New Tripel got a little solventy.... check my process?

[luckybeagle]

I brewed a Tripel using the following:

13# Belgian Pilsen Malt
2# table sugar
Magnum for bittering (30ish IBU)
1/2 OZ Mt Hood, 1/2 OZ Crystal Hops at Whirlpool.
WY1214 Abbey Slurry

Pitched at 62F and ramped to 70F over 7 days. Room temp thereafter.

OG 1.080, FG 1.008, ~9.5% ABV

Today is day 9 of fermentation in primary. I'm getting a fairly strong alcohol flavor that the berry esters of the yeast are not covering up as well as I had hoped. I'm a little confused as to why, since I brewed a Quad using this same fermentation temp schedule and WY1214, and it has zero alcohol/solvent taste. Is my grain bill too simple for the alcohol content, which is leading to this boozy flavor? Any suggestions for next go around? Less sugar?

 

[Big Monk]

I brewed a Tripel using the following:

13# Belgian Pilsen Malt
2# table sugar
Magnum for bittering (30ish IBU)
1/2 OZ Mt Hood, 1/2 OZ Crystal Hops at Whirlpool.
WY1214 Abbey Slurry

Pitched at 62F and ramped to 70F over 7 days. Room temp thereafter.

OG 1.080, FG 1.008, ~9.5% ABV

Today is day 9 of fermentation in primary. I'm getting a fairly strong alcohol flavor that the berry esters of the yeast are not covering up as well as I had hoped. I'm a little confused as to why, since I brewed a Quad using this same fermentation temp schedule and WY1214, and it has zero alcohol/solvent taste. Is my grain bill too simple for the alcohol content, which is leading to this boozy flavor? Any suggestions for next go around? Less sugar?

The yeast was harvested from the Quad? What were the specs on that beer? Bigger than the Tripel? You generally don't to repitch yeast from a big beer to a relatively smaller one.

 

[luckybeagle]

The yeast was harvested from the Quad? What were the specs on that beer? Bigger than the Tripel? You generally don't to repitch yeast from a big beer to a relatively smaller one.

Yeah, it was slurry from the Quad, which came out 1% higher in ABV. Next time I'll do the tripel first, or something lighter using the 1214. Mainly I just wanted to see how my tripel would be different over using my go to yeast (3522 Ardennes). Do you think this could be contributing to the slight solvent/booze taste?

My initial thinking was that Belgian Pilsen malt hides very little, and plain table sugar doesn't do much more than boost alcohol content and dry the beer out, so there's very few places for the 9.5% ABV to hide in such a light, dry, thinnish (1.008 FG) beer. I would pit it to temperature normally, but that was pretty restrained during the early days of fermentation. No idea though?

 

[brownni5]

I have a couple thoughts, take them for what they're worth.
1. The beer is still in primary - only day 9. That doesn't seem like very long for me to get too worked up about it.

b. Your recipe isn't too simple. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that looks like a Belgian Tripel recipe.

iii. You're north of 9% ABV. Thats a pretty boozy beer. Maybe that's where the booziness (?) is coming from.

Last. Some think one should never reuse yeast from a big beer like a Quad. Yeast are pretty beat up. I've never tried it - too gun-shy. Others might have different opinions.

 

[Big Monk]

Save the judgement until it’s carbonated and off the yeast.

 

[yowzers]

I’d give it some time. Those can age for a couple months before they come into their own

 

[RealRayDizzle]

+1

I’d give it some time. Those can age for a couple months before they come into their own

Couple Tripples I did had the same issue. went away after a month of aging in bottle.

 

[luckybeagle]

That is great to hear!

This is probably my cheapest 5g batch yet. Slurry + bittering and remnants of a few different types of aroma hops already on hand, super simple grist. I think I'm in it about $18, or about 33 cents a bottle. I'll tuck it away for a month or so once I package before popping a couple in the fridge.

Since fermentation is complete and gravity hasn't moved for 4 days or so, is there any reason to hold off on bottling? I let my last few tripels sit on the yeast for 17+ days and they turned out great, but I go back and forth on whether or not this is lost time since the yeast has already done its job and probably isn't going to spend weeks "cleaning up off flavors."

Any opinions on that?

 

[couchsending]

That is great to hear!

This is probably my cheapest 5g batch yet. Slurry + bittering and remnants of a few different types of aroma hops already on hand, super simple grist. I think I'm in it about $18, or about 33 cents a bottle. I'll tuck it away for a month or so once I package before popping a couple in the fridge.

Since fermentation is complete and gravity hasn't moved for 4 days or so, is there any reason to hold off on bottling? I let my last few tripels sit on the yeast for 17+ days and they turned out great, but I go back and forth on whether or not this is lost time since the yeast has already done its job and probably isn't going to spend weeks "cleaning up off flavors."

Any opinions on that?

