I was fermenting a brelgian tripel in a fast ferment for 2 months and as time passed and was ready to keg, it turned from dark blonde to brown. Is this normal? It tastes a little bit of a banana flavor which makes me think something may have infected it? It was the northern Brewer Belgian tripel kit. Kinda stinks since it was expensive and a long time to ferment.
Belgian Tripel turned brown
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Did you use a secondary ferm?
Oldskewl
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FWIW, I brewed the Dragonmead Tripel with no secondary. I used a bit more Munich and clear sugar than called for. Mine pous a brownish color as well. I tastes wonderful with some banana smell/flavor as well.
I see that kit comes with a choice of yeast. Can't speak to all of them but the Safbrew BE-256 "Abbaye" default is known to throw some banana.
As for the color shift, presuming the beer wasn't "lightened" by suspended yeast when it was racked to the secondary vessel and now it's dropped clear, oxidation is the most likely cause of the color change.
Post-fermentation oxidation is pita to avoid but a good place to start is to avoid secondaries like the plague they are...
As for the color shift, presuming the beer wasn't "lightened" by suspended yeast when it was racked to the secondary vessel and now it's dropped clear, oxidation is the most likely cause of the color change.
Post-fermentation oxidation is pita to avoid but a good place to start is to avoid secondaries like the plague they are...
leonardoreges
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Banana flavor is normal, getting darker isn't.
It's got to be oxidation.
That's why for my secondaries I just go up with the temperature, never change vessels
It's got to be oxidation.
That's why for my secondaries I just go up with the temperature, never change vessels
Not clear...
Did you rack the beer from one fermentor to another at some point? That would be considered a secondary. Secondaries are generally not needed, and potentially cause harm to the beer such as oxidation and infection. Avoid them, and ignore instructions pointing to using those.
2 months in a fermentor with a large headspace is a long time. That also causes oxidation. Oxidized beers tend to get darker and leave sherry-like flavors. Why was it in there that long?
Did you rack the beer from one fermentor to another at some point? That would be considered a secondary. Secondaries are generally not needed, and potentially cause harm to the beer such as oxidation and infection. Avoid them, and ignore instructions pointing to using those.
2 months in a fermentor with a large headspace is a long time. That also causes oxidation. Oxidized beers tend to get darker and leave sherry-like flavors. Why was it in there that long?
To clarify, unused the fastferment which has the collection ball. It had to be changed because it was full of dropped and protein. The one thing I read is that some people have issues when changing the ball because of the burp of air. That may be the culprit and the larger headspace due to the size of the vessel? I ferment it for 2 months, as I wanted to follow the recommended instructions. I'll give it a few more weeks in the keg to mellow out, still really hot, as it is 8.5%, then try again, hopefully the oxidation isn't going to ruin it too much? Thanks for all the replays, very useful and helpful!
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