Belgian Strong Dark aging question

[Fisher kel Tath]

I brewed a Northern Brewer Number 8 extract kit last Wednesday with Wyeast Abbey II

OG was in the 1.079-.084 range (+/- ~.003 error range with my refractometer)

Fermentation temperature ranged from 68(at night) to 70(day) degrees F

Current Gravity is in the 1.015 range.

When I pulled the sample it was very very harsh, clovey, green and tongue numbing, with a little banana character to the finish and tons of it in the nose.

Is my assumption that this is going to need to be aged for a long period (kit instructions say 2 months, I'm thinking 5-6 months at this point if not longer) to allow the fusel alcohols to come down and allow the other flavors to come forward?

I know that there is supposed to be an alcohol characteristic to BSDA's but this is a bit over the level of "characteristic" into "use to sterilize things and start fires"

Second question I have, Is with such a long aging period, I expect the yeast in suspension to be shot, by the time it comes to bottling, thus requiring a repitch of yeast before bottling. What type of yeast is common for this kind of carbonation pitching? I know my a few breweries use a different yeast for bottling than they do fermenting, what is the common strain type?

[bikefoolery]

Hi Fisher,

Most likely you have made a fantastic beer. Give it some time.

Which yeast did you use? Did you grow enough yeast in a starter?

1. Allow time for the yeast to clean up, and finish work. Some fusels drop out of the big Belgian ales I have made. Green flavors may be cleaned up by the yeast. Lagering after allowing the yeast to finish and clean up after themselves has been good for my big Belgian beers.

2. I use whatever alcohols tolerant yeast I have active around to help carbonate a big Belgian beer (used us-05 and wlp530 in the past). I make a small starter and pitch it into my bottling bucket with the sugar and beer being bottled. "Brew Like A Monk" has some great advice on the second yeast strain. Some Trappist breweries use a lager strain(Chimay) for conditioning, some use a house strain.

The harsh alcohol will mellow with time.

My best BSD came into 'season' at 2 years. It was great at 6 months, but wonderful now.

Cheers,
The Fool

[Fisher kel Tath]

Yeast was Wyeast 1762 Abbey II, In hindsight, I didn't do a large enough starter(Only about 1liter, first starter ever), but given the resulting explosion I had from krausen (which threw off the lid of the bucket, which was stiff to take on and off, almost 3 foot away) I don't think it hurt anything.

Would you recommend racking off the primary yeast cake into a secondary to age it? (currently in a bucket)

[brewranger]

yeah if you have glass transfer to that. plastic buckets are oxygen permeable and over 5-6 months you will get some oxidation.

[Quin]

Would you recommend racking off the primary yeast cake into a secondary to age it? (currently in a bucket)

I would be concerend about any kind of long term aging in a carboy OR bucket. You will eventually lose the CO2 blanket and expose the beer to oxygen and staling.

I would go ahead and bottle and let it age in the bottle. You will also need to add fresh yeast at bottling.

[Fisher kel Tath]

Would you recommend racking off the primary yeast cake into a secondary to age it? (currently in a bucket)

I would be concerend about any kind of long term aging in a carboy OR bucket. You will eventually lose the CO2 blanket and expose the beer to oxygen and staling.

I would go ahead and bottle and let it age in the bottle. You will also need to add fresh yeast at bottling.

By that idea, wouldn't bottling it (cage and cork, it's a belgian after all) expose it to O2 as well eventually?

[Fisher kel Tath]

I drew a larger sample today (100ml vs the 5ml previous) so that I could taste the whole thing at once,

It's not bad, perhaps a little rough but time can fix that easily I think, The fusel character could of simply been from the small sample size I think cause as I'm swishing it around in my mouth I know there is alcohol, just not the punch in face amount previously.

gravity remains the same around the 1.015


Recipe in beersmith says it should be around there, though I think I missed the OG a bit but the boil was a massive headache, so not surprised.

Color is odd, it's supposed to be darker, like around 20 SRM, it's about 15-16 SRM

[Quin]

In a carboy or bucket, you are depending on a stopper, air lock, carboy cap, etc. to keep out oxygen from your essentially finished beer. If you move the carboy or the air lock dries out, or the cat knocks the air lock off, the beer can take on more oxygen. There are lots of bad things that could decrease the quality of your beer.

If you bottle it (caps or cage and cork), you are protecting it from further oxygen ingress. The yeast should consume any oxygen picked up during transfer when it naturally carbonates the beer. As long as the beer is carbonated, you should have less worries about staling.