Help! Tripel Disaster!

[braufrau]

I made a tripel 3 weeks ago.
Its been at ~20C all that time.
Took a FG reading this morning .. which is usually just a matter of course .. and its 1.030!!

WTF!! It started at ~1.082. 63% attenuation.
Now with my new mash tun I'm a bit lost, but I couldn't have mashed that high!

So what do I do? Leave it another week? Give it a rock to put the yeast in suspension??
This has never happened to me before. Add enzyme?

 

[Stuster]

What yeast are you using? 20C is probably a bit cold. I'd swirl it and then warm it up to more like 25C to finish it off (depending on what yeast). Don't add enzyme yet.

 

[braufrau]

3787

 

[Stuster]

That's happened to me with that yeast. It slows right down if it gets cold. It got there in the end, just needs some patience (if only I had some ). Warm it up and forget it for a week or two.

 

[braufrau]

That's happened to me with that yeast. It slows right down if it gets cold. It got there in the end, just needs some patience (if only I had some ). Warm it up and forget it for a week or two.

OK .. thanks. Man! Brewing is so stressful! I'm sure the last time I used this yeast I kept it at a steady 20C :unsure:

 

[warrenlw63]

Braufrau if it still stalls on you maybe a fresh starter of said yeast wouldn't hurt. Be patient the little bugger will finish eventually.

Warren -

 

[crundle]

I have been reading lately that to help attenuation, it is a good idea to raise the temp for the last few days to help the yeast get to the last of the sugars they need to eat up. The higher temps apparently do not affect the taste much or at all because the time for making those flavours and chemicals is earlier on in the fermentation. I have been doing this for my AG brews and they seem to turn out well. I have never used that yeast you are using, but would think that the same principle would apply.

What is the expected final gravity you are after Braufrau? Sounds like a hearty brew indeed!

cheers,

Crundle

 

[Snow]

I've used this yeast a few times before and had no trouble fermenting at 20c. Did you use a large starter? For triples I think 3L minimum is required. What about aeration? Yeast nutrient? sugar content? I realise this is all after the fact and doesn't help you, but it might give us some pointers as to how to resolve your problem.

I agree with Stuster that you should raise the temp as your first point of call. Failing that, I would culture up some more yeast and aerate it for 24 hours before pitching into your brew at 25c.

Dry enzyme should be your last option.

Good luck.

Cheers - Snow.

 

[gap]

This is the purported Westmalle yeast which Westmalle ferment at 18 C .It is also used by Achel and Westveleteren , both of whom ferment it at high 20's C .
So you should be able to raise the temperature to help finish the ferment quickly.

Regards

Graeme

 

[Ross]

Braufrau,

Up the temperature to 25c & you should see it kick off again. It's good pratice IMO to lift the fermentation temperature on all brews as you approach terminal gravity.

Cheers Ross

 

[Pumpy]

Make a huge starter of Nottingham yeast get it really firing then finish it off with that


Pumpy

 

[braufrau]

I've used this yeast a few times before and had no trouble fermenting at 20c. Did you use a large starter? For triples I think 3L minimum is required. What about aeration? Yeast nutrient? sugar content? I realise this is all after the fact and doesn't help you, but it might give us some pointers as to how to resolve your problem.

I agree with Stuster that you should raise the temp as your first point of call. Failing that, I would culture up some more yeast and aerate it for 24 hours before pitching into your brew at 25c.

Dry enzyme should be your last option.

Good luck.

Cheers - Snow.

I used 1.5l starter. MOre than enough according to MrMalty. No aeration. No nutrient. I think I added ~500g of sugar.
The fermentation was a bit strange. This yeast usually climbs out of the airlock, but it behaved in a very civilised fashion.
And it usually generates a lot of heat, making it hard to keep at 20C. Not this time. Hmmm.
Anyhoo .. when HWMBO gets home we'll give the fermenter a rock for a few minutes and stick it on the heating mat, but I don't fancy letting it get to 25! So many warnings about unpleasant esters .. you know. It already tastes very fruity out of the fermenter.

Well thanks everyone for the help. I'll go find my copy of BLAM and think some more on T.

 

[kook]

I used 1.5l starter. MOre than enough according to MrMalty. No aeration. No nutrient. I think I added ~500g of sugar.
The fermentation was a bit strange. This yeast usually climbs out of the airlock, but it behaved in a very civilised fashion.
And it usually generates a lot of heat, making it hard to keep at 20C. Not this time. Hmmm.
Anyhoo .. when HWMBO gets home we'll give the fermenter a rock for a few minutes and stick it on the heating mat, but I don't fancy letting it get to 25! So many warnings about unpleasant esters .. you know. It already tastes very fruity out of the fermenter.

Most of the ester production is done in the growth phase and early in the fermentation.

If anything, raising the temperature in the final 1/3 to 1/4 of fermentation might help the yeast to clean up byproducts.

 

[newguy]

+1 raising the temperature. I had to do the very same thing to a Belgian using WLP570 around xmas, but I actually heated mine to about 30C+ to finish it off. No bad phenols/fruitiness from letting the temp get that high, as my beer was almost done as well. As a matter of fact, my OG and the stalled gravity were almost identical to yours! Rock the fermenter a couple of times every day for a week at the elevated temperature.

 

[braufrau]

After giving it a bit more thought, I've decided the difference between this one and the tripel I made last year, was aeration. Although I didn't specifically aerate, I topped up the fermenter with cold water (dissolved O2 there) and would have poured it from as high as possible without making a mess, making lots of splashes and adding more O2.

But this one, being AG, just had boiled wort straight into the fermenter .. very O2 poor and that would explain why it tasted "hot" in the hydrometer tube
So another lesson learnt

Hummed and hahed over BLAM and decided you guys are right .. I'll stick it on the mat at 25C.

 

[chris.taylor.98]

I did a tripel recently and had the opposite experience with the 3787 yeast. It actually over attenuated.

In my case I added the simple sugars after primary fermentation of the malt based ingredients had completed.

Temperature in my case was never about 20C and mostly at 18-19C.

Another suggestion you may want to follow:

Do a fast ferment on a sample of the remaining fermenting wort to determine if it is even capable of dropping lower (ie is it a yeast problem or mash problem)

This basically involves getting a small sample of your fermenting wort ( say 300ml ) and pitching a comparatively large amount of additional yeast. In about 2 days it should be fermented out and dropped clear. You can then measure the fast ferment samples gravity to get an idea of what it is capable of going down to.

Though this really doesn't help solve the problem, does give you an idea what you are aiming for.

If you really want to dry it out further can also consider adding a more attenuative yeast (champagne yeast for example).


For reference here is a link to my brewing log:

tripel brew log

(Note the website is not hosted so may not always be available)

 

[braufrau]

Its down to 1.020 now . I doubt it will go lower. Shall I bottle?

 

[Stuster]

I'd say you should definitely give it another week.

 

[braufrau]

I'd say you should definitely give it another week.

5 weeks in teh primary fermenter? You don't think I should rack maybe? I guess its too late to rack now!

 

[RetsamHsam]

5 weeks in teh primary fermenter? You don't think I should rack maybe? I guess its too late to rack now!

If its already been in primary for 5 weeks another week isn't going to harm it...