Under attenuated?

[DBOBSBREW]

Hello,
I'm brewing my first Belgian extract beer. It's in secondary fermenter. It tastes really sweet Will that even out over time?

Should I add more yeast? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
DBob

[Afterlab]

Typically over time the hop bitterness in beers will slowly fade, which means they will taste a little bit sweeter the more you age them. The most objective way to judge the current state of your fermentation would be to compare your starting gravity reading to your current gravity reading and see how far off you are from your targeted gravity. Typical lower gravity belgian beers (this excludes belgian strongs) should finish somewhere around 1.008-1.014.

Here are a few questions that will us better understand your beer and help you out:
1. What type of Belgian beer are you brewing?
2. What is the starting gravity?
3. What is the targeted finishing gravity?
4. What type of yeast strain are you using?
5. How long have you been fermenting? At what point did you move this to secondary?
6. What temp have you been fermenting at?

[DBOBSBREW]

1. What type of Belgian beer are you brewing? Kit: Brewer's Best Belgian Tripel. OG should be 1.083-1.086.
2. What is the starting gravity? I f-ed up and took my OG reading after the boil, BUT before adding the other half of water for the 5 gallon batch. Also, I took Jamil's advice and waited until the tail end of primary fermentation to add the simple sugars (I substituted 16 oz cane sugar for lame "Belgian" candy sugar.)
3. What is the targeted finishing gravity? 1.017-1.020. It is now at 1.017.
4. What type of yeast strain are you using? White Labs WLP500 Trappist (weak action in less than 1 litre starter) and 1 packet dry Danstar E491.
5. How long have you been fermenting? about 2 weeks in primary before racking to secondary.
6. What temp have you been fermenting at? Started at about 67 F. I tried to raise the temp 1 degree a day by moving the vessel around the house. It got up to 71 degrees around day 4 and remains there.

Thanks for all the great advice and shows! I've only been listening for a few weeks, and I'm hooked on Brewstrong, Sunday Session, and the Jamil Show.

-Dbob

[brewinhard]

A finishing gravity of 1.017 for a strong extract beer might not be that off. Depending on the type of extract used, some can be more fermentable (or less fermentable) than others. It looks like you also underpitched a bit with only 1 liter starter, although I have not ever used the Danstar dry strain you are talking about either. I would give it some more time in the warmer temp range and don't be afraid to rouse or swirl the yeast back into suspension to help drop the gravity a bit more. Next time try using more cane sugar in place of your extract for a drier finish.

[beggarstown brewer]

I'm gonna agree with brewinhard that replacing some extract with more simple sugar will be a good way to dry it out. Supplementing your small starter with dried yeast is a good idea, but its tough to say whether or not that would be enough (it would depend on the condition of the yeast).

I think it probably has more to do with the extract. I remember having a similar residual sweetness despite low finisihing gravity with some extract batches in the past. I figured at the time that it had to do with caramelization/melanoidin formation from having all that extract in there. What I did (until switching to all grain) was to:

1) Take extra care to make sure the extract mixed well into solution rather than dropping to the bottom of the kettle and scortching.
2) Withholding some of the extract until the end of the boil. For example, if my recipe called for two cans of liquid extract, I'd add one in the beginning of the boil, but save the last can for 15 minutes from the end of the boil. This kept some of that melanoidin formation down, resulting in lighter color, and less intense malt flavors (this the perception of less sweetness).

-beggar

Another possible thing you could do is just let your primary go longer. Sometimes fermentation will remain active for more than the two weeks, especially in a big beer, so maybe another thing to try is giving it some more time before taking it off the yeast.

[Afterlab]

Another possible thing you could do is just let your primary go longer. Sometimes fermentation will remain active for more than the two weeks, especially in a big beer, so maybe another thing to try is giving it some more time before taking it off the yeast.

Agreed. I used a Trappist yeast strain on a 1.047 Patersbier and it was still fermenting out for 3 weeks even after having a fairly violent start to the fermentation. The thing I always keep in mind is that just because there is no visible airlock activity doesn't mean your fermentation isn't active. Your airlock may look inactive but that can mean the yeast is done with the simpler sugars and is working on breaking down the larger sugars.

Also with a lot of the Trappist yeast strains you get a very large dense krausen layer that can create a "cap" above your beer. If that cap is too thick it prevents a lot of that healthy yeast from reaching your beer. After that unused yeast sits on top of that cap for too long and runs out of food, it begins to die and will floculate out with the rest of the yeast without actually participating in the fermentation process. So just make sure to agitate your fermentation vessel to keep that yeast mixed and suspended into the beer.