Belgian Golden Strong too sweet

That FG is just a little bit on the heavy side, but it probably won't come down by much more than another point or two. Next time, nix the carapils and don't be afraid to add more sugar; if you up your sugar % by another 10% that could possibly get it to 1.010, which is fairly drier than what your'e at now.

Other than that, lagering is a good idea; also, make sure your carbonation is dialed in properly. Too low a carbonation and your beer might seem syrupy and watery. When it's high enough that it's crisp and jumping out of the glass a bit, you may be surprised in how much the character of the beer has changed.

 

1388 has a bad reputation for being lazy. I don't think that is your problem in this instance, but it could be the yeast just gave up. Wyeast notes it stalls at 1035, so you got fairly good results.

even still, pitching a Belgian again, 3522 might do it. rousing the yeast a bit will help as well.
I do not brew Belgian Golden. I am too cheap.
but any high abv brew, especially one with a lot of malt back bone, benefits from lagering. CO2 will help to add some acidity which lessens the candy like finish.
Cheers.

 

Agree with all of the above -- 1.014 is pretty high for having 14% sugar in the mix. The highest FG I've had for a tripel (close enough to your Belgian strong) was 1.007, and that was with only about 7% sugar in the bill.

Advice is the same -- either wait and see if you get more attenuation, or pitch something which might help finish it out. My favorite is 1214, but if you are a crazy person you might try 3711 -- it will add some funk, but it should finish up nice and dry

 

My guess its a combination of low carbonation, high ester profile, and somewhat high FG (high end for style, but ok) that giving you a sweet profile.

 

If the OP were to adjust recipe to a higher sugar %, same OG with an outcome going down to a FG of 1.010, would the beer be boozy? What within a recipe keeps a big OG and small FG from crossing to boozy?

 

Popping your recipe into BrewCipher and assuming your 1.084 OG (and 75% mash efficiency for the grain portion), I would expect somewhere around 1.006 FG. I suspect that even with two vials, you may have underpitched somewhat and that might be a cause for under-attenuating a bit.

 

Depending on what you mean by boozy, it could be caused by high ABV and/or fusel alcohols. For high ABV, nothing is going to prevent it really, though Duvel seems to hide alcohol about as well as anyone...if you can figure out their secret, let me know! To avoid high fusels, keep the temps down.

 

We are still modeling sugar differently. hmmm.

I checked BrewCipher. As I increase sugar weight, the FG goes down. That is not correct - the OG should go up, and the FG should stay the same. Should it not? Example - 100% sugar solution. No matter how much sugar you add, it is still 100% fermentable and will yield the same FG. Or, no matter how much sugar you add, the concentration of unfermentable sugars, and thus the FG, will remain the same...?

I got a final FG of 1.012 using these parameters.

 

From Brew Like a Monk, paraphrasing a bit. Duvel pitches at a really low rate, something like 0.45 million cells/mL/deg P. They pitch 64-68 and let rise to 82-86 over 4-5 days. Finishes real low, like 1.007, from memory...

1388, the Duvel strain, is pretty clean. The low pitch temp prevents fusels, the higher temps late allow for some nice esters. I love Duvel. What a simple, yet amazing beer.

 

I was just about to ask about your fermentation schedule.... what was it like OP? Also, did you oxygenate your wort prior to pitching? If so, how?

P.S. according to bjcp guidelines (fwiw) 1.016 is the upper limit for this style. Looks like you are only at around 68.6% ap. attenuation though, and that is low for the yeast strain you used (rated 74 - 78%)

I make my strong golden ale with wlp570, 19% sugar, a 1.073 OG and a 1.009 FG for 87% ap. attenuation.

 

To clarify, hold the gravity constant while raising the proportion of sugae (i.e., swap out some malt for sugar)

 

Just a guess here, but increased sugar means increased ethanol, which is lighter than water, right? So other things being equal, if you add 100% fermentable sugar you should get a lower FG.

 

From an apparent attenuation standpoint, sucrose is 122% fermentable.

Yes.

 

Fair enough. Thanks.

 

For my own edification, why do we deal in terms of apparent attenuation instead of real?

 

Because that's what our instruments can measure.

 

I brewed a Triple a few months ago with 1388 that wouldn't finish. After 8 weeks I put some Danstar Windsor in it to complete the job. It's still a bit sweet, even though it did finally finish low. I blamed it on my basement being too cold.