Belgian Dubbel Kit

Brewed this yesterday…paired it with the 3787 Wyeast with an 18 hour starter and so far everything is looking/smelling great. A few questions though:

-Is it worth pulling off the yeast cake for a secondary after about a month or should I just bottle and let it sit?

-If I let it sit for longer than a month…is it ok to just leave in primary?

-At what point can I shut off the carboy heater and use it for another batch :slight_smile: ?

Thanks!!

Personally when I make mine I’m going to just leave on the Primary for the full amount of time and then check the SG and bottle if done. I’d say at 1 month in the primary it should be done and ready to bottle, but you should take measurements to be 100%. Not sure what temp you get without the heating pad but the finalized temp should be around 52 after about two weeks if you had a starting temp of 68.

I brewed a dubbel with the White Labs equivalent (530) on the 3rd. Man, what a krausen! The warning that it needs plenty of headspace is dead-on. Mine is based on petite orange, scaled to 3-gallons. Pitched the vial, no starter, and in 48-72 hours the krausen passed the 4-gallon mark in my carboy. 3" easily. I wanted to let it run free on temps a bit but it never got over 70.

My plan is 4-5 weeks total in primary, then into the bottles, if the wife doesn’t make me rack it onto some orange zest in a secondary that is.

Taking measurements after a month is sound advice, but I’d guess after a month it’s either done or hopelessly stuck. I usually just rack straight to the bottling bucket.

I’d keep the pad on until the krausen falls, or until ambient temps are in the “happy zone” for 3787, i.e. >64 F

I’m hoping you mean 62 for a finishing temp and not 52. That low a temp will almost certainly crash your yeast (assuming you’re using 3787 or equivalent abbey/trappist style yeast) and you most likely will not be able to rouse it. And trust me, at two weeks in the fermenter, there’s lots more work for the yeast to do in a dubbel.

I pitched at 68F…after 48 hrs its up to 71 and not budging. Thinking of maybe ramping up a few degrees in two days and then leaving it be…my overflow bucket smells amazing.

I’m hoping you mean 62 for a finishing temp and not 52. That low a temp will almost certainly crash your yeast (assuming you’re using 3787 or equivalent abbey/trappist style yeast) and you most likely will not be able to rouse it. And trust me, at two weeks in the fermenter, there’s lots more work for the yeast to do in a dubbel.[/quote]

Was going off the numbers in BeerSmith2 for the NB Dubble it already had programmed. I looked to see why it’s so low the profile has it 4 days primary at 68, 7 days secondary at 68, and 28 days aging at 52.

So krausen is starting to fall…temp is at 73…once it has fallen completely should i slowly lower the heat over the next 3 weeks…or just remove the heater altogether? I don’t imagine it will drop below 64 during that time.