Racking onto extra fermentables...?

gibbocore · Post by **gibbocore** » Monday Jun 04, 2007 11:20 am

I've put down a belgian here and it's probably my best beer to date, i drink a lot of belgain beer against the wishes of my missus and my bank account but the stuffs more adictive than harry. The bottlo round the corner from me is now regulary stocking all the chimay's, leffe and duvel, all of which i have been puttinga way too often. My brew is tasting like a perfect blend of duvel and leffe blonde but i want a little bit more aroma and a extra hit of alc to get it in the region of a duvel.

Its currently got an og of 1057 and i wanted to rack onto some more LDME and some more hops for aroma, what's the best course of action here? What gravity reading should i wait for etc....?

Or should i just ride this one out and do it differently next time?

or just relax and enjoy my beer when its ready and stop meddling for christ sake?

rwh · Post by **rwh** » Monday Jun 04, 2007 11:44 am

If I was you I would bottle it and do it differently next time. Each beer you do is a data point on your experience chart, and you will be able to compare them to find out exactly how your changes affected your beer. Good records are essential if you want to do that though.

Having said that, you could boil up some LDME and hops in a bit of water and rack onto them in secondary. But yeah, it'd be a bit hit-and-miss.

gibbocore · Post by **gibbocore** » Monday Jun 04, 2007 12:05 pm

cheers rwh, alway's sound advice!

dragonphoenix73 · Thursday Jun 07, 2007 12:56 pm

You raise a good point there gibbo....

Has anyone tried this method, racking into a solution of LDME or likewise?

I'd be interested to hear of the results.

Rod · Post by **Rod** » Thursday Jun 07, 2007 1:32 pm

I made a Tarwbeier and after 4 days racked onto 100grams of dextrose in 400 ml hot water

and away she went , like a new one , new froth and and much gas

Make a Bock and did the same thing and not a whispher

dragonphoenix73 · Thursday Jun 07, 2007 1:39 pm

How much difference did it make to the Final gravity do you think?

Recommended amount?

Rod · Post by **Rod** » Thursday Jun 07, 2007 2:09 pm

made a mistake , the first try was the

BOCK and it started at 1052 and finished at 1010 , 6.1% alc

the second try was a

Belhaven 80/-

started at 1040 and finished at 1012 , 4.3 % alc

what they would have done if I did not add the dextrose , who knows

the BOCK was at 1018 when I racked

The 80/- was at 1014 when I racked

porridgewog · Post by **porridgewog** » Thursday Jun 07, 2007 9:08 pm

Hi Rod,

Where did you get the Belhaven 80/- kit? I have been wanting to make one for a while now.

Cheers

111222333 · Post by **111222333** » Thursday Jun 07, 2007 11:22 pm

A lot of old wine making books/guides recommend racking onto additional fermentables, eg only adding half the sugar initially, especially in high OG brews. I think it has to do with the stress placed on the yeast with the high initial sugar content. Any way, I've done this to a small extent, when adding extra hops I always boil in LME, so additional flavour hops are racked onto LME. No drama's, so long as everything is boiled first.

Rod · Post by **Rod** » Friday Jun 08, 2007 11:55 am

The belhaven 80/- is an extrabrew from Grumpy's

http://www.grumpys.com.au/phpshop/?page ... 0ad3e1b19e&

Boonie · Post by **Boonie** » Friday Jun 08, 2007 12:00 pm

111222333 wrote:A lot of old wine making books/guides recommend racking onto additional fermentables, eg only adding half the sugar initially, especially in high OG brews. I think it has to do with the stress placed on the yeast with the high initial sugar content.

Makes sense. Good way to get a high % alcohol. Difficult to calculate exact % though.