.

From what I understand, Belgians can take as long to get the final few points of attenuation as they do to get the vast majority.

If it's bubbling, leave it alone.

 

[theveganbrewer]

I brewed NorthernBrewer's Belgian Strong Golden Ale, but added another pound of candi sugar. It came with the Wyeast smack pack. I'm a little confused about how to know what volume yeast starter I made, but I followed the directions of using 1/2 cup DME with a pint of water and did that three times (one each day the three days before my brew day).

My OG was 1.086 on 3/11 when I brewed. I just checked it now (9 days later) and it is 1.030. The sample has good flavor but is definitely too sweet. The blowoff tube is still bubbling...not at a fast rate, but not slowly either. I've been fermenting around 72 degrees F.

tl;dr - here's my question: How many days does a "normal" beer of this OG take to ferment out? Is 9 days pretty much the end? And if it gets stuck for multiple days at the same gravity, how do I give it a jumpstart again?

In total you did 1.5 pints of water and 1.5 cups of DME? If you were stepping it up, it would have went .5 + .5 on day one, day two 1 + 1 for a total of 1.5, and day 3 1.5+1.5 for a total of 3 pints of starter volume in the end. Maybe I'm reading your post wrong, sorry if that's the case.

 

[jeffdill]

I'm still getting 2-3 bubbles/sec, so I don't think it's stuck or anything. I guess I'm just wondering what the "normal" fermentation time frame is for a normal gravity beer vs. a bigger beer. It seems like all my other beers were done within 5 days...

In total you did 1.5 pints of water and 1.5 cups of DME? If you were stepping it up, it would have went .5 + .5 on day one, day two 1 + 1 for a total of 1.5, and day 3 1.5+1.5 for a total of 3 pints of starter volume in the end. Maybe I'm reading your post wrong, sorry if that's the case.

3 pints water and 1.5 cups DME total

 

[gmcastil]

Most of the people on this forum, myself included, will recommend that you leave your beer in the primary for a while after fermentation has finished. I leave every beer I brew in the primary for a month.

Do a forum search on "extended primary" and you can read all about it. For a high gravity brew like that, I would leave it in the primary for a month at least, bottle it, and maybe start opening them 3-4 months later. High gravity beers like an imperial stout or a barley wine really need time to condition before they really start tasting good.

 

[theveganbrewer]

From the instruction kit:

O.G: 1.081 READY: 4 MONTHS
2–4 weeks primary, 2-3 months secondary, 2–4 weeks
bottle conditioning

17. Active fermentation ends. Approximately two weeks
to four weeks after brewing day, active fermentation will
end. When the cap of foam falls back into the new beer,
bubbling in the fermentation lock slows down or stops,
and the specific gravity as measured with a hydrometer
is stable, proceed to the next step.

Hope this will put you at ease. It'll get to the optimum levels soon enough. Have patience.

 

[Pezman1]

I'm still getting 2-3 bubbles/sec, so I don't think it's stuck or anything. I guess I'm just wondering what the "normal" fermentation time frame is for a normal gravity beer vs. a bigger beer. It seems like all my other beers were done within 5 days...



3 pints water and 1.5 cups DME total

If you are bubbling at 2-3 per second, you are still rockin and rollin. let it be.