High Final Gravity

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drkwoods

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Just finishing up a Belgian Strong that started at 1.075 using WL Trappist Ale yeast. 10gal batch with a 3liter starter. 2 weeks at 68 in the primary an 4 weeks so far in the secondary at 70 degrees. The current gravity is 1.020. It's in my brite tank now and I've began Carbonating it at 60 degrees The taste is pretty dang good but I was expecting a drier beer. IYO.....Should I ?
A. Leave it as is an enjoy the extra body
B. Repitch a higher Alc yeast?
C. Just wait longer befor crash cooling
D. Something else
 
A. Leave it as is an enjoy the extra body

If you enjoy the beer, that's always a great option. The problem is, though, that transferring from secondary to your serving vessel could easily agitate the yeast and cause fermentation to begin again. If you're packaging in bottles, then that's a LOT of extra carbonation that you'll have hanging over your head. If you pressurize to style, and have room for the additional carbonation in bottles then, in my opinion, you run the risk of bottle bombs or, at the least, foamy messes.

B. Repitch a higher Alc yeast?

With that much alcohol, you'll have to make a starter and pitch the yeast while it's active, otherwise it will just sink right to the bottom and go dormant. But sure, that's not a bad plan. Make sure you pick a yeast with a complementary flavor: going from 1.2 - 1.07 (where I would want to see the beer finish myself) will be enough attenuation to add noticeable flavor to the final beer; so don't use champagne yeast or something weird.

C. Just wait longer befor crash cooling

In my opinion, if the beer has been stalled at 1.2 for the better part of a month, waiting won't help.

D. Something else

Two other alternatives come to mind:

(1) You could just rouse the fermenter to try to get the yeast back into solution, and THEN wait for another week to see if that jumpstarted the process.

(2) Alternatively, you could add bugs to consume the remaining fermentables and turn this into a sour beer. It'd be more waiting, but 1.2 is really the perfect gravity at which to pitch brett and pedio, IMHO, and this seems so fortuitous that you just can't throw the opportunity away!
 
All grain Batch Target final was 1.010 (5 gal batch recipe x2)
It's 12.8lbs Pilsner
1.6lbs Munich Malt (2row)
1.6lbsCandy sugar

1.8oz hallertauer mittelfruh
.4oz styrian goldings
.8 chzech saaz

Yeast: WLP500
Yeast Starter: yes 3 liter
Additional Yeast or Yeast Starter: Used two WLP500 vials
Batch Size (Gallons): 10
Original Gravity: 1.075
Final Gravity: 1.020 at 6 weeks
IBU: 50
Boiling Time (Minutes): 60mins
Color: Yello
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 14days 68F
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 28 Days @70F
 
my LHBS recommended repitching a high gravity yeast like WLP550.. Im not sure I wanna do that.. this is where i need advice really
 
latest news! I decided to drink 5gal as is (@1.020) and the other 5 I repitched with WLP099 (high gravity yeast), IT TOOK OFF!! it was down to 1.008 in 48 hrs.. OMG. Now it has quite an Alcoholic Bite, almost tastes like a spirit now.. I crashed it down to 33 and Im not sure,, will the alcohol mellow out after aging or should I blend it back to the other keg at 1.020 to balance it?? You opinion appreciated
 
A big beer like this one is going to need age. That's a lot of alcohol and when it's green, that beer is going to be HOT. IMO, Belgians like this one should be aged for MONTHS, not days or weeks.
 
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