MathMan
Active Member
This is my second "big boy batch" of beer (after Mr. Brew) and my first complete recipe (not a kit). I've read a couple books and read posts on this site and others. Suffice it to say that I feel well read on the pros and cons of what I've done thus far, but I can't figure out what to do in this situation.
I've got a big Belgian (OG about 1.074) and it's been in a 5 gallon secondary for about a week. I took it out of primary a few days after it reached the expected final gravity of 1.014. It fermented at about 70 degrees and I've got it in the garage at around 50 degrees now, but the airlock hasn't done anything since I placed it in the garage. The yeast strain is Wyeast 1388 "Belgian Strong Ale", of which I pitched two activator packs at the primary fermentation temperature. It bubbled well at first even plugging my fermented and prompting me to get a blow-off hose, but has since (apparently) stopped.
Now my concern is that the yeast is either too cold, done eating, or just dead and I don't know whether to: a) re-pitch something in the secondary (I think this is a bad idea but may be wrong); b) go ahead and bottle the beer (now or after a few weeks), but re-pitch right before or at the time of bottling; or c) leave it in primary for another few weeks and prime before bottling as usual.
Another thought is to move it in from the garage and back to a higher temp, but after reading some other recipes they all leave the secondary fermentation at a lower temperature.
Finally, my intention was to make the brew a Trippel with a few Dubbel flavors, so I'm going for a well-carbonated final beer. For this reason, I'm leaning toward option 'b' above.
Any help you all could give me is much appreciated. Thanks in advance!
I've got a big Belgian (OG about 1.074) and it's been in a 5 gallon secondary for about a week. I took it out of primary a few days after it reached the expected final gravity of 1.014. It fermented at about 70 degrees and I've got it in the garage at around 50 degrees now, but the airlock hasn't done anything since I placed it in the garage. The yeast strain is Wyeast 1388 "Belgian Strong Ale", of which I pitched two activator packs at the primary fermentation temperature. It bubbled well at first even plugging my fermented and prompting me to get a blow-off hose, but has since (apparently) stopped.
Now my concern is that the yeast is either too cold, done eating, or just dead and I don't know whether to: a) re-pitch something in the secondary (I think this is a bad idea but may be wrong); b) go ahead and bottle the beer (now or after a few weeks), but re-pitch right before or at the time of bottling; or c) leave it in primary for another few weeks and prime before bottling as usual.
Another thought is to move it in from the garage and back to a higher temp, but after reading some other recipes they all leave the secondary fermentation at a lower temperature.
Finally, my intention was to make the brew a Trippel with a few Dubbel flavors, so I'm going for a well-carbonated final beer. For this reason, I'm leaning toward option 'b' above.
Any help you all could give me is much appreciated. Thanks in advance!