Fermentation on a Belgian strong ale

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Clanchief

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This past Saturday I brewed my second batch ever, a Belgian strong ale, with a recipe modeled after Kwak but modified for what I had available at my LHBS. For my yeast, I used the Wyeast 1214 for my yeast, no starter.

Now, after I aerated and put in the airlock, I had some vigorous fermentation start within 12 hours. By the next morning there was heavy bubbling in the airlock, and that continued on for quite a while. By Monday morning, the bubbling had slowed to about every second or so, but was still going at a pretty good rate. When I came home from work last night however, it seemed like the bubbling had pretty much stopped. I checked again this morning and I'm not really seeing any bubbles coming into the airlock. That seems like a really, really fast fermentation to me. The recipe calls for letting it ferment for at least two weeks. Should I be worried or just let it sit?
 
Let it sit for another week or two and check the gravity. A lot of times the yeast do their job relatively quickly. My only concern is your lack of starter. What was your OG?
 
OG was 1.072, which based on what Beersmith told me with the recipe I used, was pretty much right on target.
 
I'd bet it's just fine. Leave it alone for a week or two then check your gravity. Just because you don't see lots of bubbles does not mean the yeast are not doing anything.
 
Yeah, what confused me was that I was getting such strong bubbling for a couple of days, and then a sudden dropoff. My plan was to ferment for at least two weeks anyways, so I'll just let it sit.
 
Let it sit. Belgians can sometimes take a while to drop the few last points. They also do better with age, so I usually let mine sit for 5 weeks then check them.

They also like to have some extra time in the bottles. I have one that I brewed last February, put it in bottles in March. It was good at about a month, better at two months, and awesome no at about 6 months in the bottle. I had to hide them from my wife because she loves that brew. I want save some for another few months..
 
What are your fermentation temps? If you're on the low side you might want to slowly increase it to get it going again.

Did you add any yeast nutrient near the end of the boil? Even in extracts, there may be some benefits to doing so with bigger beers like your golden strong.

Also I would try a yeast starter next time you do a beer of this strength. Theres a good starter calculator called Mr Malty by Jamil that I've used. Worked really well to ferment my Tripel with 3787, recommended a 3-4 qt starter.
 
I was considering using a starter, but my problem was one of time. This is only my second beer to make (the other was a full kit job, this was a recipe I came up with) and I have never used a starter before. It wasn't until the morning I was planning to brew that I realized you have to make a starter a day in advance. For bigger beers like this in the future, I'll probably do so, I just didn't in this case.

And for the temp, it actually has been pretty steady at around 72*. If anything, it might have heated up a bit as our temperature here in Chicago went up to 90* yesterday and I don't have an easy way to control the fermentation temperature.
 
Fermentation isn't linear. It ramps up than slows but will continue for a while. Airlock activity won't tell the whole story. Take your hydrometer readings.
 
You should still be OK even though you under-pitched, in the future if you don't have time to make a starter shell out a few more bucks for at least another wyeast pack. Most of the big belgians I've made show very strong, vigorous fermentation initially, due to higher adjunct sugar content, but then fall off pretty quickly. If I were you I would leave that beer in primary for about 30 days, you'll want to leave it on the yeast as long as possible.
 
As others have stated doing a big yeast starter will benefit a bigger beer in the future.

Did you use the Belgian candy sugar to bring up the OG? Typically Belgian yeast like to ferment a bit hot (in the 70-75) range. At that temp what you see of primary fermentation seems to by pretty rapidly. As a result the yeast will produce the fruity esters ass associated with the style, and critiqued so heavily by judges.

Just because you don't see anymore bubbles in the air lock does not mean the beer is finished. There is still a lot of "clean up" the yeast has yet to do. I usually keep my Belgian strong and triples in primary for around a month before racking them to a conditioning vessel where I begin to slightly bring the temp down for another two or three months. From there they will bottle condition for another four months. This ensures I don't end up with a young tasting Belgian with too much residual sweetness.

I would recommend letting the beer just relax for at least another two or three weeks before poking around in it. After three or four weeks take a gravity reading. If all has gone well you should be in the 1.020 range leaving a good mouthfeel, lots of fruity and maybe sour esters, and a slightly sweet but not cloying finish.

[email protected]. on tap: homemade sarsaparilla and easy virtue blonde. primary: heffewitzen, blow your top steam. conditioning: fruity monk Belgian wit
 
I did use Belgian candy sugar to bring the OG up. 1.4 lbs. And my next Belgian will definitely either have a starter or 2 Wyeast packs (I was a little concerned with that initially).

It's going to sit in primary for a while now. I wasn't planning on pulling it for at least two weeks after starting it, now I may just let it sit a while longer. Gives me an excuse to buy another fermenter even if SWMBO doesn't want me to. :mug:
 
+1 for letting it age. My Belgian dubbel has been in the primary for a month now and soon I'll be transferring it to a keg where it will sit for at least another month or two before it makes it into the keezer.
 
My tripel was bottled in early April and is just now coming into it's own. Your 2nd batch may have to wait a tidge.

Now you have extra ammo to buy that 2nd fermenter to fill the pipeline with a quick 3rd batch.
 
Yep, I just racked a BGS after a month in the primary. Going to give it a month in the secondary then bottle.
 
I made a Fat Tyre clone over the weekend with that same Belgian Abbey yeast, only I made a starter. I had very explosive fermentation within 12 hours coming into through the blowoff tube and into my bottle of sanitizer water. 18 hours later, bubbles completely dropped off and I put the airlock on with little activity. My O.G. was only 1.055, so it was a smaller beer, but it appears that perhaps this yeast does it's job quickly. Mine is at a steady 72 degrees.
 
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