i’m attempting a chimay tripel clone. wyeast 1214 (simple starter). I anticipated a blow out so i put the fermentor in a cooler slightly larger than ferm…it was spewing like crazy at 7am but i had to go to work. when i got home it was quite warm in the cooler, without thermo i’d say 80-90°. the krausen had slipped back to a manageable level so i put it in ferm chamber at 70°. it smells like bananas big time. i plan on transferring to secondary after 2 weeks then kegging after 6-8 weeks. I feel like my beer should be fine but some reassurance sure would be nice
It’ll be fine. I find with the blond colored belgian beers, it is hard to ferment them too warm. If you were at 80, no concerns at all. 90F is uncharted territory for me.
it’s now ambient temp of 70° but now there is no signs of life at all. no krausen, no swirling, nothing. i think it would be a watse of time and beer to take a reading (it’s been like 36 hrs) but i am definately worried
Do your hydrometer readings to make sure fermentation is complete. Take at least three. Taste your samples for the presence of fusel alcohols. You may want to bottle.
I have a Belgian that I brewed in 2010. It is becoming drinkable. The harsh flavors of the fusel alcohols have faded a bit. I let the early fermentation temperature spike into the mid 80°s.
Fusel alcohol (strong alcohol taste/burning sensation similar to drinking straight cheap whiskey but without the nice whiskey flavor) will be a problem because of the high fermentation temp. Time may lessen the unpleasantness, but who wants to tie up kegs or bottles for years “waiting” for it to get better.
Probably undrinkable for most folks. Not one you want to share with friends and family as their criticisms will not be good.
Chalk this one up as a lesson learned and press ahead with the next batch.
cheers.
[quote=“StormyBrew”]Fusel alcohol (strong alcohol taste/burning sensation similar to drinking straight cheap whiskey but without the nice whiskey flavor) will be a problem because of the high fermentation temp. Time may lessen the unpleasantness, but who wants to tie up kegs or bottles for years “waiting” for it to get better.
Probably undrinkable for most folks. Not one you want to share with friends and family as their criticisms will not be good.
Chalk this one up as a lesson learned and press ahead with the next batch.
cheers.[/quote]
I’m sorry but a tripel that has risen to 80F isn’t necessarily undrinkable. One has to let their taste buds decide.
WY1214 gets incredibly estery at temps above the mid 60s. You can probably expect a lot of banana and bubblegum flavors on top of fusels. Sorry I can’t be more reassuring, but that’s the reason I stopped using the yeast.
[quote=“Wahoo”][quote=“StormyBrew”]Fusel alcohol (strong alcohol taste/burning sensation similar to drinking straight cheap whiskey but without the nice whiskey flavor) will be a problem because of the high fermentation temp. Time may lessen the unpleasantness, but who wants to tie up kegs or bottles for years “waiting” for it to get better.
Probably undrinkable for most folks. Not one you want to share with friends and family as their criticisms will not be good.
Chalk this one up as a lesson learned and press ahead with the next batch.
cheers.[/quote]
I’m sorry but a tripel that has risen to 80F isn’t necessarily undrinkable. One has to let their taste buds decide.[/quote]
He said 80-90!
No, not necessarily, but using 1214 exacerbates the issue.
How about brewing another similar beer and blending them together? Or maybe adding something to secondary to try and mask some of the unwanted flavors… oak, fruit, etc? Just tossing ideas around.
Fusels will usually age out into esters if given enough time. But since the beer will already be really estery, it’s kinda hard to say how it will turn out or how long it will take.
i was planning on adding bourbon anyway. I was wanting some reassurance so I could wipe my brow and go Whew! that was close…but since that’s not possible, I will carry on with the batch as planned…except for it will be bottled and not kegged. +++++ i just got a sample to taste. keeping in mind it is only 3 days old here is what i got…color seems ok, cloudy as crap, smells like a summer sausage, tastes like green APA. At this point, I’m gonna bottle and see what time does and remake this…i really had my heart set on it.
Denny,
you said you quit using this…what do you use 3787?
thanks for the input everyone, if i think about it, I’ll post taste results in a couple months.
Summer Sausage… not a good aroma!
Wait…what…not a good aroma??? Are you kidding? 
…but this >>> ( keeping in mind it is only 3 days old here is what i got…color seems ok, cloudy as crap, smells like a summer sausage, tastes like green APA.) can’t be good.
IME, lessons learned always produce great beer next time.
:cheers:
[quote=“sputnam”]+++++ i just got a sample to taste. keeping in mind it is only 3 days old here is what i got…color seems ok, cloudy as crap, smells like a summer sausage, tastes like green APA. At this point, I’m gonna bottle and see what time does and remake this…i really had my heart set on it.
[/quote]
Perhaps I’m misreading this, but you aren’t planning on bottling this three days after pitching the yeast are you? I assume you will still wait at least the two weeks mentioned earlier, but the way that was worded just threw me off.
[quote=“sputnam”]Denny,
you said you quit using this…what do you use 3787?[/quote]
I just decided I’d stop trying to make things like Chimay…if you’re going to be adding bourbon, it sounds like you don’t really want something like Chimay, so another yeast would be fine. For fruitier Belgian yeasts I like 1762. 3787 is fruity also, but can tend to the phenolic side (which I prefer) if you keep it under 65. For a relatively clean Belgian yeast I use 1388.
I had a few wheats give off a smokey/summer sausage? aroma and it definitely ages out. Also, phenolic/smokey aromas are a classic off aroma/flavor from using chlorinated water… Did you carbon filter?
As to the temp discussion, I think the critical temperature is of the wort when yeast was pitched. IF you were lucky enough to start this beer at lower temps (65F or so) you are probably fine. Top end for 1214 is 78F per Wyeast…
3787 is the de facto Tripel strain and I prefer it over 1214 but these days I prefer Saison over Tripels.
[quote=“zwiller”]As to the temp discussion, I think the critical temperature is of the wort when yeast was pitched. IF you were lucky enough to start this beer at lower temps (65F or so) you are probably fine. Top end for 1214 is 78F per Wyeast…
[/quote]
Actually, it’s the first 72 hours that matter, not just the pitching temp. And I advise people to pretty much ignore the temp recommendations from yeast companies. IMO, they go too high.
[quote=“Denny”][quote=“zwiller”]As to the temp discussion, I think the critical temperature is of the wort when yeast was pitched. IF you were lucky enough to start this beer at lower temps (65F or so) you are probably fine. Top end for 1214 is 78F per Wyeast…
[/quote]
Actually, it’s the first 72 hours that matter, not just the pitching temp. And I advise people to pretty much ignore the temp recommendations from yeast companies. IMO, they go too high.[/quote]
I won’t disagree with that. I find if I start mid 60s things kinda naturally fall in place and the temps rise when they should on their own and don’t really take off until high krausen/72 hours. That said, I typically only see a rise of 10F or so during a belgian ferment in an unplugged fridge. I would think the ferment would have need to be started higher than ideal to hit 80/90s. Sure it’s exothermic but not spontaneous cumbustion! :lol:
Ditto on the yeast company temp recommendations.
So as far as what is a good temp for a tripel, my opinion does differ some from Denny. While I also use 3787 most often, I like to start my fermentations around 66-68 and then after the first 3 days, slowly increase the temp until I am around 76-78. I find this helps finish the beer out, and also does provide the level of esters (pear, banana) that I desire in a tripel. I’ve done them in the 60s the whole time, and especially with 3787, the beer just comes out too clean.
I use similar fermentation schedules for all my belgian abbey/trappist styles. If you want to be serious about this style, I think you have to find a strain, a pitching rate, and fermentation temps that works best for you.
