Fermentation Finished on My Belgian Tripel....

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JimE

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I just checked (Day 13 in primary) the SG on my Belgian Tripel - 1.020. It had the same reading for two days in a row, so I'm guessing this fermentation is done.

The OG was 1.083. With the FG of 1.020, I calculated a ABV of 8.3%, which is right in the range for a Belgian Triple.

I guess I will bottle this weekend, according to kit instructions. I tasted my SG reading sample. It had a good mouth feel, and I really like the flavor.

Woohoo... my first beer!
 
Congrats! Now the hard part is being patient and allowing the beer to condition for at least 4 weeks. Belgian Tripels REALLY need extra time to show their full potential.
 
1.020 is high fg for tripel. How much of the batch's fermentables were malt extract?

I was hoping someone would as this question. I was concerned.

This was a Brewer's Best Kit with the following list of fermentables:

3.3 lbs. Light LME
3.3 lbs. Amber LME
3 lbs. Pilsen DME
1 lbs. Light Candi Sugar
8 oz. Maltodextrin

Yeast is Nottingham.

4 oz. aromatic grains steeped for 20 min. a 155%

Checking my instructions again, the ABV% for this kit should be 8.5% - 9.0%, so I'm a little low.

Beer Tools Pro showed that this recipe should yield about 8.37% ABV.

Is this done. Any suggestions? I'm not in a crazy hurry to get this ale down my throat; I just want to get it done right.
 
You're fine. Yes, 1.020 is a little high for a Tripel, but not for your recipe. Extract never finishes as low as it should. You're probably at around 7.5% ABV though.
 
You're fine. Yes, 1.020 is a little high for a Tripel, but not for your recipe. Extract never finishes as low as it should. You're probably at around 7.5% ABV though.

I'm bottling this in an hour. I used the formula for ABV as follows:

(OG - FG) * 1.31.25 = %ABV

My numbers are:
(1.083 - 1.020) * 131.25 = 8.26875 %ABV (call it 8.3%)

Is this the incorrect formula to use? How did you come to the 7.5%? I'm interested in how to quickly predict (rule of thumb) to figure out ABV. How do you do it?
 
I was guessing at ABV by the ingredients you gave us. Not knowing the exact brands of extract you used, it was pretty pointless to punch it into beertools. I didn't notice your SG when I made that assumption though. I was putting it at around 1.078.

Anyhow....on predicting final alcohol content quickly... I usually go by the OG. It's not an exact science, but if you're just looking for a ballpark figure, you can go by the OG.

If your gravity is around 1.055, I usually assume it will end up around 5.5%. If it's 1.075, I assume around 7.5%. And so on...

It starts getting unreliable with gravities over 1.100, but otherwise it works fairly well.
 
You like your Tripel now. Put it away for a year and it will taste much better. Strong Belgiums like Tripels need lots of aging for the flavors to blend. The tripel I brewed in September is still in the secondary carboy and will be til at least July.
 
If it isn't too late, I'd let this go another week or more. Just because the FG isn't dropping, doesn't mean the yeast isn't working. And you're apparently not using secondary...so two weeks until bottling a big beer is a bit low.

Also...Nottingham yeast? I'm sure this is a nice beer, but you can't really judge it be the rules for a Tripel.
 
Also...Nottingham yeast? I'm sure this is a nice beer, but you can't really judge it be the rules for a Tripel.

The yeast came in the kit. I did fermented at the higher end of recommended temperature range so I would get some fruity flavors. I know it isn't citris, but it is something. I didn't know any better two weeks ago. I can only judge it by my palate. So far it seems like it will be ok.
 
Definitely let it go. I brewed my Tripel in late August and it's still going. I did catch a whiff of it lately and it smells awesome.
 
Can you really call it a Belgian if you're not using Belgian yeast? It's sorta what defines the style. It will be tasty, but it won't taste like a belgian.
 
I also just bought this same tripel kit. It has been fermenting for 9 days, with the first 3 of heavy activity (blow off foam). There appears to be no more fermentation activity as of late. Should I proceed to bottling? It is a heavy dark color, with all the yeast settled at the bottom. Is this similar to what you had?
 
Do you have a hydrometer to check the FG? If not (or even if you did hit FG), I would give it another week or more. Nine days is pretty short for a big beer. Even if it's done fermenting, the yeast is still working.
 
My tripel is modeled after Jamil's recipe where he called for around 10.5 lbs of Pils LME. Mine is stuck after 13 days in the primary at 1.020-a bit off from the desired 1.008. From a gut feeling I added a little brown sugar after racking to secondary to try and get a little more action from the yeast. We'll see. Smells great and tastes almost like a heavy white wine, but still a little too sweet. Here's to hoping the secondary really works it well...
 
My tripel is modeled after Jamil's recipe where he called for around 10.5 lbs of Pils LME. Mine is stuck after 13 days in the primary at 1.020-a bit off from the desired 1.008. From a gut feeling I added a little brown sugar after racking to secondary to try and get a little more action from the yeast. We'll see. Smells great and tastes almost like a heavy white wine, but still a little too sweet. Here's to hoping the secondary really works it well...

I am also working off of Jamil's recipe, but he mentioned using some extra late addition yeast to dry it out to to the 1.010-1.012 range. After 12 days (yesterday) i was down to 1.020 and dropped 5g of US-05 into the wort. Will bottle before the end of the week.
 
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