Yeast don’t like alcohol. You’re more likely to get off flavors leaving it on the yeast. Give it a few days after fermentation is done and get it off the yeast. Also has been said don’t harvest yeast from a high ABV beer. That’s less than healthy yeast. Most likely the reason you’re getting the higher alcohol notes.

 

[Oldskewl]

I agree. Give it some time. My tripels always blend/smooth out after a couple months in the bottle.

 

[Vale71]

Since fermentation is complete and gravity hasn't moved for 4 days or so, is there any reason to hold off on bottling? I let my last few tripels sit on the yeast for 17+ days and they turned out great, but I go back and forth on whether or not this is lost time since the yeast has already done its job and probably isn't going to spend weeks "cleaning up off flavors."

No, there's absolutely no reason. Especially since the yeast that has dropped will not do anything to clean up off flavors, only the yeast in suspension can do that and you will be transferring that yeast with the beer.

 

[RM-MN]

I brewed a Tripel using the following:

13# Belgian Pilsen Malt
2# table sugar
Magnum for bittering (30ish IBU)
1/2 OZ Mt Hood, 1/2 OZ Crystal Hops at Whirlpool.
WY1214 Abbey Slurry

Pitched at 62F and ramped to 70F over 7 days. Room temp thereafter.

OG 1.080, FG 1.008, ~9.5% ABV

Today is day 9 of fermentation in primary. I'm getting a fairly strong alcohol flavor that the berry esters of the yeast are not covering up as well as I had hoped. I'm a little confused as to why, since I brewed a Quad using this same fermentation temp schedule and WY1214, and it has zero alcohol/solvent taste. Is my grain bill too simple for the alcohol content, which is leading to this boozy flavor? Any suggestions for next go around? Less sugar?

These two highlighted items may be your answer. You have a lot of sugars that the yeast like to eat and unless you have very good temperature control they will heat up the beer and throw off some fusel alcohol. Even if you did have good temperature control you may have started ramping up the temperature when you should have been cooling to keep the yeast under control. I would have tried to keep the temp at 62 for at least 4 days, maybe as much as 6 days to make sure the bulk of the fermentation was over before starting to ramp the temp up.

 

[Gnomebrewer]

WY1214 is tricky to work with - 3522 is my go to as well and is much easier to work with. IME (which is quite limited with the strain), 1214 becomes solventy if the ferment becomes too vigorous (either too warm or possibly overpitched). It starts off deliciously banana smelling, but then moves towards solvent. The good news is that the two batches I had with solvent cleaned up reasonably once off the yeast; the solvent was there for the life of the beer, but it did subdue a bit and was drinkable.

 

[luckybeagle]

These two highlighted items may be your answer. You have a lot of sugars that the yeast like to eat and unless you have very good temperature control they will heat up the beer and throw off some fusel alcohol. Even if you did have good temperature control you may have started ramping up the temperature when you should have been cooling to keep the yeast under control. I would have tried to keep the temp at 62 for at least 4 days, maybe as much as 6 days to make sure the bulk of the fermentation was over before starting to ramp the temp up.

I know what you mean. I kept my 3522 Tripel in a 66 degree room and took a temp of the beer at 78 back in January. I was so surprised at how much heat fermentation could generate! For this batch,I have an inkbird on a refrigerator with the probe taped to the side of the (glass 6.5G) carboy. My attempt at keeping the beer at my target temperature rather than just the fridge.

Since I started using this setup I've noticed much more in control fermentation (krausen never works its way into the blowoff tube, which was common before, and with several different yeast strains), but I probably should have kept it at 62 for a longer period of time. Chimay's Tripel recipe on Candisugar got in my head (they start at like 68 and ramp to 78), as well as some other articles and (mis?)information about letting this strain free rise from the get go to throw off those fruity esters. I have no idea how Chimay keeps the fusels in check with using the same yeast, a bunch of sugar, etc.

I bottled this one last night and will let it sit a few weeks before cracking open my first one. My Quad using 1214 is on day 16 in the bottle and is just now starting to show very minor signs of carbonation. For those of you bottling, have you noticed it takes longer than other high gravity beers to carbonate with 1214? My 3522 was sufficiently carbonated on day 14 and very delicious on day 21...

 

[RM-MN]

I know what you mean. I kept my 3522 Tripel in a 66 degree room and took a temp of the beer at 78 back in January. I was so surprised at how much heat fermentation could generate! For this batch,I have an inkbird on a refrigerator with the probe taped to the side of the (glass 6.5G) carboy. My attempt at keeping the beer at my target temperature rather than just the fridge.

Unless you have good insulation over the Inkbird's probe, the high availability of the sugar and the speed of the yeast in eating it can still push the beer temperature up. The refrigerator will try to keep it down but it may have to get pretty cold to do so and your probe is in between the cold air in the refrigerator and the heat of the yeast action within the fermenter.