Desparate Hail-Mary-leaping-catch crazy attempt to save a belgian strong

[Ravenshead]

I have a Belgian strong that stopped at 1020. I tried raising the temp, adding notty and even EC-1116 to no avail. Eventually I got tired of waiting and kegged and forced carbonated it. After choking down about a gallon and a half, I really can't take the sweetness.

I just gently racked it out of the keg back into a CO2 purged carboy with amylase enzyme in the bottom. Once it warms up and the CO2 off-gasses, I'll add some more champagne yeast. It was either that or dump it.

 

[Nateo]

I had a Belgian-Strong type beer that finished too high (1.010). I had a batch of dry mead that didn't turn out great. Mixed the two and carbed to 5 volumes, and it's great.

Champagne yeast can't eat complex sugars. AFAIK only 1116 can eat maltotriose. Chances are good the complex sugars are the problem, and champagne yeast won't do anything for you.

 

[dawgmatic]

I have a Belgian strong that stopped at 1020. I tried raising the temp, adding notty and even EC-1116 to no avail. Eventually I got tired of waiting and kegged and forced carbonated it. After choking down about a gallon and a half, I really can't take the sweetness.

I just gently racked it out of the keg back into a CO2 purged carboy with amylase enzyme in the bottom. Once it warms up and the CO2 off-gasses, I'll add some more champagne yeast. It was either that or dump it.

or you could have mixed it with a drier beer.

I would be careful with the amylase,doesn't it take a long time to dry out?

I was under the impression that it doesn't like to stop either. I guess thats not so much of a problem if you're kegging though.

I had a Belgian-Strong type beer that finished too high (1.010).

Wouldn't this fall right within the recommended guidelines for the style?

 

[Ravenshead]

I had a Belgian-Strong type beer that finished too high (1.010). I had a batch of dry mead that didn't turn out great. Mixed the two and carbed to 5 volumes, and it's great.

Champagne yeast can't eat complex sugars. AFAIK only 1116 can eat maltotriose. Chances are good the complex sugars are the problem, and champagne yeast won't do anything for you.

That's why I added the enzyme, we'll see.

 

[Ravenshead]

or you could have mixed it with a drier beer.
I would be careful with the amylase, doesn't it take a long time to dry out?

Mixing would be cheating since I'm trying to learn to make a Belgian. I'm not worried about time, I can wait for it to dry out.

 

[Nateo]

Mixing would be cheating since I'm trying to learn to make a Belgian. I'm not worried about time, I can wait for it to dry out.

Don't look now, but real Belgians mix beers all the time.

 

[Ravenshead]

Don't look now, but real Belgians mix beers all the time.

I know, but I'm still learning to use sugar. You must crawl before you run .

 

[kasky99]

with all this switching around arn't you worried about oxidation?

 

[Ravenshead]

with all this switching around arn't you worried about oxidation?

Yup, but it's better than dumping. Plus, I was really gentle racking out of the keg and I purged my carboy with CO2.

 

[kasky99]

Yup, but it's better than dumping. Plus, I was really gentle racking out of the keg and I purged my carboy with CO2.

That makes sense. I just know personally I hate having to rack my beer more than once. Purging with C02 should help a lot though.

 

[sweetcell]

I had a Belgian-Strong type beer that finished too high (1.010).

what kind of numbers are y'all hoping to hit with your strong belgians? the minimum OG for a belgian strong is 1.070. if you hit 1.010, that's 86% attenuation... which seems perfectly fine to me. unless i pitched brett, i wouldn't expect any belgian strongs to go below 1.010.

 

[Nateo]

what kind of numbers are y'all hoping to hit with your strong belgians? the minimum OG for a belgian strong is 1.070. if you hit 1.010, that's 86% attenuation... which seems perfectly fine to me. unless i pitched brett, i wouldn't expect any belgian strongs to go below 1.010.

It wasn't actually a Belgian strong, but that's the closest style I would call it. I'm more worried about a crisp, dry finish than any particular gravity reading. YMMV and so on.

 

[Ravenshead]

If I get it to 1.010 I'll be ecstatic, right now I'm just hoping for 1.015.