Howdy all
I'm getting set to make some big beers in the near future, a strong golden and a trippel. This is my first attempt at either style so I would sincerely appreciate any sort of advice for making these big, delicious beers extra delicious. And possibly extra big.
Specifically, I've heard they require extra oxygen in potentially several steps. Any advice for aeration? I don't have pure o2 tanks or anything so best bang for the buck is the solution I'm looking for.
General tips for big beers and/or belgians
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Pentaquark
- Homebrewer
- Posts: 152
- Joined: Fri Jan 13, 2012 12:25 pm
Re: General tips for big beers and/or belgians
I spent a lot of years trying to make the perfect Belgian beer. Here are some guidelines that many have had excellent luck doing and IMO the only way to do it.
Add your sugar to the tail end of primary fermentation. I usually build enough yeast to handle a 1.060-65 beer. Then however much sugar is needed to reach your desired OG is added late to primary. The sugar is built into your recipe/OG just not added to the boil. This really makes your yeast very happy and your gains will be reaching the proper FG. Adding the sugar to the kettle means a massive yeast pitch to handle the OG and usually wont reach your desired FG.
Some/most Belgian strains will shut down on you if the ferment temp drops. Raising the temp back up does not help. Essentially the yeast just dies. So the best way to handle this is to use a heating pad with your primary fermenter. This keeps the temp from cooling off and the result is happy yeast. The old adage of higher ferment temps the better. Not true. I prefer to pitch around 66-68*, rate of rise, capture, and hold. This means to allow the yeast to raise in temp from heat of fermentation then capture that temp with the heating pad and either raise it a few degrees or hold it there until fermentation is complete.
It looks like this....pitch 68*>capture 70*>bump it to 74*> hold. I see no need to go over 74* on any Belgian strain.
02, well that's hard to justify at the homebrew level. We can only guess at how much o2 we put into our wort. There is theory about less o2/proper pitch rate vs more o2 and under pitching. This could change the flavor profile. Tomme Arthur of Lost Abbey really works on this theory. As for us, I usually pitch proper and add 2 lpm of pure o2 for 2 min. Seems to work well here. Id worry less about o2 rates and more about primary sugaring and the use of a heating pad.
Add your sugar to the tail end of primary fermentation. I usually build enough yeast to handle a 1.060-65 beer. Then however much sugar is needed to reach your desired OG is added late to primary. The sugar is built into your recipe/OG just not added to the boil. This really makes your yeast very happy and your gains will be reaching the proper FG. Adding the sugar to the kettle means a massive yeast pitch to handle the OG and usually wont reach your desired FG.
Some/most Belgian strains will shut down on you if the ferment temp drops. Raising the temp back up does not help. Essentially the yeast just dies. So the best way to handle this is to use a heating pad with your primary fermenter. This keeps the temp from cooling off and the result is happy yeast. The old adage of higher ferment temps the better. Not true. I prefer to pitch around 66-68*, rate of rise, capture, and hold. This means to allow the yeast to raise in temp from heat of fermentation then capture that temp with the heating pad and either raise it a few degrees or hold it there until fermentation is complete.
It looks like this....pitch 68*>capture 70*>bump it to 74*> hold. I see no need to go over 74* on any Belgian strain.
02, well that's hard to justify at the homebrew level. We can only guess at how much o2 we put into our wort. There is theory about less o2/proper pitch rate vs more o2 and under pitching. This could change the flavor profile. Tomme Arthur of Lost Abbey really works on this theory. As for us, I usually pitch proper and add 2 lpm of pure o2 for 2 min. Seems to work well here. Id worry less about o2 rates and more about primary sugaring and the use of a heating pad.
Just call me Andy!
Lupulin Threshold Shift
lupulin threshold shift \lu·pu·lin thresh·old shift\ n
1. When a once extraordinarily hoppy beer now seems pedestrian.
2. The phenomenon a person has when craving more bitterness in beer.
3. The long-term exposure to extremely hoppy beers; if excessive or prolonged, a habitual dependence on hops will occur.
4. When a "Double IPA" just is not enough
Lupulin Threshold Shift
lupulin threshold shift \lu·pu·lin thresh·old shift\ n
1. When a once extraordinarily hoppy beer now seems pedestrian.
2. The phenomenon a person has when craving more bitterness in beer.
3. The long-term exposure to extremely hoppy beers; if excessive or prolonged, a habitual dependence on hops will occur.
4. When a "Double IPA" just is not enough