Has anyone played around with this? I have heard of someone mention using Lalvin yeasts to ferment belgian strong ales but no details. I suppose it could give you excellent attenuation on a Golden strong ,for example, if it works?
From what I understand yeast such as the one Brasserie Dupont uses is very similar to a red wine yeast in its behavior.
If attenuation is your main objective, I don’t think it’s necessary. It’s no problem to get good attenuation with a standard Belgian strain. And it seems you’d be missing the flavors that characterize Belgian styles. But I have no direct experience.
No, attenuation is not the main goal. Just curious what it might bring flavor wise. Again, this was something I heard of in passing. Not sure what the ultimate goal or result is. I just wondered if anyone had any direct experience with it.
Maybe a small trial would be in order for fun. Say brew up 6 gallons and ferment 1 with wine yeast and 5 with a regular Belgian ale strain.
If you try it, please let us know what the results are.
you betcha!
I made braggot with wine yeast which was 2/3 honey 1/3 LME IIRC and it didn’t attenuate any where near what I thought it would. It was when I first started so there may have been other problems but I don’t think wine yeast can chew on malt like beer yeast can.
Great podcast from the brewing network on just that topic…well fermenting with wine yeasts. It was on ther Sunday Session show…so once you get thru all the Howard Stern-wanna-be-ism’s of the show they actually get down to business:
http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/The-Sunday-Session/The-Sunday-Session-11-23-08-Shea-Comfort
“Wine consultant and home brewer extraordinaire Shea Comfort joins us on The Session this week to talk about using wine yeast in brewing to add more complex, fruity, and/or wine like dimensions to your beer. If that’s not enough, Shea also teaches us about using oak in different parts of the brewing process to reach different desired affects and also what the main difference and characteristics of the different oaks available are. And it’s all done in a way that is both technical, and plain enough for Brewcaster J to understand! …weird.”
Man, I wish it were any other podcast. I really cannot listen to that show anymore. Talk about a disservice to beer. >:(
I think I would rather experiment with wine yeast myself than listen to that.
I think near the end the saison episode of The Jamil Show
one of the WhieLab’s Whites mentions a wine yeast that
people are using.
Any updates on your project Enso? I am planning to make a sour with wine yeast and Brett.