Stalled Belgian? Or good to go?

[j_dawg]

So, could use a little help on deciding what to do with a Belgian Tripel I made two months ago, I'm not quite sure whether it actually has a stalled fermentation or is ready to bottle, and I just ended up with a high FG.

This is a 2.5 Gallon batch, with an OG of 1.082
After three weeks, took the gravity and it was 1.025, which seems a bit high. Same reading again on week 4. Since I wasn't going to be around for awhile, I ended up racking it to secondary it on week 5 and figured it could sit for a few more weeks.
It's been two months now and the gravity is still 1.025.

It was originally pitched with a packet of Safbrew S33 that I had going on a yeast starter a day before pitching. Maybe that was overkill?

Does anyone think there are still risks at this point that they could turn into bottle bombs? Since I figure I need to age the bottles a minimum of 6 months, I am wondering whether that will affect anything as well.


Thoughts? Thanks!

 

[pdxal]

If it has sat at 1.025 for about 5 weeks and you warmed up the fermentor to be sure it finished, it is probably finished and safe to bottle.
A few things, though...
Are you checking your gravity with a refractometer? If so, you need to use an online calculator to determine your true/corrected FG. 1.025 is pretty high for a FG with a 1.082 beer (69-70% attenuation) unless you practiced bad yeast management or had a lots of unfermentables in your recipe.
S-33 is not a Belgian yeast. You won't get "Belgian" flavors out of it.
Making a starter with dry yeast doesn't make any sense, the dry yeast has reserves built up that ensure good take off and fermentation. Better to 2 packets than a starter. Hard to overkill pitch anyway, unless you pitch onto a yeast cake.

 

[FirstAidBrewing]

Was this all grain? If so can you describe your mash? Variables in that could account for the FG being what it is

 

[j_dawg]

Thanks for the responses! As to the variables..

Im checking the gravity with a hydrometer, not a refractometer. However, I am wondering about the unfermentables in this recipes, and that might have something to do with it.

I mashed for 90mins stirring every 30 mins, with the temp hovering around 155F for most of that mash, maybe losing a degree towards the end. Reading into it more, the higher mash temps tend to introduce more unfermentables if I understand correctly? For a beer such as this (supposed tripel) I guess now I am thinking I should maybe mash at a lower temp?

Grain bill was:
7.5 lbs pale 2row
0.5 lbs C10
0.5 lbs Belgian light candi sugar


Thanks for the advice on the dry yeast starter, sounds like the more I read you don't need a starter for those. Every batch I learn something new...

 

[russell58]

You can also use brew software some are free and others pay. Put your recipes in and see where OG and FG should come close too. Then you can also play around with ingredients to modify to your taste.

Cheers

 

[pdxal]

Well, you had poor efficiency with your mash. Perhaps 62% mash efficiency if your volumes are correct.
That is a little high on mash temperature for a Tripel. More people would be aiming for 148-150 to make a very fermentable/"digestible" beer.
I'd have to wonder if you measured your mash temperatures incorrectly to end up that high.
Also, you could easily increase the sugar to 20% of the grist and make a dry finishing, appropriate Tripel.
A good recipe for next time would be 90% pilsner or 2-row, 10% aromatic, and a pound of sugar (cane or corn sugar is fine, candi sugar isn't needed for a tripel) for a 2.5 gallon batch with an OG of 1.080ish with mash 148-150. That would make a good beer, appropriate to style and flavor that would finish dry if your yeast management is good.

 

[FirstAidBrewing]

Agred. For a strong beer like this, I would have mashed closer to 149/150.

 

[schokie]

You mashed a bit higher than recommended, but it wasn't so high that I'd expect the fermentation to stop that high. Without doing a forced fermentation test it's tough to say for sure, but I really don't think it's finished. Bottling now will worst case give you bottle bombs. Best case the beer with be cloyingly sweet. That should have finished much closer to 1.012 or less.

Have you tried bumping up the temp a few degrees? What was the temp profile of the fermentation?

If warming up doesn't restart fermentation you could try krausening. Make a small starter with fresh yeast; do this even if you're using dry yeast. It doesn't have to be big, just 500ml or so will be plenty. You're not trying to grow yeast, you're trying to just wake up the yeast and get them actively fermenting. Once your yeast is at high krausen, pitch the whole thing into your secondary.

 

[schokie]

Actually, if you used S33, you might actually be done. That has a max attenuation of 75%, which would give you a FG of 1.019. 1.025 would be 67%, which is a bit low on the attenuation range, but not unreasonably so.

So while you might not have bottle bombs, I'd think that's going to be too sweet. A tripel should be dry and crisp. I'd still krausen it, but use a higher attenuating yeast. Most Belgian strains will get you there. You could even use a lager. Since the beer is almost done the flavor impact will be minimal, so what you use won't matter as much as the attenuation and alcohol tolerance.

 

[beergolf]

That FG is way too high for a tripel. You could always pull out the secret weapon to get the FG down....A starter of 3711 pitched at high krausen will get it down.

 

[helibrewer]

That FG is way too high for a tripel. You could always pull out the secret weapon to get the FG down....A starter of 3711 pitched at high krausen will get it down.

^^^^ This, nailed it! A Triple should be finishing around 1.008 and Wyeast 3711 is a beast

 

[jgress]

What I always find with S-33 is that fermentation starts very fast, appears to get stuck early on, but then starts up again after about 10 days and finishes to expected FG. I usually like to bottle after two weeks, but I always end up needing to give s-33 beers another week at least because of this delayed fermentation.

Does anyone else's experience match this?