Belgian Golden Strong Alwe

[Josh Hughes]

Got it fermenting last night and that is going well. Keeping temp between 64-68 for a few days. After high Krausen I am adding sugar and letting the temp go, It wont be getting higher than 72. Then comes my question....
Most of my information for this recipe comes from Zymurgy mag.

1. Its after roughly 8 days to Let it sit for 21 days at temps near 32. Ive never "lagered." Do I need to rack to a secondary (wasn't planning to rack to secondary and never have before). Can I just put my primary in the fridge?
2, Does it have to be 21 days?
3. Will i see a real benefit vs letting it stay in primary for 3 weeks under 70 degrees?

 

[Bubba Wade]

I brew mostly Belgian beers, but I have never dropped the temperature at the end of fermentation. I usually leave them in the fermenter for 2 weeks and then keg. I condition in the keg and leave it at room temperature for another 2-3 weeks. Kind of a secondary/carbonation combo.

 

[Josh Hughes]

I brew mostly Belgian beers, but I have never dropped the temperature at the end of fermentation. I usually leave them in the fermenter for 2 weeks and then keg. I condition in the keg and leave it at room temperature for another 2-3 weeks. Kind of a secondary/carbonation combo.

Thanks. First one for me.

 

[Mark Farrall]

Most of the abbeys do what you're describing, so it would be traditional. They're doing it mainly to clear the beer and give it a little big of age (though at those temps it's not much). You could use gelatin to cheat and give you pretty much the same effect.

For me I wouldn't secondary. And if they're going into a keg you'll get something like that cold conditioning once it's in your kegerator/keezer.

To work out how important it is, see how much you prefer the beer at the start of the keg versus when it kicks. Then next time you can just store it cold for longer before you start serving if you liked it more at the end of the keg.

Or if it's bottles, once they're carbonated put a few in the fridge (or maybe even freezer if the ABV is big enough) and leave them for a month or so and see how much you prefer those or the normally stored ones.

 

[Josh Hughes]

I bottle, I should have said that

 

[Mark Farrall]

Wasn't sure so added something above for that.

 

[Josh Hughes]

Thanks Mark. I appreciate it. It should be 8-8.5%. I have an addition of sugar Wednesday (day 4). I’ll go another week after that and then bottle. 2 weeks in the drive should put opening one up July 4th.