Beer Forum

In May, a friend volunteered to build be a copper manifold for my mash tun. Since I have no mechanical skills at all (zippers elude me so I wear no pants), I said "Sure!" I took it to him, and he told me it would be a month before he could get to it. "Oh well, NHC is coming up," I thought, "and i can do a couple of extract brews." So I dug out Sam Caligione's book Extreme Brewing. I decided to brew Tripel 'Round the World. I followed the recipe exactly, even going so far as to only pitching a single vial of yeast. The OG was 1.090 and the FG was 1.042 instead of the expected 1.021. I sampled the kegged beer last night, and it's okay at first. But it's cloying. By the end of the second glass, it's like syrup.

Yes, I know. I am telling myself now that I should have made a starter. Or at least, when I added the brown sugar at the end of fermentation, I should have added another vial of yeast. I didn't and I have learned my lesson. But I am still left with a far too sweet beer.

As I see it, I can take the keg out of the fridge. Vent it and let it come to room temp. Vent it several times as CO2 comes out of solution. Then transfer it to a carboy and pitch more yeast.

In 2007, I went to NHC in Denver, and went to Vinnie Cilurzo's presentation about sour beers. After the session, he handed out baggies of oak chips infected with wild yeast.

Here's what I came up with as I was driving home: Do all of the above, but instead of pitching yeast, add Vinnie's dime bag of oak chips. Let it sit 6 or more months, bottle and store cool for however long it takes.

So I ask the vast collective intelligence of the BN Army: What would you do? Drink the sweet beer one glass at a time; repitch with yeast; or repitch with Vinnie's infected wood chips? Any other ideas?

Funk it

Well, I made Jamil's Triple and it stopped at about 1.021, and was way too sweet. So I hit the kegs with some Brett. I vent them every few days. It's only been 2 months, so it's kinda early in the game, but that was my solution. The other idea I was playing with was adding alpha amylase.

mr x wrote:Well, I made Jamil's Triple and it stopped at about 1.021, and was way too sweet. So I hit the kegs with some Brett. I vent them every few days. It's only been 2 months, so it's kinda early in the game, but that was my solution. The other idea I was playing with was adding alpha amylase.

There's a thought. If I did it in the keg, I would have to change all the rubber gaskets afterwards, right?

These kegs are going to be brett only kegs, but I have no doubt you could properly sterilize the small parts after. The o-rings are cheap though.

Dirk-

I am having trouble believing that a man of your brewing caliber would pitch a single vial of yeast into a 1.090 beer! Live and learn as you said, I guess. Here is my 2 cents.

A 1.042 FG is really high for this beer and probably makes it taste sickeningly sweet. I would recommend to carefully rack the beer into a carboy and pitch a 1 qt starter of trappist yeast at high krausen into the sweet wort. Give this new pitch at least two weeks or more before even checking the gravity again. If the gravity still remains high, then you can add your oak chips and possibly a packet of fresh brettanomyces/bottle dregs from purchased sours. Then you have to wait. and wait. and wait a really long time to be rewarded with an interesting beer. Nonetheless, time and patience will get you where you want to be with this one.

I always thought that a 1.021 FG on a tripel is pretty high for a beer style that should be relatively dry. I have made tripels that finished at 1.021 and thought they were very cloyingly sweet and dumped them to the snails. In hindsight, I wish I had added brett or critters to them and saved all that hard work. We live and we learn to brew another day!

Cheers-
Brewinhard

brewinhard wrote:Dirk-

I am having trouble believing that a man of your brewing caliber would pitch a single vial of yeast into a 1.090 beer! Live and learn as you said, I guess.

Check with Mylo about my brewing caliber, re: Bug's Rye Cream Ale 2009. As I said, I was following the directions exactly, mostly because I was lazy. In fact, I'm always lazy. I'm actually leaning toward just drinking the super sweet beer.

I think your plan is prolly the best idea. Not sure I have the patience for a brett fermentation.

I bet you could get that beer down a lot lower in gravity if you pitch a rolling starter into the beer. Give it a try and let us know what happens.