Tripel Fermentation

[highgravitybacon]

that's not the esters so much as the wheat. wheat beers don't keep for a long time, they are meant to be drunk fresh. what you're tasting is the whole beer going stale.

It has nothing to do with wheat. If you make a 100% barley beer with a hefe strain, it tastes like a hefe. And in time, it too will fade. There's nothing inherently in wheat that makes a beer stale faster.

 

[sweetcell]

hefeweizens fade because the yeast and long-chain proteins eventually drop out. maybe instead of "stale" i should have said "bland". check out this thread: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/why-cant-wheat-beers-age-110492/

getting back to the original point: IMO, esters don't really fade. they might get taken over by even stronger flavors like oxidation, but they're still there.

 

[Calder]

Esters don't drop out or fade, they change over time. The yeast continue to work on the esters well after fermentation is complete. That is why it is recommended Belgians are kept for a while to allow them to balance more.

I generally like starting about 70 F and moving up to 80 or above over 5 days. This is not good for all Belgian yeasts. The Anchouffe yeast will give you lots of fusel alcohols if you take it above 75 F too early, while the Dupont yeast loves it up in the 80s.

Belgians can stall if the temperature drops rapidly, even if it is still in the recommended temperature range.