Hi, all!
I brewed this recipe on January 28th and it has been steadily fermenting since then. I gave a quick sniff of the airlock and got a Sulphur-like aroma. This is not surprising since it is still fermenting, and also considering that it was derived from a Belgian. I did a little bit of digging online and found some forum discussions on this subject. User jnick from "homebrew talk" contacted the owner of Omega about this and received this "Sundew can definitely kick off a ton of sulfur during fermentation (its parent strain, Belgian A, does the same thing). Give it a little more time and that should condition out. Everything else sounds on point. Let me know if you have any other questions".
I normally leave my homebrews to ferment for about 2.5 - 3 weeks before cold crashing or transferring to secondary. So, in the meantime I will wait for this to finish fermenting. Expect an update by the end of next week.
Best Regards!
- Dennis (02/06/23)
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Update!
Fermentation has almost finished, and the sulphury smell is no longer apparent. I will be waiting a couple more days before racking into a secondary along with a fining agent. I plan on bottling this in about a week.
Best Regards!
- Dennis (2/15/23)
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Update!
Bottled about 2 weeks ago, I'm going to let the bottles condition for another week before transferring to the refrigerator. I opened a bottle to check the carbonation and give it a quick taste. The strawberry characteristic is very subtle, really all of the flavors are subtle. I didn't take an OG or FG recording, so I don't know exactly where issues would have arisen. I have since procured some instruments that will help with recording these variables, so all future recipes posted to brewer's friend will have better data. I'll provide a final update after conditioning is finished.
Best Regards,
- Dennis Gifford (3/9/2023)
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Final Update!
Bottle conditioning has finished, and I pulled one out of the refrigerator last night to try. The first and most obvious thing I noticed was the very apparent Belgian-like character which is most likely due to the yeast strain being derived from a Belgian strain. Overall, the beer turned out okay, definitely not a cream ale (more like a strawberry Belgian ale). If I were to brew this again I would adjust the grain bill a little bit, use more strawberry puree, and a yeast like California ale from white labs. I definitely want to use Sundew for a different recipe in the future.
Best Regards,
-Dennis Gifford