Boiled Belgian

[stindall]

Hi All,

I am about 3 days in to Belgian blonde ferment using White Labs WPL530 Abbey Ale yeast. I had a heat belt around the fermenter using it to keep the brew around about 22-24C. The fermenter also happened to be sitting on a heat pad that I did not turn on.

My lovely wife came a long and saw that the heat pad was turned off and thought I had left it off by mistake and turned it on for me. I didn't look at the brew till late last night when I got home and it was bubbling away like crazy @32C.

I think it probably spent about 24 hours at that temp. Have ii stuff my brew? What sort of nasties will this produce?

Can anyone shed any light on what to expect or advise if there is anything I can do to "undo" any problems i have caused?

Thanks,

TFM.

 

[gibbocore]

Hi mate,

What yeast were you using?

 

[stindall]

Hi mate,

What yeast were you using?

White Labs WPL530 Abbey Ale

Thanks,

TFM

 

[gibbocore]

Mate from my experiance, the yeast will have survived, perhaps gone a bit bezerk however, you'll probably get some esters and what not from the high temp, but for the most part should be fine, fortunately, fruity/spicy eatsers are welcome in a belgian.

 

[therook]

looking at Whitelabs web site it is recommended to ferment between 66 - 72F which is 19 - 22C

Rook

 

[stindall]

looking at Whitelabs web site it is recommended to ferment between 66 - 72F which is 19 - 22C

Rook

Yeah and as I understand this yeast works best at the upper end of that range and even a tad over - helps bring out those pongs that belgians are famous for.

TFM

 

[Swinging Beef]

White Labs WPL530 Abbey Ale
Thanks,
TFM

Yum... this is gonna be a nice pongy one!
I had a Belgian Blond with this same yeast up to 30 deg last summer and it smelled wonderful in the glass.
you might end up liking it and doing it again.
O have no temp control at home and are looking forward to summer for more stinky belgian ferments!

 

[Flex Broker]

One thing about Belgian yeasts is that apparently they can ferment fairly clean at higher temperatures, ie. without producing fusel alcohols, etc. I usually start a Belgian using this strain at about 20 degrees and then after a few days armp it up to 24 or 26 degrees.

The book 'Brew Like a Monk' is a great resource for learning about fermenting with these yeasts. You will be happy to know that the good monks at Westvleteren actually ferment their beer using this yeast at about 29 degrees C. And they produce the best beer in the world, apparently.

One thing the monks also say is that you really shouldn't let the yeast temperature drop once they get going. This yeast can crash if you try to restrain the temerature. I think you should just let it go. That way you will definitely get propoer attenuation. Hopefully the yeast will ahndle the high temp (over 30). If you erally want, you can try dropping it a couple of degrees, but no more than that, or the yeast will apparently just stop working.

 

[drtomc]

One thing the monks also say is that you really shouldn't let the yeast temperature drop once they get going. This yeast can crash if you try to restrain the temerature. I think you should just let it go. That way you will definitely get propoer attenuation. Hopefully the yeast will ahndle the high temp (over 30). If you erally want, you can try dropping it a couple of degrees, but no more than that, or the yeast will apparently just stop working.

Interesting. I have two batches (one in primary, and one already racked) with the Wyeast Trappist, both of which seem to be stuck at about 1.020 (from an OG of ~ 1.052). In both cases, one of my kids helpfully turned off the heat pad, and the temperature dropped to about 14 before I discovered (after a day or two).

FWIW, should I try chucking in some S04 or something to finish them off?

T.

 

[kabooby]

Leave out the S04

Let it warm up again and give the fermenter a rouse without to much splashing. It will take of again.

That is assuming that you pitched enough yeast, aerated your wort properly, pitched at the correct temp, mashed at the correct temp.

I think that just about covers it

Kabooby

 

[Flex Broker]

I've only really worked with the WL530, but in my experience jacking up the fermentation temperature is a good way to get the fermentation to finish. So let it warm back up, and it it's stuck, put the temperature up a couple more degrees. These yeasts are good at attentuation, but can sometimes be a little temperamental.

 

[stindall]

I've only really worked with the WL530, but in my experience jacking up the fermentation temperature is a good way to get the fermentation to finish. So let it warm back up, and it it's stuck, put the temperature up a couple more degrees. These yeasts are good at attentuation, but can sometimes be a little temperamental.

I think the high temp did finish the ferment. Or, it crashed due to me letting get down to 17C. Either way there is not more activity. I have bought it back up to 22C now and I am going to rack to the secondary and give it a very gentle stir and see what happens. I'll post back the details later.

Total time from pitch through the 32C peak and then to the end of noticeable activity almost 5 days so it could have fermented out at those temps. I guess i'll know soon enough when i take SG.

TFM.

 

[stindall]

Hi,

I have just checked the SG and i think it has fermented out pretty well.

OG=1.075 Todays SG=1.010 which is about 9.2% !!

I've racked to the secondary and will let it sit for a while.

Tastes pretty good, has a very interesting back pallet - a bit like burnt cigars (not to different to a good Bordeaux for those wine lovers amongst us). Doesn't have quite as pronounced fruitiness as I was expecting but is going to be pretty good i reckon.

TFM

 

[marlow_coates]

Thats sounds like a low SG Fat Monk.
Were you expecting it to drop that far?
What were your ingrediants?

I have a saison going at the moment (OG 1074 then after 5 or 6 days added 1 kg of home made belgian candy sugar - so predicted OG is 1090)
From what I had read I was expecting it to finish at around 1025 to 1030!
After reading this thread initially I have kept the temps up to keep this lazy yeast kicking along slowly.
Last SG check was 1050.

Do you reckon it will drop to below 1020?

Cheers

Marlow

 

[Stuster]

I bet you'll get a lower FG than 1020, Marlow. The two times I've used that yeast the attenuation has finished up with over 90% attenuation and that's what Dupont is supposed to get with this yeast (which is where it's sourced from). So you should end up with something with a bit higher alcohol percentage than you were originally expecting.

To the OP, I think you might find the fruitiness a bit more obvious once it's finished up completely and matured a bit.