help drying out a tripel

[balazs]

I brewed 10G of tripel a month ago. 1.086 OG 87% pilsner and 13% invert sugar. Mashed at 151 (one degree higher than usual.) Made a 5 liter step starter out of two smackpacks of 3787. Oxygenated wort and pitched at 65 degrees. Ramped temp up to 72 over a week period.

After 3 weeks I noticed yeast settling out. Took a reading and both carboys were at 1.030 and 1.032. So I ramped temps higher, re-oxygenated for 15 seconds a carboy and put more yeast nutrient in.

This started things up again. Now at the 4 week mark things have settled out again. I took readings and am at 1.019 and 1.022 in both carboys. No change in gravity after 4 days. I usually get 82% attenuation from this yeast not 76-77%.

There is a huge amount of slurry In my blowoff container. Could this have been part of the issue? Does anyone think I would have any luck pitching a new starter at peak activity? The beer does not taste sickly sweet but it is not dry as a tripel should be. Any advice would be much appreciated. Am I screwed on this one or can I get it down another 5 points?

 

[pdxal]

Check your thermometer and see if your mash temp was indeed 151. Maybe you mashed higher than you thought?
Are you using a refractometer to measure the FG? If so, you need to correct for alcohol.
Sounds like you've used 3787 before- it blows off a ton of krausen, but still ferments fast and furious then slows down and the last points are slow to come. Needs heat at the tail end of fermentation. You might need to warm it up more (80ish) to get the last few points. You can afford to wait it out a lot longer. You haven't taken it off the yeast to secondary, have you?
Before you try pitching more yeast wait a while and it likely will finish out if given time.

 

[Quaker]

When I get above 10% of a simple sugar, I hold off adding it or at least a portion if it until later in the fermentation to avoid the yeast stalling out on finishing up the maltose first.

I also hit higher gravity beers with a second dose of oxygen about 12 hours after pitching.

Of course neither of those help you now. You can try warming it up a bit and rousing the yeast. I've never had luck with a repitch, but when I tried it maybe I was at the limits of fermentability due to recipe or mashing issues.

If it tastes fine, not too sweet, I'd carb it and call it a day.

 

[balazs]

Check your thermometer and see if your mash temp was indeed 151. Maybe you mashed higher than you thought?
Are you using a refractometer to measure the FG? If so, you need to correct for alcohol.
Sounds like you've used 3787 before- it blows off a ton of krausen, but still ferments fast and furious then slows down and the last points are slow to come. Needs heat at the tail end of fermentation. You might need to warm it up more (80ish) to get the last few points. You can afford to wait it out a lot longer. You haven't taken it off the yeast to secondary, have you?
Before you try pitching more yeast wait a while and it likely will finish out if given time.

I have not taken it off the yeast and I do need to look into making sure my themometer is reading right. I will try ramping higher and rousing the yeast again. It seems that repitching at tgus point would most likely do no good.

 

[balazs]

Check your thermometer and see if your mash temp was indeed 151. Maybe you mashed higher than you thought?
Are you using a refractometer to measure the FG? If so, you need to correct for alcohol.
Sounds like you've used 3787 before- it blows off a ton of krausen, but still ferments fast and furious then slows down and the last points are slow to come. Needs heat at the tail end of fermentation. You might need to warm it up more (80ish) to get the last few points. You can afford to wait it out a lot longer. You haven't taken it off the yeast to secondary, have you?
Before you try pitching more yeast wait a while and it likely will finish out if given time.

I do need to make sure that my thermometer is reading correctly. The beer is still in primary. It seems my best bet is to ramp to 80 and rouse the yeast and wait.

 

[balazs]

When I get above 10% of a simple sugar, I hold off adding it or at least a portion if it until later in the fermentation to avoid the yeast stalling out on finishing up the maltose first.

I also hit higher gravity beers with a second dose of oxygen about 12 hours after pitching.

Of course neither of those help you now. You can try warming it up a bit and rousing the yeast. I've never had luck with a repitch, but when I tried it maybe I was at the limits of fermentability due to recipe or mashing issues.

If it tastes fine, not too sweet, I'd carb it and call it a day.

Next time I will try adding sugar later into fermentation. Alsi I will trying dosing with oxygen a second time. I have not yet tried these methods.

 

[beergolf]

3787 is notorious for taking a long time to get the last few points. Give it some more time. I usually give it 6-8 weeks to make sure it is done..

 

[tgmartin000]

I'd say give it more time and temp, and if you decide to repitch, use 3711. Or you could add brett and give it 6 months or so. The brett will chew through those last gravity points for sure.

 

[TrickyDick]

I'm doing this to mine, hoping the Brett cleans up some autolyzed yeast flavors and haze from me being lazy and not bottling when I should've. I'm at 1.010. You think it'll take months for it to do its trick?

TD


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[pdxal]

Thread revived!
We need more details to help. Post the recipe, including mash temps and fermentation details. How long ago did you make this beer?

 

[KangerBrew6]

Champagne yeast? Ever tried that for banging out a fully dried out ferm.

 

[TrickyDick]

Thread revived!
We need more details to help. Post the recipe, including mash temps and fermentation details. How long ago did you make this beer?

It's all here: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/tr...-brew-westmalle-clone-without-worries-427817/

Brewed last fall, and ended up with 1.010. Taste is good but has a homebrew autolyzed yeast quality that I'd like to improve. I intended on bottling, but months passed and it was still in primary. I partially dumped the yeast but must've had some left in the conical. ended up kegging it. every time I planned to bottle, something came up, and finally i didn't have enough corks, bottles, etc. finally I had to bit the bullet and just keg it.

I've read the Brett can feed on the dead yeasts. I'm hoping that they do, and clear up some of the off-flavor. Maybe pick up a couple points. It's at 9.2% abv now 1.010. Will try and post the Beersmith recipe later.



TD