I tried to make my first Belgian tripel recently. While it tastes like crap, I learned a lot during the process, and I figured I'd share my discoveries.
1) Do not prepare a yeast starter in the primary fermentation vessel. I thought I was being smart by making my yeast starter in the carboy I was going to do my primary fermentation in to save myself the trouble of transferrig the starter. The CO2 produced by the starter culture, however, effectively eliminated the oxygenation of my wort when I poured it into the carboy. End result: poor yeast growth, slow fermentation, terribly over-phenolic taste.
2) Do not add spices to carbonated beer. After kegging (and carbonating) my beer and deciding that it didn't taste right, I tried to fix it by adding some spices that I thought should have been added. I sterilized some spices in vodka then dumped the shot of spices into the beer. The addition of spices or solutes creates a release of CO2 which is difficult to imagine on a 5 gallon scale. Don't repeat my mistake unless you have the irresistable urge to hose your house down with beer.
3) Do not buy clone kits. The recipe I followed was a kit and I knew when it arrived that ingredients were missing. I figured that whoever came up with the recipe must have known something I didn't. The recipe didn't taste remotely close. In hindsight, I should have done some searching for a recipe online before I blindly bought a clone kit that didn't list the ingredients.
Hopefully, all of this will help someone out there avoid repeating my stupid mistakes.
If you don't mind, where did you purchase the kit? Was it an on line vendor or your LHBS?!?
As far as your experiences, I can relate. Done the addition of priming sugar to one of my bottles when carbonation wasn't right. Exactly what you described. I had a BEER FOUNTAIN! Big MESS. My loving wife was less that impressed, however, only after she picked herself up off the floor from laughing so hard.
However, I like the idea of making the starter in the carboy. Just aerate the wort by using an aquarium pump and air stone after putting it in the carboy.
Best of luck! I'm glad that I am not the only one out there who has screwed up!The Kevminator
It was an online vendor. As far as I know, the only one with a clone for La Fin du Monde. Otherwise, this vendor has been great for me so I don't want to post negative feedback about them in this forum. The main lesson from my error here is to be cautious when buying kits and to do some legwork yourself rather than just following someone else's recipe.
My wife was nice enough to help me put the keg back together. After she stared for a few minutes in shock of the mess I was making and then laughed herself to pieces, she blotted the top of the keg with a towel while I worked to seal the bung in the top. Don't know what I'd do without her.
Your idea very well might work, but I'd be too paranoid about sterility to blow air through a pump like you suggest into my wort. But thanks for the suggestion.
I can understand the concerns about infecting the wort with the air pump. However, there are air filters, made just for that purpose, to prevent contaminating your wort. It's what I do and I have not had any problems. Just sterilize the air stone and tubing, attach the filter midline, attach the pump, and then aerate away!
Good luck on your next batch!The Kevminator
Post time 2006-8-4 01:04:00
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