High Gravity Belgain Dark Ale - need advice

Discussion in 'Homebrewing' started by Youhozz, Dec 16, 2017.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. Youhozz

    Youhozz Initiate (0) Dec 16, 2017 Pennsylvania

    Hi everyone,

    Not a total moon to brewing but I am still relatively new to it and I'm hoping someone a little more seasoned can offer some advice.

    I brewed a Belgian dark Ale on 12/7 using a Brewer's Best kit and adding 4 ounces of Cherry extract halfway through the boil. Everything went well with the steeping and boil and I cooled it down to 75 using a copper wort chiller. Afterwards I transferred it to an ale pail for fermenting.

    By the third day or so, there was still no bubbles in the airlock , so I cracked the lid and there was plenty of Kreisen in there and it smelled good so I assumed everything was going fine.

    Today is day 9 and I transferred it to the secondary Carboy and took a gravity reading. It's currently at 1.038 and started at 1.081. The final OG should end up between 1.020 and 1.016, so I am still quite a ways off. Now that it's in the carboy the airlock is bubbling so I'm assuming air was escaping somehow while in the bucket. My concern is, typically by the time I transfer to the secondary the OG is only .004-.006 from where it should be and in this case it is .018 off. Should I be worried? Do you think the yeast was old?
     
  2. MostlyNorwegian

    MostlyNorwegian Pooh-Bah (2,236) Feb 5, 2013 Illinois
    Pooh-Bah

    It's sort of a big beer, and you describe it like the yeast are still working towards their goal, so sit back and let them do their work. Perhaps give them a gentle rousing to get some of the viable ones that got trapped a chance to move around.
    Pails are kind of easy to not seal tightly. No big deal really, but it happens.
     
    Youhozz and PapaGoose03 like this.
  3. VikeMan

    VikeMan Grand Pooh-Bah (3,067) Jul 12, 2009 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah

    Your beer will probably be fine. Next time, take a gravity reading before transferring to secondary, or look through some threads here and decide whether or not you really want to do a secondary at all for most beers.
     
    Mohican88, Youhozz and GormBrewhouse like this.
  4. prg

    prg Devotee (326) Apr 13, 2016 Indiana

    You moved it to secondary too soon. It will most likely not hurt you in the long run it will take a little longer to finish now than it would have if left on the yeast. As suggested, some occasional gentle movement to get yeast moving around. Also, think about temps on the warmer side for your strain.

    And finally, come to the dark side and give up secondaries. I promise you that you don't need it.
     
    Youhozz likes this.
  5. SFACRKnight

    SFACRKnight Grand Pooh-Bah (3,348) Jan 20, 2012 Colorado
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    For what it's worth I leave bigger beers on the yeast for two weeks minimum, but usually longer.
     
  6. PapaGoose03

    PapaGoose03 Grand High Pooh-Bah (6,057) May 30, 2005 Michigan
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah

    Welcome to the BA site, Youhozz, and the the homebrewing forum. We're glad that you're here.

    Kits can be packaged with old yeast sometimes, so that may be the source of your slow fermentation. Big beers are frequently difficult to ferment to the end, especially if the yeast was not fully healthy, and depending on how well you aerated the beer at the start of primary fermentation, that could also be part of the problem. I think you're at a point that you just have to wait it out now.

    Did you taste the beer at the time of transfer? I'm thinking that the 4 oz. of cherry extract may not do much for you if this is a 5-gallon batch, but if you tasted it and liked what you tasted, then you're good. If it wasn't a noticeable flavor, you still have a small window here to add more as long as it is a clean container with no concerns for a 'bug' being attached. Depending on how much sugar is in the extract, it might goose your yeast to get started again.
     
  7. Youhozz

    Youhozz Initiate (0) Dec 16, 2017 Pennsylvania

    Thanks everyone. I ordered a carboy warmer and temp controller to bring the temp up a little. Now that it's winter and the house is only consistently heated above 60 for 8 hours a day other than the weekend, the beer is sitting between 60-62 degrees.

    Onto you secondary comments.... I thought I thought transfers were needed to improve the clarity in the end? Siphoning the wort into the primary then another siphon to the secondary, and a third final siphon to the bottling Bucket. Each one leaving trub behind. Is there a better way to make sure it's clear without all of that? Share the knowledge!
     
  8. Youhozz

    Youhozz Initiate (0) Dec 16, 2017 Pennsylvania


    No, i didn’t taste it. I typically only do that before bottling. That's good insight though and much appreciated I'll definitely keep that in mind next time around. For aeration I make sure to hold the siphoning hose well above the surface of the wort in the pail so that it splashes and foams up. Not sure how effective that is or not, just something I started doing hoping it would help. If yoh have a more consistent better idea, definitely let me know!
     
  9. VikeMan

    VikeMan Grand Pooh-Bah (3,067) Jul 12, 2009 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah

    Package after the yeast has mostly dropped (and after any off flavors have been cleaned up). You can accelerate that with a cold crash or finings if you want. But for most beers, gravity does nicely.
     
  10. PapaGoose03

    PapaGoose03 Grand High Pooh-Bah (6,057) May 30, 2005 Michigan
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah

    That's probably just as effective as the method that I use which is to pour the wort from the kettle into the carboy while a funnel is installed that has a strainer inside to catch the trub. Just do your best to splash that stuff as it enters your carboy.
     
  11. PortLargo

    PortLargo Pooh-Bah (1,831) Oct 19, 2012 Florida
    Pooh-Bah

    I do this for my "medium" beers as well.

    For the OP, here's a pretty good read on what's going on in that bucket:
    https://www.morebeer.com/articles/conditioning
     
    prg and SFACRKnight like this.
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.