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I attempted to clone the strong belgian Gulden Draak. I had an OG of 1.096. I used 1388 strong belgian and a yeast cake of 3711 Saison. I wanted it to be somewhat dry so I drove the attenuation hard starting at 70 F and ending at 80 F. My attenuation was 89%. so far so good. This resulted in a 11.5% ABV. My first foray into the +10% range. It seemed dry enough at the end of fermentation, but hot with fusils. I bottled with some corn sugar for carbonation. I tried first in the house at 74F. After two weeks almost no carbonation and the sweet from the extra sugar. I the roused each bottle and put under temp control at 78F. Another two weeks, fusils gone, not sticky sweet, but still no carbonation. I don't want to pour out. Warmer temps don't seem to be doing the trick. Options? Uncap and hit with some active yeast? Dump in a keg and force? I am in unfamiliar territory on this beer. Help???

jmarr wrote:I attempted to clone the strong belgian Gulden Draak. I had an OG of 1.096. I used 1388 strong belgian and a yeast cake of 3711 Saison. I wanted it to be somewhat dry so I drove the attenuation hard starting at 70 F and ending at 80 F. My attenuation was 89%. so far so good. This resulted in a 11.5% ABV. My first foray into the +10% range. It seemed dry enough at the end of fermentation, but hot with fusils. I bottled with some corn sugar for carbonation. I tried first in the house at 74F. After two weeks almost no carbonation and the sweet from the extra sugar. I the roused each bottle and put under temp control at 78F. Another two weeks, fusils gone, not sticky sweet, but still no carbonation. I don't want to pour out. Warmer temps don't seem to be doing the trick. Options? Uncap and hit with some active yeast? Dump in a keg and force? I am in unfamiliar territory on this beer. Help???

JIm,

I would give it alot more time than a month to carbonate. Leave it in the 70s and let it ride a couple months.
The yeast are pooped out but should carbonate over time if you are patient. The fact that you got some carbonation means they are still working but slow.

When you test, chill a bottle for at least a couple days to be sure you are allowing the carbonation in the headspace to absorb to get a true idea of how much carbonation you have in the beer.

Pouring in a keg and carbonating should be your very last choice as you are going to pick up a ton of oxygen and ruin the beer.
Before you do anything post back here.

So your recommendation is based on signs of a "slight amount of Carbonation"- some visible vapor upon opening and the "reduced sweetness" as being evidence that there is some fermentation continuing. Hence give it more time. Since some of the primary fermentation took place at 80F. Would allowing the temp to return to that range be appropriate?

What are your thoughts about uncapping and quickly dosing with some fresh yeast and recapping? I will have a batch of the same yeast available soon from a Petite Saison I am making.

I would not redose. Any temp in mid 70s or greater should work.

From your description i would personally wait.

If you want to drink it sooner i would use a carbonator cap with aa 2 liter bottle to force carb individual bottles one at a time and serve while the rest carbs up over time.

Thanks for the encouragement to be patient. I don't need to drink it anytime soon, I just wanted to see how it is progressing. Now that the fusils have faded, the sweetness is not so apparent, I guess there is still hope.