What is the Conventional Wisdom Here?

[Gytaryst]

I brewed a Belgian style tripel using WLP540 yeast (for the first time). I made a two-step starter and pitched roughly 500 to 520 billion cells into 6 gallons of wort, (OG 1.086). I aerated with a drill attachment aerator because I haven't been able to bring myself to pay $40 for a $5 brass oxygen regulator yet - but I guess I have no choice.

I pitched the yeast at 64F. I didn't have a blow off tube so I just risked an airlock. The next night yeast was taking over my chest freezer and I was scurrying to put together a makeshift blow-off tube. I let it sit at 64F for 3 more days and it seemed to have calmed down, substantially. I took a hydrometer reading and it was 1.024. Estimated FG is 1.012. I raised the temp to 70F and gently stirred up the sediment. The next day, (yesterday), I raised it to 71F and this morning I took a second hydrometer reading, (1.021).

So I don't think it is technically a stuck fermentation. Should I just keep rousing the trub up and let it go or should I repitch more yeast? I don't want to go much higher than 71F

I've heard a lot of people say that swishing the carboy will oxidize the beer. How? If you put beer in a keg there's no oxygen in there - you can shake that keg from now until the cows come home - it's not going to create oxygen . . . is it?

And if my fermentation slowed down because all I did was aerate and the yeast didn't have enough oxygen for a 1.086 beer . . . wouldn't introducing a little oxygen at this point actually be helpful?

Just curious. I never had one stop at this high a gravity before

 

[eric19312]

Grrr underattenuated tripel may come out way too sweet and I'd also be looking for a way to fix this before packaging. My guess is the fermentation was too cold. 64 is below optimal for that yeast according to White Labs.

Don't introduce oxygen at this point. More harm than good can come from that I think.

If not too inconvenient I like your idea of pitching more yeast. I'd make a 500mL vitality starter and give a package of the yeast 4 hours in that starter on a stir plate and then pitch at 72F. The yeast should be at high krausen when added and should immediately get to work on the beer.

Or you could pitch a different yeast. Even something like a couple packs of US-05 (rehydrate) could help get the gravity down. You will likely still have belgian character from the WLP540.

Or you could pitch wild yeast and head in the direction of an Orval. Bretanomyces. I'd do that in a secondary and give it a few months before bottling.

 

[snowtiger1987]

Warm it up to 76 degrees for a few days then take a reading.

 

[Gytaryst]

... My guess is the fermentation was too cold. 64 is below optimal for that yeast according to White Labs.

Possible. 64 is just where I usually start most of my Belgians, (more habit than anything else). This recipe called for 1 pound of Golden Candi Syrup and 2 pounds of Simplicity Candi Syrup. I added the Golden and a pound of the Simplicity at 5 left in the boil, and I added the other pound of Simplicity at day 3 of the fermentation, (when things looked like they were calming down). The fact that within 12 hours I had yeast pushing the stopper out of my Fermonster and going everywhere leads me to believe too cold probably wasn't the issue.

... Don't introduce oxygen at this point. More harm than good can come from that I think.

I don't have a spigot on my Fermonster so every time I open the top to get a hydrometer sample I'm introducing oxygen. The plans are in the works for a closed stainless steel fermentation system, (I'm pretty sure I'm getting an Anvil 7.5 gallon fermenter bucket for Father's Day). I also just ran across the Krausen Catcher from NorCal and that looks like a winner. Hopefully I won't have too many more issues like this.

... If not too inconvenient I like your idea of pitching more yeast.

Kind of a last resort. I have a Quad that's almost ready to bottle and I'm going to add 2g of CBC-1 to bottle it. I was kind of hoping this tripel would be ready about the same time so I could bottle it too and not waste so much of the CBC-1. It comes 11g to the pack but I only want 2g per batch. Maybe I'll bottle the Quad with 2g and just dump the other 9g into the tripel if it hasn't done anything soon.

... Or you could pitch wild yeast and head in the direction of an Orval. Bretanomyces. I'd do that in a secondary and give it a few months before bottling.

Not for me - not a fan of bret.

Warm it up to 76 degrees for a few days then take a reading.

