That’s cool, (no pun intended 
) I’ll give that a shot on my tripel to see if I like the improvements. WLP500 doesn;t get a lot of love but I find it is a very nice strain for Wit styles and it is a solid work horse and no fuss strain for higher gravity belgians as well, but it does have a tendency to throw some banana.
Only you can answer that, unless you want to send me some to taste! 
don’t be surprised if one shows up with some schlitz.
To anyone who uses sub 65f fermentation temps for Belgian doubles and/or strong dark - What can you tell me about the rapidity (fancy word eh) of your fermentation? Is that 62f ambient or 62f in the middle of the action? Can you describe the yeast character that resulted from that temp? What was the O&F gravity of the beer? Similar to what denny was saying, I’ve been seriously surprised at the recent onslaught of brewers who claim to take their Belgian beer fermentations into the high 80s. I’ve not brewed a Belgian (double or dark strong) ever, but my initial attempt would have used a 68-72f range (similar to what majorvices mentioned). For me that means starting at about 62f ambient with the actual fermentation rising into the 68-72f. Now I’m wondering what temp I’ll use for my initial strong dark.
I did read a quote from Ommegang the other day, “Regardless of how strong the wort is, the primary fermentation should be done in three to four days.” Even with optimal yeast quantity and health that almost seems to indicate a higher temp fermentation. He mentioned this as well, “If you have to err with fermentation temperature in a Belgian beer, it is usually better to go high.” Any thoughts?
I recall chimay blue being one of the beers that helped launch my interest in beer and brewing; haven’t had one in the last 15 years. Hopefully everyone who tries chimay, has their interest piqued and they continue to explore the world of beer (i.e. there’s a lot of good Belgian brews out there).
Belgian yeast can be fickle. They don’t always just rush through the fermentation. Some are, well, moody. You have to pay attention to them and not try to make them do something they don’t want to do.
In almost all cases, you should let the temperature free rise to wherever it wants to go. That’s a good reason for starting on the cool side. I find the strongest fermentations and best finishes come from not artificially constraining the temperature of the fermenter. Some of these yeasts will react quite negatively to trying to lower their temperature during fermentation.
Use all the proper tips for wort preparation (nutrients, oxygen, starter, proper pitch size) and the fermentation will generally be done in a week. If you aren’t measuring gravity every day (and I don’t) then it may not be obvious to you when fermentation is over; that could be where the professional quote comes from. I tend to let the beer go on the yeast a bit longer, until it flocs out, to give the yeast a chance to fully attenuate the wort and clean up after themselves.
To answer your original question, the temperature is the same in the wort and in the room when you pitch. As the yeast starts to work, the beer temperature will rise. Let it. You can move it to a warmer place if need be to have it finish, but I don’t usually do that until it’s done. It’s more of a conditioning phase than a fermentation phase for me.
The only thing I would be fermenting warm would be saisons, which seem to require that temperature to get full attenuation. But I don’t know what the other people are talking about. Chances are they haven’t been to Belgium, and that they like their beer to give them headaches. High temperatures will give strong flavors. Wrong flavors, but strong. So if someone is impressed by intensity rather than character, they will likely be happy. But I’d rather get it right.
What yeast are you planning to use?
I like to ferment WLP500 and 530 in the low 60’s to suppress some of the stronger esters and phenolics. Fermenting low keeps them from having a wild party. ;D
I usually pitch at 60-62 and let it warm up on it’s own. I usually get a few degrees of warm up during the fermentation. I’ve never had an issue with the fermentation in this range. YMMV
Recently did a Dubbel with Wyeast 1214. Made a bigger than normal starter and pitched around 60F. Limited the wort temp to 62F for the first week. Don’t take gravity measurements daily but the very vigorous fermentation went on for 3-4 days. By the end of the week, the krausen had fallen. Let the temp do what it wanted after that but it never really got very high.
I’ll have to check the OG and FG when I get home but, IIRC, it came out at about 7.5%abv
To me, this is such an important statement that I just wanted to emphasize it.
I had the blue label over the weekend and really liked it. My expectations were low as there was a LOT of yeast on the bottom of the bottle (bottom inch is more like it) not dense mind you but rising into suspension. It didn’t have the pucker factor I have come to associate with Belgians and I was suprprised to read the alcohol was about 9% because it was so smooth, easy drinking and tasty. Clearly, I’m really green in my experience with Belgians. However, the Chimay Blue label made we want to keep exploring. The red I found drinkable but I kind of had to “get over” the flavor I described above. Cheers!
- +1 This is the same conclusion I’ve reached for all the other ale styles that I make.
- I use a chest freezer with a stainless fermenter and it’s set up to moniter the temp inside the cooler and the actual fermentation temps, like you were saying I use the initial ambient (inside the cooler) temp to influence how high the “free rise” will end up. After the krausen has fallen, I will use a heat wrap to slowly/slightly warm the end of the fermentation.
- I suspect that they have misunderstood the “free rise” idea. Free rise starting at 70 is clearly way different from free rise starting at 62. (I notice that hokerer has figured this out as well.)
- I don’t know yet, gordon. Likely, I will ferment two or three strains seperately, taste individuallly and then blend. Or not.
cheers ron/hokerer and gordon.
I like Wyeast 3787 for both those styles. I also like Wyeast 1762 for the dark strongs. Those are WLP530 and WLP550, respectively.
My 2 favorite Belgian strains.
You keep this up and people will be telling us to get a room…
:-*
Hey, when you’re right, you’re right!
1762 is WLP 540, actually. It’s unfortunately a Platinum strain.
What’s your source of information? Mine came from Chris White.
My guess is Kristen England’s page on Mr. Malty.
Going over old notes while brewing last night, I noticed that I used 3522 (Belgian Ardennes) in a batch a couple years ago. The batch turned out memorable, though I have no notes as to flavor. Just fond memories and empty bottles…
I’ve not used the yeast since but I just might try it again in the near future.
FWIW, BLAM has 550=Achouffe and 540=Rocehfort. I have never used the WL versions of any of these.
Hmm, I’ll have to ask Stan where he got that info. My info is old, from around 2003, when I was doing a presentation at the Chicago NHC on Belgian Dark Strong Ales and asked Chris to check the data.
Wyeast 3522 is Achouffe; I got that from Wyeast when they first introduced it in 2000 (I think). Whatever year the AHA conference was in Michigan; I asked the Wyeast rep then.
I tend to use the Wyeast versions as well. I did a series of side by side tests and found I liked them better. Unfortunately, I didn’t try them across multiple fermentation temperatures. This was about 10 years ago, so I don’t know how much the strains have changed.
Basically, I found different Belgian yeasts that did what I wanted then stuck with them. About the only change I’ve made over the years is adding the WLP510 (Orval) yeast to my list of favorites.