Moved my belgium strong to secondary and ...

[muthafuggle]

Okay, I brewed my Belgium strong three weeks ago tomorrow. I am a lazy bastard and instead of making a starter, I just used two smack packs. My beer closet stays about 66 degrees and the yeasts kept it around 70 for the first 10 days, then it cooled, then the airlock stopped bubbling last Sunday. I want to brew again soon, and I figured "that's three weeks and no more bubbling, so it must be done fermenting, right?" I put my brain on hold, cleaned and sanitized my equipment and racked 'er on over.

Three little issues on second thought:

I used star san and there was a LOT of foam left over in the carboy. I know SOME star san is good for the yeasties... is there a point of "woah, too much"?

The beer was very, very cloudy and smelled very strongly of bananas. -prolly wasn't done fermenting, right? Did enough yeasts move over in the beer to keep things going?

-and I took a SG reading at 1.020. that's probably too high to be done. Is this stuck? should I re-pitch more yeast and if so how much?

 

[android]

first off, just see what happens in the secondary for a few weeks. with high alcohol brews like this, it's wise to let it hang out until you get consistent gravity readings... usually these beers finish lower than 1.020. what kind of yeast did you use? three weeks SHOULD be enough time for it to at least finish primary fermentation, but you just can't gauge it on the airlock... did you have a desired FG for this beer?

 

[muthafuggle]

I used Wyeast 1388 Belgian Strong Ale yeast. I was just reading their web site and they said it doesn't flocculate very well, so that probably explains the severe cloudiness of my beer.

The recipe I followed didn't have an end SG, but I'm assuming 1.014 is a pretty good target? The beer still tasted pretty sweet.

 

[Ecaz]

I too just made a Strong Dark belgian, 9.9lbs of Golden Light, 1.5 pounds of Dark Candi.

I only used 1 smack pack of Wyeast 1388, was this too little? Recipe only called for one...

 

[Kirbster]

It might be finished at 1.020. If it isnt finished fermenting the transfer might have reawakened the yeast and gain you a few more points. There would be enough suspended yeast to accomplish this without repitching. Repitching at this point would be too costly for the benefits.

 

[FxdGrMind]

You and I brewed the same beer at the same time. I did the same, lazy, waited 3 weeks to rack to 2ndary.
I also used 1388, my OG was 1.082 and my FG is 1.012. Cloudy just as yours.

I started mine at temp 68 (63 air temp + brew belt) and with the heat from ferment it should have been 70-72.
Fermentation ended (visibly) in 4 days as I piched a 1/4 gal starter I made of my 1388 and 3 cups water and a cup of DME. So fermentation wet off within hours of pitching.

I am dryhoping now in 2ndary, are you? If so the addition of hops and the stirring up from the transfer hopefully will wake up your yeast and let it finnish off a bit more.

Are you bottling? or Kegging?

Cheers

 

[DrinksWellWithOthers]

I too just made a Strong Dark belgian, 9.9lbs of Golden Light, 1.5 pounds of Dark Candi.

I only used 1 smack pack of Wyeast 1388, was this too little? Recipe only called for one...

Even without knowing your OG I'd still be willing to bet you under pitched. I brewed up a BDSA last week and pitched a 3L starter. Check out Mr Malty for pitching rates in the future.

 

[TRainH2o]

I just brewed a Belgian Strong Ale a few days ago. It is basically a Chimay Grand Reserve clone. My recipe called for an OG of 1.087 and FG of 1.022. Yours should be somewhere close I would think.

As far as it being cloudy, all of the Belgian Strong Ales that I have tried, commercially brewed, are cloudy. Lots of fruity esters are normal.

 

[muthafuggle]

You and I brewed the same beer at the same time. I did the same, lazy, waited 3 weeks to rack to 2ndary.
I also used 1388, my OG was 1.082 and my FG is 1.012. Cloudy just as yours.

I started mine at temp 68 (63 air temp + brew belt) and with the heat from ferment it should have been 70-72.
Fermentation ended (visibly) in 4 days as I piched a 1/4 gal starter I made of my 1388 and 3 cups water and a cup of DME. So fermentation wet off within hours of pitching.

I am dryhoping now in 2ndary, are you? If so the addition of hops and the stirring up from the transfer hopefully will wake up your yeast and let it finnish off a bit more.

Are you bottling? or Kegging?

Cheers

Okay, I need to start using a starter, I guess. My fermentation started VERY quickly, but it hasn't finished as cleanly as yours. I also bought an air pump and aerated the living crap out of the wort with a disposable airstone that I soaked in star-san for about an hour and then sucked the star-san up the airline a bit (and then shot star-san down the tube to re-sanitize). I sprayed the air pump and the counter it was sitting on with star-san to reduce airborne beasties. (in case anyone cares).

My recipe does not call for dry hopping, but that sounds like a good idea. I may pop down to the LHBS for some hops.

I'm planning on a few more weeks in secondary (maybe months, we'll see how it ages) and then I'll bottle. I am just starting out and kegging is a bit out of my price range. And by that I mean SWMBO hasn't been properly prepped for the cost of another fridge and $300 worth of kegging gear.

Let me know how yours turns out.

*EDIT* I meant I aerated my wort BEFORE pitching and after cooling, natch.

 

[BigTexun]

I just brewed a Belgian Strong Ale a few days ago. It is basically a Chimay Grand Reserve clone. My recipe called for an OG of 1.087 and FG of 1.022. Yours should be somewhere close I would think.

As far as it being cloudy, all of the Belgian Strong Ales that I have tried, commercially brewed, are cloudy. Lots of fruity esters are normal.

I just did the same recipe yesterday. My OG came out to 1.080, I think because I topped off up to 5.25 gallons instead of the specified 5.0 (wanted a little extra to account for the trub).

Anyways, I didn't build a starter; Ed at Brewers warehouse suggested I not because he thought that for this beer it would be better to underpitch to get the characteristic esters. Did you do the same?

 

[TRainH2o]

I did make a starter. My yeast had partly frozen in the refrigerator. I wanted to make sure that it was still viable.

 

[muthafuggle]

Anyways, I didn't build a starter; Ed at Brewers warehouse suggested I not because he thought that for this beer it would be better to underpitch to get the characteristic esters. Did you do the same?

Judging from my experience, that strain of yeast needs NO help creating esters. I got banana and pineapple and what my daughter thought was tropical punch smells and I pitched pretty high.

 

[BigTexun]

Judging from my experience, that strain of yeast needs NO help creating esters. I got banana and pineapple and what my daughter thought was tropical punch smells and I pitched pretty high.

I feel a lot better about the under pitch today - it started perking after 18 hours and now, after 36 hours, I've got a 4" krausen. Nonetheless, I plan to rack it to glass in a couple of weeks and give it 4 months to eat those banannas!