First Belgian Brew!

[Carlos_AO]

Hello all. Brewing my first Belgian Strong Ale. My recipe consists of some coriander and Curaçao Peels. A couple questions I have for the pros out there: 1. With an OG 1.090 and pitching at 72F, how long does it need to stay in fermenter before bottling? Is a secondary fermenter necessary? 2. How do I remove all the "floaters" before bottling? Any advice is greatly appreciated. Happy Brewing!

 

[masskrug]

Are you using buckets or carboys?
1. What is the FG supposed to be? I'd check it after 3 weeks with a hydrometer.
2. If you are adding peels and coriander, I would secondary.
3. Avoid "floaters" by using a muslin bag for your coriander and peels. If you don't have one, use a strainer when you transfer to the bottling bucket. Try not to aerate it too much.

Good luck!

 

[RM-MN]

1. It needs to stay in the fermenter until the yeast are done with it. Yeast work on their own schedule so putting a time on it is not useful. Use your hydrometer to determine if the yeast are done. It won't hurt to give them longer to clean up the byproducts either. 3 weeks should be long enough but it also depends on the yeast strain you are using. You didn't mention that.

2. Necessary? No. Good idea, maybe.

3. Get a paint strainer bag or some "Swiss voile" (curtain material) and wrap that around the end of the racking tube or autosiphon so it goes into the wort. That will give you a decent amount of surface area so the filter doesn't plug and will keep you from aerating the beer.

 

[Carlos_AO]

Very helpful. Thank you. My target FG 1.02 ABV ~9.2. I used Wyeast 3787 and fermenting in carboy 19L. I guess I didn't think about using muslin bag for spices. I'll try that next time. Up until now, I've only brewed pale ales & IPA's.