This is the first time I’ve attempted a beer so strong. It’s a Belgian Strong Ale with an O.G. of 1.102. It’s supposed to finish at around 1.020.
After 3 Weeks in the primary, the gravity was 1.029.
It’s supposed to clarify for another 3 weeks in the 2ndary and then bottle condition for 11 weeks.
Should I be concerned that the gravity is still so high, or is 1.029 reasonable at this stage?
I appreciate any feedback.
We’d need to see the recipe, particularly the yeast strain, but this doesn’t sound like a problem to me, it’s not that far off.
Sounds like a problem to me because those beers finish around 20 points below the gravity you have right now. Tell us more about the way you made and fermented it.
Whatever you do, don’t rack to secondary! Unless it’s an extract brew with little or no sugar, you should be able to knock off quite a few points more if you raise the temp into the upper 70s to low 80s and rouse the yeast once or twice a day.
Too late, it’s already in the 2ndry.
Malts:
13.2 lbs Pilsen LME
1 lb table sugar (didn’t have candy sugar)
mini-mash bag contained:
8 oz wyermann light munich
4 oz cara red
4 oz dingman aromatic
Liquid Trappist Ale yeast WLP500
That is, unless this was an all grain brew and you mashed really hot…
edit: you beat me to it (posting). Did you mash your mini-mash above 153F? Stil, that’s a pretty small contribution of grain. I bet you can drop points by warming as stated above. Some yeast carried over to secondary. And the WLP 500 usually has very decent attenuation, rated at up to 78% Apparent Attenuation I believe.
I have found that some LME are more fermentable than others. Did you make a yeast starter? And did you add oxygen to the wort?
I mashed at 159*, I used a yeast starter, and I stirred the wort like crazy when I pitched the yeast. The airlock bubbled for at least 7 days - I left for a week at that point. The fermenter was stored at about 65*.
That’s a hot mash which could have resulted in a high percentage of unfermentables for that portion. I never go over 156, and for a Belgian, usually around 150 - 154 (well, for an all grain). It might be done. Still, it won’t hurt anything to warm the beer like Shadetree said to see if it kicks off more fermentation. As he suggests, since it’s a Belgian Strong with WLP500, it won’t hurt to go even into the low 80’s, although high 70’s should be fine too.
I’ll remember to keep the mash temp lower.
For now, I"ll bring the fermenter to my bedroom where it will stay at 70*-72* until I bottle.
One last question: Is re-pitching a valid option at this point?
To be honest “mashing” those grains at such temperature is most definitely not your problem. 1# of grain will not add such amount of unfermentable saccharides to your brew unless you do a half gallon batch or something. A good rule in brewing is “when in doubt, wait it out”. If you see that it’s stuck, especially with belgians, just let it sit longer. Don’t go by your idea of fermentation time. Your beer will only get better if you let it sit for, say, 6 weeks in primary for example. So my advice would be to let it sit in your secondary for a month or so, especially since it’s a large Belgian. You can throw in a pack of yeast if you wish. It will not hurt the beer and may help with the situation.
True. I haven’t brewed extract in awhile… With 1 lb. of malt, 1/2 of which is caramel malts I’d more characterize the brew as extract with steeping grains rather than a mini-mash. Lets hope the DME is pretty fermentable! I’d still guess it could drop at least to 1.016.
You have a couple of issues right from the start - not aerated enough (stirring only), not enough sugar (probably should have had at least three lbs), and fermentation temp too low. Didn’t mention the use of a starter, either, but if you didn’t, you really needed one with this big a beer. Add to that, moving to the secondary before reaching terminal gravity. Not a lot you can do now other than warming and rousing and hoping that at least some yeast came along for the ride.
I guess I’ll have to put this down under lessons learned.
By the way I did make a starter and I would like to know how else to aerate.
I recently had a Belgian Quad with OG 1.091 stop at 1.024 that I was afraid to bottle. From advice here, I brewed a Belgian Blonde (OG 1.052) with the same yeast. I threw the Quad on that yeast cake after 14days. The Quad got down to 1.018. I just cracked one after 2 weeks in the bottle and it is pretty tasty… if still a tad sweet, but I’ll go a month or more on the rest. Plus, I have a whole keg of Blonde Ale now. Turned out to be sound advice 
Oxygen and Fermentation
David Logsdon of Wyeast.
"When yeast cells enter dormancy the have very little Sterols. In ideal worts with enough oxygen they will produce about 1% of cell mass into sterols. This is like a full tank of gas. As the cell grows and takes up nutrients the sterols are depleted. Also when a cell buds off a daughter cell it gives half of the sterols to the daughter cell. With out proper oxygen the cell will start out with less than a full tank and run out after just budding 2 or 3 times. This will cause high finishing gravity and stuck fermentation.
An adequate number of healthy yeast cells and dissolved oxygen is what brewers have to deal with. If they do it correct the yeast will come to terminal gravity just when the yeast runs out of gas.
Above 1.080 using shaking or an air pump will not supply enough dissolved oxygen. You must use an o2 tank and stone. In high gravity beers you need 20 to 25 ppm of pure oxygen. Air can only get up to 8 ppm."
Also using a yeast pitching calculator you will need to use 3.3 vials of yeast or one vials and a 5.8 liter starter to get the correct cell count.
Hope this helps. Cheers
In case you are a bit new to big Belgians, that quad won’t hit its peak until at least a year after it is bottled. Just mean to say it’s definitely worth cellaring some of it if you have the patience!
I used a quart of starter and shook’er up real good. So, that makes me less than 1/5 of where I should’ve been with the yeast; and I need need access to a cannister of compressed 02…
I think I’ll let this one set for another month, bottle it, and forget about it for a year or two.
Thanks for all the feedback. I’ve learned a good lesson here. I will be more prepared the next time around.
This beer has been in the bottle for almost a year now, and I only have a few left.
When I broke them out a Christmas, I got more oohs, ahhs, and oh wows than for all my other beers combined. The moral of this tale is to relax and let the yeast finish making your beer!
St. Arnold pray for us. Teach us patience.
