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belgian tripel extract - gravity not coming down

adimutu

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Just wanted some help, I brewed a belgian triple extract kit 15 days ago today and the OG was 1.074, today the gravity was 1.043.  Is this normal?  seems very high to me.  Any help would be appreciated
 
What are you using to measure your FG? 

If you are using a refractometer, it needs to be corrected for alcohol content.  Northern Brewer has a calculator on-line for converting refractometer readings during or after fermentation at http://www.northernbrewer.com/learn/resources/refractometer-calculator/.

If you are using a hydrometer, then it would seem that your fermentation has stalled.  At this point, I would consider adding some yeast nutrient (a couple of grams, boil in a very small amount of water for 10 to 15 minutes and then add directly to fermentor) and rousing the fermentor a bit to stir up any yeast which has settled out.

 
Ok thanks so much, I am using a refractometer, I just used the calculator and it came out to approx. 1.025 current gravity.  That seems more normal.  I still need it to get quite a bit lower, I'll check it again each of the next few days.  If it doesn't come down much more could I then add more fermentables?  I have some candi sugar sitting around....?
 
Realize that adding sugars at this point will invalidate the original gravity reading.  You can certainly do that to help spur things along.

What yeast are you using?  Certain of the Belgian strains do tend to stall out early and need to be restarted using the method I described previously.
 
I'm using WLP530 yeast.  I made a starter and it seemed like it was healthy and had good fermentation up till now.
 
What is your fermentation temperature?  I looked up the WLP530 as I was not too familiar with it and read some comments from people about raising the temperature a bit higher than recommended by White Labs to finish it out.  You might want to search for 'fermentation of WLP530' or something similar to see what others are saying about it.
 
Ok thanks again for the help.  I've been at roughly 67 or 68F.  I'll try to go up to 70F and see if it helps
 
At this far into the fermentation, I would not be afraid to take it up to 74F/76F.  Most of the growth stage of yeast has passed and that is where the majority of the off-flavors are developed.  He higher temp and activity may give the yeast a chance to clean up any lingering byproducts.
 
This strain does take its time to finish up.  It is also commonly brought up to +70 degree temperatures as the other poster suggests.  If it has truly stalled after the temperature increase and more time, you could pitch a few packs of a clean strain that can handle your higher ABV, such as Safale US-05, without a starter to finish things up.
 
Ok thanks for the input.  I'll try a little higher temp if I can.  I have it around 71 right now.  And if it doesn't work I'll pitch some yeast. 
 
so for 3 days I'm getting a reading of 1.022, I'm gonna pitch a packet of US-05 and see where it takes me.  I think if I leave it at 1.022 it'll be awfully sweet, not to mention its only at 6.5% ABV and supposed to be around the 8.5% mark
 
At 6.5% alcohol, new yeast *might* help, but you'll want to use a starter so it's active and add some nutrient so it will continue in the beer.

Belgian strains can stall out if they get too cold. And, their version of cold would be a sweat box for most ale yeasts. With the majority of fermentation past, raising the temperature to 80oF would be fine. Although this isn't related to you, there's a couple of Saison strains that don't seem to dry out the beer until nearly 90oF. So, it's really about giving the yeast what it wants and not making assumptions for it.
 
so would you suggest that I raise the temp even more?  I have it sitting at 75F already.  Or add yeast and nutrient ( I have some candi sugar ) ?    Or just bottle and hope after 4 or more months its not too sweet....?
 
Candi Sugar isn't yeast nutrient.  Your local homebrew supply shop carries a product called yeast nutrient.  Think of it as giving the yeast the vitamins and minerals they need to get and stay healthy.
 
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