I made a Dubbel recently, the first I've ever brewed. At the time of bottling, there was way too much nail polish character. Three weeks after bottling, this character has decreased, but I still find it pretty intrusive. I generally followed the guidelines for Dubbel in Jamil's BYO article. I'd be interested to hear other brewers' opinions on how well the ester character might improve over the next six weeks (which is when I plan to submit it to a local competition).
OG was 1.067. Cooled to 65 °F using an immersion coil. Oxygenated as usual by banging the coil up and down in the cooled wort 200 times or so (I don't have a fancier setup, but this usually works well). Ran it into a stainless steel brew bucket and pitched two well swollen packs of WYeast 1214.
The ambient temperature was a little under 65 °F. There was no action for 24 hours, after which I set the temperature to 68 °F. Monitoring was with a probe on the outside of the fermenter, underneath a thick layer of bubble wrap. According to another thread on this forum, this works within a degree of what using a thermowell would give.
Fermentation took off on day 2, and the temperature increased to 70 °F by day 3. On day 4, I set the temperature control to 71 °F. On day 5, fermentation was nearly complete, and I increased the temperature to 72°F. On day 6, I increased it to 74 °F. I held it at this temperature for several days and then allowed the beer to decline to ambient temperature.
FG was 1.007. The ester character was so overwhelming that I fined with Super Kleer and racked to secondary. A week later, I fined it again the same way. A week after that, I bottled to give 2.6 volumes, using cane sugar and a little CBC-1 dried yeast.
OG was 1.067. Cooled to 65 °F using an immersion coil. Oxygenated as usual by banging the coil up and down in the cooled wort 200 times or so (I don't have a fancier setup, but this usually works well). Ran it into a stainless steel brew bucket and pitched two well swollen packs of WYeast 1214.
The ambient temperature was a little under 65 °F. There was no action for 24 hours, after which I set the temperature to 68 °F. Monitoring was with a probe on the outside of the fermenter, underneath a thick layer of bubble wrap. According to another thread on this forum, this works within a degree of what using a thermowell would give.
Fermentation took off on day 2, and the temperature increased to 70 °F by day 3. On day 4, I set the temperature control to 71 °F. On day 5, fermentation was nearly complete, and I increased the temperature to 72°F. On day 6, I increased it to 74 °F. I held it at this temperature for several days and then allowed the beer to decline to ambient temperature.
FG was 1.007. The ester character was so overwhelming that I fined with Super Kleer and racked to secondary. A week later, I fined it again the same way. A week after that, I bottled to give 2.6 volumes, using cane sugar and a little CBC-1 dried yeast.