I bottled my Belgian Triple around a month ago. Like always I could not wait to try one. Normally I like to wait at least 6 months to start drinking my big beers to let the hot alcohol mellow. To my surprise My beer did not have any. This beer checks in at 10%. I'm going to have a hard time not drinking these up. Do most of your big beers finish this way or do you need some mellow time.
Depends on your fermentation I think. I've had big beers 3 weeks after brew day that drink nicely & also big beers after 4-6 months that are still boozy.
The Tripel I brewed (9.1%) is still aging, I haven't encountered "hot alcohol" any of the times I've sampled...even at 3 weeks. I used WLP530, and fermented at 68°. I suspect, like @hoptualBrew, that fermentation temps are the biggest factor.
I find that my hop forward barleywines drink great from start to finish. Overpitching and over oxygenating allows an RIS to shape up in a few months, instead of half a year. I think it kind of depends on the recipe and how well it can hide a boozy flavor. Usually a high FG helps.
I brewed the Dema Goddess ale off of Sam Calagione's book Extreme Brewing back in January of this year. The barleywine clocked in at 15% abv, and it is still pretty 'hot', but has a ton of sweet, dried fruit flavor that I'm hoping will prevail over the alcohol burn in another year or so. I'm trying to keep 2 cases til then NOTE: if anyone ever wants to try brewing this beer, do NOT use an oxygenation stone during the secondary yeast addition. It'll turn your beer into cardboard. I have no idea why they would say to do this.
I have tried aging beers with high fusel content to see if it improves the beer. It does somewhat, but not by reducing actual fusel alcohols. Aged beers often have oxidation characteristics that mask it a little bit. But the best way (only way, in my opinion) to reduce alcohol burn is to not let it develop in the first place. Pitching: Big beers need a shitload of yeast to ferment out properly. I'm telling you to forget the Mr Malty calculator when brewing big beers. Double the pitch rate for beers with 11+% alcohol. Excessive? I don't think so. When producing a big expensive beer, its worth making a 3 or 4 liter starter. I remember reading about so-called yeast bite in over pitched beer (the Papazian "Bible" years ago). I have personally never experienced that particular problem. But I have had long, tired, incomplete or drawn-out fermentations from under-pitching big beers. Oxygenation: Aerate your high-gravity wort well with oxygen. I don't think its possible to fully aerate a filled fermenter by splashing it, particularly a high-gravity wort. Yeah, I know, a dude is saying "my beer is excellent without oxygen", "I win awards and aerate by splashing" Fermentation Temperature: If you adequately pitch, this isn't as big of an issue, but higher chain alcohols and esters are more likely to develop in higher concentrations when the fermentation temperature is too high. It's is often best to ferment at the yeast's lower range. Let it increase after a few days when most of the job is done.
My biggest beer (of 5 batches) was a 7.7ish % weizenbock that I planned to age at least a couple of months. At week 2 there was no perceptible alcohol, and it's mighty tasty. I haven't been aging them.
This could possibly be the explanation as my last 2 big beers taste great with no fusels. I have only been using yeast nutrient for the last year. I was surprised that my Triple was so clean. Take care.
On really big beers they yeast need all the right stuff. Correct pitch rate, lots of O2, nutrients, and temperature control. With all that a big beer can be ready to drink in a short amount of time.
I am someone that has gotten good results with relatively big beers in the past using only the shake method but there is absolutely a line where that is no longer effective enough which I believe is right around an OG of 1.10. I do finally have an O2 stone and have started brewing beers above that line. The first, a big barleywine, came out terrific if still a little hot at 6 months, it was a bear to carbonate though and I may try pitching at an even higher cell count for my next big beer.
I posted the keys to a healthy fermentation yesterday in another thread: IMO, a healthy fermentation occurs when you: · Pitch a proper amount of yeast · Properly aerate (oxygenate) the wort prior to pitching the yeast · Add the proper amount and type of yeast nutrient to the wort · Ferment within the recommended fermentation temperature range for the given yeast strain When I have followed the above for fermenting my bigger beers I have avoided the production of perceptible higher alcohols (fusel oils). The one unique step I take for bigger beers is that I take make sure that the first 4 days of fermentation occur at the lower end of the recommended fermentation range. Thereafter I permit the fermentation to free rise towards the middle and a bit higher than middle of the recommended fermentation temperature range. Cheers!
I have a list of fundamentals that I often post in noob threads that may include some or all of these (maybe others)... fermentation temperature control (i.e. fermentation freezer/controller) yeast pitching temperature control (i.e. wort chiller) sanitation KISS methodology / recipes Patience (don't open for at least two weeks etc) Don't get too drunk on brew day I'd be tempted to add in some or all of what you've listed too (particularly yeast pitching rate*. But then a short list is important when dealing with noobs whose plates are already full. Perhaps a discussion of the "perfect" list for noobs is in order? *this can often be taken care of for noobs by just having their OG not be too high and using dry yeast. I know sometimes I still get lazy and just pitch dry yeast to reasonable OG batches. Hasn't ever been a problem. I admit rehydration is superior but don't think this is a particularly critical aspect of brewing for noobs to worry about. If they get the rest of it right and merely pitch dry vs. rehydrated, it shouldn't make a notable difference
“I admit rehydration is superior but don't think this is a particularly critical aspect of brewing for noobs to worry about. If they get the rest of it right and merely pitch dry vs. rehydrated, it shouldn't make a notable difference.” BA @mikehartigan is very experienced with using dry yeast (US-05 if I remember correctly) and he is a strong advocate for not having to rehydrate. He has always experienced good fermentations without rehydrating. I personally rehydrate dry yeast since I have read articles which state that up to 50% of the dry yeast cells can die if they are not properly rehydrated. One theory for why you can successfully ferment by just sprinkling dry yeast (vs. rehydrating) is that there are so many yeast cells in a packet of yeast that even if 50% die there are still plenty of yeast cells left to ‘get the job done’. My attitude on this matter is that I paid for all of those yeast cells and if by performing a simple rehydration procedure I can optimize the number of living yeast cells in my wort I will do that procedure. In homebrewing there are some processes which really should be followed (e.g., practice proper sanitation) and then there are other processes which are optional. IMO, whether a homebrewer rehydrates their dry yeast is a matter of personal preference. I will always rehydrate my dry yeast but others can choose for themselves on this matter. Cheers!
A very reasonable stance to take. And noobs take note, rehydration IS superior to dry pitching. Just for the record. But if you don't have the other (more important) things down (fermentation temperature control, yeast pitching temperature, sanitation KISS etc) this will not make any difference.
From personal experience, when using dry yeast I rehydrate with knock out wort and stir up well. In about 30 minutes it is going nuts from feeding frenzy. Always had great results.
Indeed, I tend to not rehydrate dry yeasts. I, too, have read articles that suggest a 50% kill rate when pitching dry, and I have no reason to doubt that number. But, as JackHorzempa correctly noted, the remaining 50% is well up to the task. While I would never say that rehydrating is a bad thing, it's not 'superior' to pitching dry, as AlCaponeJunior opines, simply because there is no discernable difference in the result. If it takes 3 gallons of gas to make the round trip to work, 6 gallons won't get you there any faster or more efficiently than 4 (not a perfect analogy, but it captures the sense of my philosophy on rehydration). That said, having 'just enough' may not be enough if other factors conspire to screw things up. I am a strong advocate of erring on the side of over pitching (virtually never a problem when homebrewing, but that's another thread) rather than under pitching. So if saving the other 50% gives you peace of mind, then by all means, go for it.
