Trappist Ale Fermentation Temps

[carter840]

Hi All,

I'm currently reading "Brew Like a Monk" and in it it mentions that the fermentation schedule for the Rochforte 10 is:
Primary for 7 days starting at 68F and ending at 72F
Secondary at 46F for 3 days
Bottle condition with added sugar and fresh yeast for 10 days (at least) at 73F

Am I missing something or is this an insanely short fermentation shecdule for such a big beer? Any reason for this, and how should a home brewer mimic this fermentation schedule?

Thanks

 

[beerloaf]

The answer is yes. It is a very short time for a homebrewer, however normal for a commercial brewery. Most people forget that large breweries will centrifuge, filter and do whatever necessary to clear/clean the beer from imperfection. We homebrewers just let it sit longer and let the yeast cleanup after itself and let gravity work. The last Rochefort 10 clone I brewed, I let ferment for 3 months. I hit 11.5% ABV. You also have to let it bottle condition a while. The longer the better. At 6 months it will start tasting decent. But it can easily sit in the bottle for a year plus. I also found that the WLP540(Rochefort) yeast can be quite finicky. You need a really fermentable wort.

beerloaf

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

Proper pitching rates turn out good beer in a short time frame. Homebrew tends to take longer because we don't pitch or aerate like we should.

 

[Piratwolf]

Proper pitching rates turn out good beer in a short time frame. Homebrew tends to take longer because we don't pitch or aerate like we should.

Conversely, when we do aerate & pitch properly, our timeframes can be very similar