Belgian Ale - very bland

[Blisster]

So I brewed up a Belgian Ale from the MoreBeer kit http://morebeer.com/products/belgian-ale-extract-beer-kit.html
and used Safale s-33
Pitched at about 80F and saw very active fermentation in about 8 hours
I let it sit in the primary for two weeks at about 65-72F
Racked to Secondary for a week also at about 65-72F
Cold crashed for about 20 hours and then kegged this last weekend (hit it with 30psi for 24 hours and then dropped pressure to 11psi).
OG was ~1.050 FG ~1.012

Took a sample tonight and it was very cloudy, had a slightly bitter (or sour) aftertaste and really not much else. Very .....*blah*

I'm now considering dry-hopping it in the keg to give it a little flavor but would love some input/advice.

 

[ArcaneXor]

S-33 isn't a very exciting yeast in my limited experience with it.

Since you kegged the beer, you have a number of options. You can add spices, for example.

You could try adding something like Brettanomyces Bruxellensis to the keg and letting it age for a few months while the wild yeast does its thing to impart some flavor complexity. Just be careful to sanitize the keg very well after use, or you can cross-contaminate future batches.

 

[Blisster]

agreed about the S-33. I also made a Belgian Saison that I'm not entirely thrilled with, but am going to let age for a few months before making a final judgement.

 

[dcp27]

despite fermentis odd description, S-33 isn't belgian yeast, it's english (EDME), so i'm sure that's not helping. i'd go the brett route like arcanexor suggested

 

[Blisster]

Would I jsut de-carb the keg and let it come up to ferm temps and pitch a vial of the Brettanomyces Bruxellensis directly in and let it sit? is a SG of 1.012 going to have enough residual sugars in there for the yeast to do much?

 

[dcp27]

1.012 is plenty of residual sugars for brett to work with. it doesn't even need any sugar to make an impact (it'll convert esters, consume dead yeast or nutrients, etc). since its in a keg, gravity stability isn't really a worry so give it a month or so then taste it every few weeks til its where you want it

 

[Blisster]

allrighty then! Looks like I'll be hitting the LHBS and RRB on the way home today.

 

[Blisster]

Oh another question, is oxygenation a problem since this beer is already somewhat carbed? Will the brett do okay with little oxygen?

 

[Randy_Bugger]

Another option is to dump a cheap bottle of sour ale in there like Petrus or Petrus Red (cherry). If you want brett notes, Lindemans Cuvee will do the trick. The benefit of this is you won't have to wait several months to drink it.

 

[dcp27]

Oh another question, is oxygenation a problem since this beer is already somewhat carbed? Will the brett do okay with little oxygen?

it should be fine with little oxygen. brett also seems to create different flavors under pressure so it'll be interesting to hear the results from this

The benefit of this is you won't have to wait several months to drink it.

it'd still take months to become sour so not really a point in being able to drink it sooner

 

[Randy_Bugger]

it'd still take months to become sour so not really a point in being able to drink it sooner

You missed the point.

The point is his beer is bland and adding what I suggested will make it less bland and drinkable tomorrow, not several months from now.

 

[dcp27]

You missed the point.

The point is his beer is bland and adding what I suggested will make it less bland and drinkable tomorrow, not several months from now.

except for the fact a bottle is ~1/20th the volume so it'd barely have any impact. kind of a waste of money if you're adding a sour and not allowing it to do anything

 

[Randy_Bugger]

except for the fact a bottle is ~1/20th the volume so it'd barely have any impact. kind of a waste of money if you're adding a sour and not allowing it to do anything

Who says he is limited to adding one bottle? Who says it needs to be a full on sour?

I've done exactly what I suggested with two bottles and it made a noticeable and pleasant difference in the flavor. It was one bottle of Petrus Aged Pale and one bottle of St. Louis Kriek. It changes the flavor immediately. I could have waited for several months for it to become more sour, but it wasn't needed.

 

[Blisster]

*moment of truth* I don't dig sours so much. Thinking about adding the brett if I can find it locally. Hopeing the wheat I brewed last week is drinkable in a few weeks, hate that I've disrupted my pipeline and have two empty faucets on the kegerator...