Belgian Strong Golden Ale

Northern Brewer General
1

Has anyone ever made the Belgian Strong Golden Ale extract kit from Northern Brewer? I just got mine into the primary this past weekend (3/10). I did a 2L starter on the Wyeast 1388 the night before. I had really strong fermentation yesterday (needed the blow-off hose right away) which has slowed some today but still bubbling ever 3-4 seconds. Has a really pleasant yeasty-bananay smell to it. I am looking forward to this one (which sounds like will take several months!)

I was wondering how long did you let it sit in the primary? What was your FG? How about the secondary? Did you have to re-pitch yeast at bottling time? How was the carbonation? What did you use to prime?

Any advice/tips would be welcome. This is only my 4th batch of beer.

2

I give it a month in primary and then 5 months in secondary. I keg now, but I’d use the NB priming sugar calculator and prime to 3 volumes if you are using regular bottles or 4-5 volumes if you have heavy bottles or champagne bottles. I’d suggest using whatever simple sugar you have available (corn, beet, cane). A dry beer is the goal, and simple sugar will help with that. Whatever FG you end up with, that’s what you get. Take note of it and adjust your procedure in the future. Taste a sample once fermentation seems to have ended and post your FG if it’s so sweet you don’t like it.