What is your favorite yeast for a Belgian Golden Strong Ale and why?
Thanks for your replies.
WY1388. Duvel yeast. For me it pretty much defines the style.
I’ve used WLP570. However, it’s not just the yeast that will get you there. Ingredients, mash temp, fermentation temp and how you condition the beer has great effect. It’s very easy to end up with something more like a full-bodied Tripel than a Golden Strong.
You can’t go wrong with WY1388 or WLP570 (also Duvel). A recent golden strong my brother made turned out quite well with 570, it had a nice fruitiness it that definitely is reminiscent of Duvel. I bottled a golden strong last Tuesday that I fermented with WLP545, which is reportedly from Huyghe (Delirium Tremens, etc.). I haven’t tried the final bottled conditioned product, and there seems to be a lot fruit in the aroma (bananas maybe) and some spiciness, which is the yeast character was I shooting for. As for a favorite? I think may stick with WLP545 because I like the ester profile and it seems to ferment well. After two and a half weeks my beer went from 1.085 to 1.008 and finished with (a very smooth) 10.3% ABV.
I haven’t used WLP545, but White Labs claims it’s from the the Ardennes region, which is not where Huyghe is.
I did culture from a bottle of DT once and the result was great. Of course, when you step up from bottle dregs, YMMV.
I was looking at the yeast strain guide on Mr Malty ( Mrmalty.com ) and didn’t see WLP545 so I sent an email to Kristen England asking, and the reponse I got was Huyghe. I checked the map and I see what you mean, I’m not sure what to think now.
I really like the 1388, works really well for me. But I just brewed a 1 bbl batch using 3522 Ardennes yeast, which I believe is A’chouffe yeast. Curious to see how this one works.
What temperature do y’all ferment it at?
Yeah, I don’t know… White Labs already has strains sourced from most of the breweries in that region. Could be Caracole… BLAM says they have two different house strains, and given the White Labs description, the stronger one used for Nostradamus is a possibility.
:o
I start it around 62-63 and leave it there for a couple weeks. Then I let it go.
I start mine at 68, let it set for 2-3 days, then raise up 1* a day until it hits 75, and let it ferment out, usually 10-14 days. Once done, I’ll chill 10* a day until it hits 34, and let it stay there for a week or so, whenever I feel like bottling.
WY PC Canadian/Belgian strain. It’s restrained with gentle apricot and lemon character. Very very nice yeast for a light colored belgian.
This sounds interesting!
I forgot to mention earlier that the Huyghe identification came with a disclaimer, which was basically that is was more of a best/educated guess rather than a positive ID. I opened a bottle of my beer last night and there is a promininent banana-like fruitiness to the aroma. It’s been a while since I’ve had a bottle of Delirium, or Caracole, so I can’t quite recall their yeast characters very well.
That does sound really good.
As for temp, I started around 68*, though the first night it crept up to 73* while I slept before I got the temp down again the next morning. After that it was a fairly constant 68*.
I’d let it rip once it starts on the downslope of fermentation.
According to BLAM Duvel “ripens” in the bottle at warm temps for about six weeks IIRC.
The Duvel website gives the complete fermentation/conditioning schedule with temps. It looks like the final resting period is 6 weeks at ~41*F
Dusted off my copy of BLAM. It’s been a few years and am mixed up. Lagered for 3 weeks and then it’s about 10-14 days at 75F in the bottle.
Ah so they lager Duvel again at 41F for six weeks… I stand corrected.
I checked the Duvel conditioning schedule two Januaries ago for a failed gluten-free golden strong ale (it turns out lagering in my garage was a bad idea), and I was surprised to see the low temps.
I’ve got a hankering for Duvel now. :o
Seven years ago a 4-pack was $6.99… Now the same is $15.99! Which rules out my ever purchasing it again unless I hit the lottery.
Time to brew some Golden Strong… Sigh.
Cold conditioning can be beneficial for all beer once fermentation is done, not just lagers. Be careful, though, about the aggressive schedules you read about from commercial breweries. You want the beer to be done fermenting, and I’ve found that you’re unlikely to get that to happen as fast as they can on the commercial scale.