Kegging ales and bottling Tripels

[Dave Warner]

Do you cool down ales to settle the yeast before racking to the keg when force carbonating an ale? If so, how long and what temp?

Also, are there styles you would avoid doing this and is there an inordinate amount of yeast in the bottom of the keg, i.e is there a flavor advantage to keeping ale yeast in suspension?

I have a Christmas stout and a Wit. I indended to crash cool the stout but leave all the yeasties in the Wit. Thoughts?

On an unrelated note, have brewers here successfully bottled Belgian tripels in standard 12 oz bottles? I used Wyeast 1388 and I've been reading that it likes to keep on carbonating even in lagering conditions.

Thanks in advance!

[chris mewhinney]

Dave-

I can answer the first question: It's up to you. My normal routine is to drop the temperature of most ales for several days (at least) prior to kegging to allow the yeast to drop out. However, if you don't take that step, it will drop out just as well once in the keg, and the yeast will just blow out with the first couple pours. So I really think it's optional and may really have little or no impact on the final result. However, I would definitely NOT do that with any german style wheat beer and any Belgians (though I am not a Belgian brewer, so take that with a grain of salt). In fact, some folks ADD yeast to the keg for Bavarian wheat beers.

Chris

[Dave Warner]

Thanks Chris.

I think I'll do what I was planning then.

[Bill Lawrence]

Well, if it were my beer, I would drop the temperature as low as I could get it on the stout, transfer it to the keg then force carbonate it. For the Wit, I would be very tempted to keep the beer warm, transfer it to the keg and add sugar (or possibly wheat DME) then let it naturally carbonate at room temperature. I have not made a Wit in several years but I do this all the time with my heffe and I would think the same procedure would work well with a Wit. If you decide to go this route, don't cool the beer down as you risk hurting the yeast and getting undercarbonated beer. You might check with Cougar Brewing, they are the queens of Wit.

As far as bottle carbonating a Triple in 12oz bottles, I think you can do it but be careful. I usually bottle and naturally carbonate all my higher gravity Belgian stuff but I like those heavy 750's with the corks and wire cages. I know those things can handle the pressure but I usually also bottle a few 12oz bottles for competitions. Since I like these beers to be pretty highly carbonated, it starts to get a little dicey and I am pretty careful with those bottles once they are fully carbonated. The Belgian bottles are a little expensive but for me they give me just a little peace of mind since my wife will put me out of business if I start blowing up bottles in the house.

[Dave Warner]

Thanks Bill, this helps. I guess in a Wit it's the wheat protiens you're looking for rather than the suspended yeast, but I do like the champagne-like carbonation I got in the bottle the last time I used WLP400, so natural carbonation it is!

I think I'll experiment with both types of bottles for the Tripel. It'd be nice to see how this batch ages anyway, so stashing away a few 750's appeals to me.