Tried to unstick ferm, did I screw it up?

[Tall_Yotie]

Newbie inquiry here.

I made a dark belgian strong ale. It was tasting great, but the FG was too high. So I added yeast nutrient, nothing. Still tasted fine. Then I added some champagne yeast to get it going, nothing. Over the weekend when I was gone it was in an 85F room for 3 days due to a heat wave. Stuck it in the fridge for cold conditioning.

A week later I taste it and the flavor is, well, bland. Perhaps watered down.

Question is, is there a chance that the champagne yeast can affect the flavors like that? Or am I just dropping out all the good tasties that were floating in the beer? Or, most likely, I need to RDWHAHB and it will recover fine in the next month of conditioning and then bottling?

Getting that banana hit, so I figure this is all part of that "let it sit for a while and it will get better" category. Just wanting to get some "stop worrying it is fine" comment(s), if anything, so I can happily wait the month and a half remaining.

 

[XXguy]

You need to give some more details. What was your OG? What FG did you expect?

What is your OG now? How long has it been since you pitched yeast? At what temperature ?

 

[Tall_Yotie]

Sorry, here are more details, and actually there is a bit more to it.

1.088 OG 1.020 FG, aiming for a drier 1.012. Stayed steady for 4 days at 70F. Added the Champagne yeast. Couldn't cool it down before, at that point I had no way to cool it. After pitching the champagne yeast I went away for the weekend, apparently we had a hot spell. It sat in our apartment for 3 days in a room that got up to 85F or so. This is another concern.

I pitched in the Champagne yeast 1 1/2 weeks ago. The main yeast was pitched 1 1/2 weeks before that.

 

[robbieo13]

What yeast did you use to start off with

 

[Tall_Yotie]

WLP530 Abbey type yeast with a starter, just too small. Followed the fermentation schedule as needed, after trying to unstick the fermentation I came to the conclusion that I just fermented as much as I could, just had some unfermentables sticking around.

 

[robbieo13]

Maybe high mash temp?

 

[lumpher]

with the champagne yeast, you won't see anything, unless you sit and stare at it for a long time. my opinion? RDWHAHB

 

[Tall_Yotie]

My post is not in regards to whether or not I had a stuck fermentation. It is if I perhaps added off flavors or somehow weakened the profile (as it taste watered down now) due to this. Just clarifying my post.

Added Champagne yeast, the wort got VERY hot (85F room for a few days), now tastes not as strong and with a banana hint.

 

[citizen1]

i havnt had an experience with champagne yeast but yeast can play a very important roll in the creation of the taste in beer and my opinion is that the champagne yeast changed the taste of your beer.
i dont think you need to combine different yeast styles... unless you want to...
if the beer taste good why change it?
and if you have a stuck fermentation try to move the fermenter to a warmer place andQor shack it a little bit. and in this high O.G you should give the fermentation process more time...
good luck i hope i helped.

 

[Tall_Yotie]

Citizen1,

I followed the fermentation schedule, and did all the tricks to fix it if it were stuck. Again, this is not a question about how to fix a stuck fermentation. I was told the Champagne yeast does not change the flavor, so I am more concerned about the effects of said yeast at a higher temperature. The reason I was trying to get more out of the beer despite it tasting good is that I wanted it to finish drier, as per the recipe. Hindsight says I should have just let it go, but oh well.

 

[DrJerryrigger]

What is the SG after the champagne yeast vs. before? It sounds like it may have eaten up more than you wanted it to, and it is now far dryer that you wanted. I would suggest conditioning it for at least another week, and seeing what it's like then.
Next time give it much longer before calling it stuck (but I think you already know that).
A trick for keeping a carboy (or other fermenter) cool: Put it in a rubbermaid tub half filled with water and drape a towel over it so that the towel will soak up the water. As the water evaporates from the towel it will drop the temp a few degrees. This works best if the humidity is low. It also helps reduce the difference between day and night temps, as there is more mass to hold an average temp

 

[jfr1111]

The reason it tastes "watered down" might be attributed to the fact that maybe you hit your FG and that the beer is still hella green ? Did you take another reading ? My local microbrewery brews a very small batch of their tripel with champagne yeast (and even use the champenoise method) and it doesn't taste watered down at all. Dry ? Yes, but complex tasting.

Belgian beers are very often made from dead simple recipes (80 pils/20 plain sugar even). They get their complex taste from the yeast used, the mash technique, high carbonation and careful and lengthy aging. Most people, it seems, just pitch at 65-70F and let the fermentation go as high as it wants, so I doubt the hot spell ruined the beer. The fuesel and other assorted crap are a given. Some barn funk is even expected in some styles such as Saison.

Also, if you used a bunch of crystal/cara malts and mashed high, you might get a stuck fermentation. Some use a 90 minutes low mash (146-148) others step (146 for 70 ; 158 for reminder) and then mashout. Protein rests are even included some of the time to increase fermentability in the wort. Really depends on what you want to accomplish and the quipment you have on hand. Compare that to regular English Ales wich get their flavour from specility malts and cold fermentation temps coupled with fuller body or American Ales wich rely a lot more on hop variety and presence.

 

[Tall_Yotie]

The Champagne yeast didn't change the SG, it is not a stuck fermentation, I thought it was but after all the steps I took it is obvious that it is not. My temps may have been off, but again, that is not what I am looking to discuss. And unfortunately I was not aware of the heat wave until I got back, thus the no precaution and the concern.

jfr1111, I figured it could be due to it being green, however I wouldn't expect the flavor after a few days at the same SG to be weaker. All that is happening now is it is clarifying and aging, but I would think with that the flavor would be getting better and bolder, not weaker.

I am still going to let it ride and bottle, but I am going to make another brew in the mean time in case this one fails, and so I have something to distract me during the mean time.

 

[jfr1111]

Remember that carbonnation is a HUGE factor in how a Belgian will taste. New flavours can also emerge from the time it's put in the bottles, aging doesn't just clean, it adds and melds too.

I've had a Unibroue Trois-Pistoles that was aged for 3 years (aged as in forgotten at the bottom of a cupboard). It wasn't the same beer: the plum notes were tamed down and were replaced by sherry and smoke.

 

[Tall_Yotie]

Hmm, alright, I will just let it ride and see what happens. It was just such an intense difference that I had to ask about it and see if anyone had advice. Time will tell I suppose.