Belgian Ale burning taste

[mdawson9]

Hi there. I normally stick to recipes but decided to venture out and make my own Belgian Specialty...Belgian IPA with Noble hops is the idea. I use the Brewing Classic Styles book alot as reference and patterned the mash temp and fermentation process after the Belgian Golden Strong in the book which mashes at 149 F and begins fermentation at 64 F and rises to 80 F over a week. I did that...basically peaked at Florida room temp which is 76-77 F right now. Day 11 and I tested gravity and have 1.007!!! Very happy with that. Problem is that I've got alcohol in tasting...running very hot, overwhelming hops. Smells nice...Belgian yeast esters with malt sweetness but the favor is burning up.
Any advice? I realize it's early. I plan to dry hop with 4 oz. and am not sure if I should wait til yeast cleans up some or move forward. I'd love any advice...and I'm assuming this taste clears up??? I've never had it this strong before. Recipe is below. Thanks for any thoughts!

Style: Belgian Specialty Ale
TYPE: All Grain

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 6.74 gal
Post Boil Volume: 6.24 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 6.00 gal
Bottling Volume: 6.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.071 SG
Estimated Color: 6.3 SRM
Estimated IBU: 50.8 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 72.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
12 lbs Pilsner (2 Row) Bel (2.0 SRM) Grain 77.4 %
1 lbs Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 6.5 %
8.0 oz Aromatic Malt (26.0 SRM) Grain 3.2 %
8.0 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 3.2 %
1 lbs Candi Sugar, Clear (2.0 SRM) Sugar 6.5 %
1.00 oz Northern Brewer [9.60 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 27.8 IBUs
1.00 oz Magnum [12.40 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 17.8 IBUs
1.00 oz Challenger [8.90 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 5.1 IBUs
2.00 oz Saphir [3.80 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 0.0 IBUs
2.0 pkg Belgian Ale Yeast (Wyeast Labs #3522 -
8.0 oz Sugar, Table (Sucrose) (1.0 SRM) 3.2 %
2.00 oz Challenger [8.90 %] - Dry Hop 0.0 Days 0.0 IBUs
2.00 oz Saphir [3.80 %] - Dry Hop 0.0 Days 0.0 IBUs

 

[madscientist451]

Not much you can do about it now except let it age and see if the hot alcohol character subsides a bit.
I've never used the 3522 yeast but your results indicate a fermentation that was too fast and and too high a temperature.
If you are going to try it again, I would suggest trying to hold the fermentation at the lower end of this yeast's range (65F) until a gravity reading shows that its at least 50% done, then let it free rise to the mid 70's, until complete.

 

[serum]

I've had fusels with 3522 when room temp in London was around that hot so if you didn't control the temperature that might be what happened.

If it's just strong in terms of alcohol you can get a little heat early on and it might taste horrible because you're drinking a warm sample but if it's fusels then it might not go away. I had to bin a few of my first AGs because I tried to brew when it was too hot.

Did you make a yeast starter? You definitely should have done for a beer that strength.

You don't really need to dry hop a beer of that style but if you want to then there's no reason not to unless you're worried about wasting the hops. If you are then you can always leave it in secondary to see if the taste goes away before trying to add the hops. Beers like that need a good bit of aging so leaving them won't hurt.