Need some suggestions on additions

[Daffypuck]

I have a beer that is 2 weeks into primary. I took a sample today to test the gravity and give it a taste. I knew going in that I made some mistakes, but thus far the beer is OK. It started at an OG of 1.102 and is now at 1.009. It tastes dryish with some hints of sweetness and a fairly strong alcohol burn when it goes down. I dont mind the burn. I tend to like strong ales that have that burn. But would like to subdue it a bit. Im going to leave it for one more week in primary and then xfer to secondary. What are somethings I can add to secondary that might sweeten it up a bit and add a little more flavor? I was going for a triple styled beer. So I was wondering if a pound of honey would be ok to add to the secondary. Also, one of my mistakes was the fermentation temp. It was in the 64-67 range. My sample was 64 deg. Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[LLBeanJ]

At this point, I don't think you have a lot of options. You could add some lactose, which would add body and sweeten it up a bit, though I'm not sure what that would do to your Belgian profile. Adding honey will not give you what you're looking for, as it will totally ferment out leaving you with an even dryer beer, more alcohol, and none of the honey taste you want.

If you're not concerned about adhering to style, you could dry hop with an ounce or two of saaz or another hop variety that you're partial to. That would spruce up the flavor profile quite a bit. I recently did that to a Belgian pale ale that I wasn't to enamored with and it turned a so-so beer into a very tasty one.

 

[duboman]

Personally, a beer that large is just going to take some time to condition, like maybe 3 months!

I would leave it and make notes to mash higher next time to keep it from getting so dry. Definitely don't add honey. If you really want to add something back use lactose but I'm not sure how much

 

[Daffypuck]

Thanks y'all. I thought it might come out sweet, but it didn't. How do you get that good honey sweet taste like so many triples have? I did think about dry hopping it too. As far as conditioning goes, it'll definitely sit for a minimum of 3 mos. right now it's 12.5% abv. Definitely has the burn.

 

[joyceman]

Have you tried honey malt? Not sure if its appropriate in Belgians but it does give you a strong shot of honey flavor with just 8oz in a 5gal batch.