First "Big Beer"

[placated]

Hi guys, new to the forums but I've already learned a ton reading the sage advice doled out on a daily basis.

I'm about to embark on my first on my 'big' brew and I have some questions I thought I would run by you guys.

I'm going to do the Houblonmonstre Tripel kit from Northern Brewer.
http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/houblonmonstre-tripel-ipa-extract-kit.html

I purchased a smackpack of Wyeast 3522 to use with this kit. I plan on making a 2L starter due to the 1.085+ OG

My main issue with the whole scenereo is the area I ferment my beer is ~62-63F. This yeast has a temp range of 65-76F, and I've read that people seem to have better success with this strain in the upper end of the temp range. I have a brewbelt I can use that raises the fermentation temp in the bucket to about 72F. The only issue is I can only use the brewbelt per the instructions for 8 days in a row for some reason.

My plan was to let the beer ferment slightly cool for 3-4 days then use the brewbelt to push it up into the 70s for the remainder of the 14-ish days before racking to secondary. Does anyone see a problem with this approach, or have any general recommendations?

 

[Cyclman]

If your ambient is 62-63, your fermentation is a few degrees higher. I would ferment there for a few days, as you said, then hit it with the brewbelt. If you jump it one degree a day for 8 days, I imagine you'll have hit FG.

 

[jeff62217]

I'm new to brewing Belgians myself, but am pretty sure you're headed in the right direction pitching in the 60s and raising the temps to the 70s.

 

[blizzard]

You can always wrap the fermenter in a few towels or blankets to keep temps up. I agree with cyclman - if you're ambient room temps are 62, you'll have no problem fermenting a few degrees higher. Beer temps are always a few degrees higher than room temps while fermentation is active.

 

[placated]

Just a quick follow up on this. The beer turned out pretty fantastic. 2L starter - I let it ferment at 62 for about 3 days then hit it with a brewbelt on a xmas light timer for 2 hrs/on/off which kept the ferm temp around 67 for about a week. Then i let er rip with the brewbelt constant and it pushed it up to about 74 for about another week. Attenuated down to a perfect FG.

That Wyeast 3522 is good stuff. It gives you Belgian flavor without a lot of the overpowering Belgian "funkyness". Was very user-friendly.

 

[Cyclman]

Nice.