I bumped it up to 74 earlier. I never used this yeast. I was there to buy WLP530 but the LHBS was out. He had this WLP540. It was a little old, I wasn't sure, so he told me he'd sell me two packs for the price of one. Being a cheapskate got the best of me. I read up a little on it when I got home and one of the complaints from more than one source was that this strain didn't do well at warmer temps. The esters were apparently a bit off putting. So I decided to start it at 64 for 3 days and then gradually bump it to 70 and hold it there. That plan apparently hasn't worked out. I bumped it up to 74 to see what happens. If that doesn't work I'll try pitching more yeast. And if that doesn't work I'll probably just bottle it and hope it's not as sicky sweet as I fear it's going to be.

Live and learn

 

[Eltes]

While I don't have any experience with this style or yeast strain, I'd suggest to just have some patience. It dropped 3 points between your most recent gravity readings, so it's clearly still fermenting. You said it yourself, it's not a stuck fermentation, so I say just let it ride for now. If I read your post right, you pitched in less than a week ago, which is not a lot of time for fermenting a high OG beer, I've had some strains take two weeks to reach FG (with lower OG).

 

[Gytaryst]

While I don't have any experience with this style or yeast strain, I'd suggest to just have some patience. It dropped 3 points between your most recent gravity readings, so it's clearly still fermenting. You said it yourself, it's not a stuck fermentation, so I say just let it ride for now. If I read your post right, you pitched in less than a week ago, which is not a lot of time for fermenting a high OG beer, I've had some strains take two weeks to reach FG (with lower OG).

I'm callin' it "STUCK!" at this point.

Brewed on Tuesday, June 5th - 1 pound of Golden Candi Syrup and 1 pound of Simplicity Candi Syrup added at 5 minutes left in the boil. 6 gallons in a 7 gallon plastic Fermonster with airlock. Pitched yeast at 64F.

The next night the yeast was pushing the stopper out of the lid and krausen was everywhere. I made a makeshift blow-off with another airlock, a piece of 1/2" ID silicone tube and a milk jug with Star San. It continued to foam into the jug so I dumped it, wiped everything down, (again), sprayed Star San everywhere and let it go.

It came to a screeching halt after that. I dumped another pound of Simplicity Candi Syrup in on Saturday, June 9th.

On Wednesday the 13th there wasn't much activity so I swapped out the blow-off for an airlock and took a hydrometer reading: 1.024, (estimated was 1.012). At that point I raised the temp to 70F and gently stirred up the trub.

I should mention that this beer is 17 pounds of Chateau Castle Pilsen malt and 3 pounds of Candi Syrup - that's it. My mash temp was 149F, I mashed for 90 minutes and only lost a degree and a half to 147.5F.

I checked it again on Friday the 15th; 1.021. I warmed it up to 74F and swished the carboy around.

Checked it again on Sunday - still at 1.021. I'm saying it's stuck.

I have a Quad that's been in secondary for about a month, WLP500. It was supposed to finish at 1.016 and finished at 1.018. It's still young and close to 10% so the flavor is no where near developed yet, but it seems sweeter and with more sugary character than it should have. I'm debating getting another pack of WLP500 and pitching half in each of these . I could live with the quad if it stays where it is, but the tripel - not so much. 1.021 is too far away from 1.012

 

[Northern_Brewer]

You will likely still have belgian character from the WLP540.

You won't get Belgian character from WLP540 - it's a POF- British yeast that probably came to Rochefort via the Palm yeast bank.

 

[Gytaryst]

You won't get Belgian character from WLP540 - it's a POF- British yeast that probably came to Rochefort via the Palm yeast bank.

I agree it's not as "Belgian-y" as what I'm used to, but based on what I read I knew it probably wouldn't be before I pitched it.

That said: when I smell it the immediate impression is "Belgian." And by that I mean that barnyardy Belgian/abbey/monastery/Trappist smell that I associate with "Belgian" beers. While it is subdued, it is the predominant characteristic, at least in smell.

As far as taste goes: it's still young, it's warm, it's not carbonated, the alcohol hasn't mellowed and the FG is way too high - so it doesn't taste like a tripel . . . yet. I haven't completely given up on it at this point.