Belgian Tripel with Fermenter sugar addition

[burbankbrewer]

Give it a least a week, no need to check so often. I brewed 11 gals. of Scottish Export yesterday & I'm brewing 11gals. of Scotch ale today. That 1728 yeast cranks even at 60'.

[DBear]

Otter,

I just did a tripel (1.080) using wlp575 and did a primary sugar addition of 2.5lbs. - i boiled the sugar in water for 15m and added it when right after high kreusen.
Next time, I will not put more than one lb of sugar at a dose - 1 lb daily - the fermentation with the single shot went crazy...CRAZY!!! with the foam pouring out the carboy like lava. Also even with the sugar the ferment subsided and was at 1.030 at 1 week - I think part of this is that 575 is a slow fermenter. Any way, I raised temp a couple of degrees but what really helped was to give the carboy a spin every 12 hrs. - rolled it on the bottom edge until i could see the yeast getting back in solution. Fermentation would kick up again and in 3 days I went from 1.030 to 1.009. In future when I add sugar to the primary I will also give it a spin.

I have used 530 several times for different gravity beers and it is always a foaming monster and with a 6gal better bottle/6.5gal glass carboy I still need a blow-off tube.

-Cheers

[Otter]

I checked the gravity last night and it's down to 1.017. I've had it at 70F most of the time, but I've tried warming it up several degrees to try and get it to finish out. There is still some off-gassing, but that might just be CO2 coming out of solution. I keep swirling it about every 12 hours or so to keep the yeast in suspension.

Hopefully, I can get it to drop several more points. I want to try and have it ready for the Big Brew day on May 2.

[burbankbrewer]

apr 9 you said it was 1.028 and today the 14th 1.017 so .002 a day is still a good clip. It should be ok.

[SacoDeToro]

apr 9 you said it was 1.028 and today the 14th 1.017 so .002 a day is still a good clip. It should be ok.

Don't be afraid to let it warm up to the mid 70s at this point. You could easily finish out between 1.010 and 1.012, which would be fine for the style.

[Otter]

There doesn't seem to be any more activity. I'll check the gravity again in another day or so.

If it hasn't dropped any more points, does anyone have any recommendations for getting it to dry out some more?

Can I pitch some more yeast? maybe a different strain? After 3 weeks of fermenting, would the yeast finally just "get tired" and stop?

[Bellmer]

There doesn't seem to be any more activity. I'll check the gravity again in another day or so.

If it hasn't dropped any more points, does anyone have any recommendations for getting it to dry out some more?

Can I pitch some more yeast? maybe a different strain? After 3 weeks of fermenting, would the yeast finally just "get tired" and stop?

Even if there doesn't appear to be activity to the naked eye, there often is, especially if it is still hazy. I find that my beer drops a few points between when I see no activity and when it clears up significantly after sitting another 3+ days. I just made Jamil's American Amber and it dropped 6 points in that time frame.

I agree with Saco, let it warm up that late, especially since it's a Belgian. I do it after primary with all my ales, though I'm not sure it's the wisest thing. I figure all of the important ester/phenol production is done by then.

If you're hard up to get it to drop a few more points, you could theoretically get a really hardy strain of yeast active in a big starter and pitch it in (like Trappist High Gravity of California Ale). And if you use the Cali Ale, it won't change your flavor too much allegedly. Or you could be real hard core and go with the Champagne yeast. I know Tasty likes to use that at the end on his Belgian Golden Strongs.

[burbankbrewer]

There doesn't seem to be any more activity. I'll check the gravity again in another day or so.

If it hasn't dropped any more points, does anyone have any recommendations for getting it to dry out some more?

Can I pitch some more yeast? maybe a different strain? After 3 weeks of fermenting, would the yeast finally just "get tired" and stop?

What's the gravity and how does it taste? You could rack & make a new starter off the yeast if you really need it dryer or just chalk it up to experience.