brewing a Belgian Blond Ale next. OG 1.064 mostly belgian pils. i don’t want an overly spicey/pepper taste that some of the belgian yeast are noted for. i’m leaning towards wlp575 - anyone have experience with this yeast and or thoughts on another?
Not familiar with White numbering, but WY3787 works great for that style. Might be the same thing.
Seems similar - i usually use white labs since its carried local; no shipping and i know how fresh it is.
WLP575 Belgian Style Ale Yeast Blend
A blend of Trappist type yeast (2) and one Belgian ale type yeast. This creates a versatile blend that can be used for Trappist type beer, or a myriad of beers that can be described as ‘Belgian type’.
Attenuation: 74-80%
Flocculation: Medium
Optimum Fermentation Temperature: 68-75°F
Alcohol Tolerance: Medium-High
575 is a nice blend. I’ve used it many times, including a Belgian Blond that took a BOS. If you’re looking to minimize the spiciness I recommend fermenting it cooler, below 65°. At the very end I warm it up to get it to finish out (I like mine very dry).
I have to say that I haven’t really enjoyed the blondes I’ve made with 3787. Of course, I’m not entirely happy with the blonde I just made with Ardennes, either, so maybe it’s recipe/process and not yeast. The most recent batch is better than the others, just not where I want it to be.
In general, I’m coming out too dry/ not enough body. I think I need to mash lower or get some DME that doesn’t attenuate well (partial mash recipes).
In general, though, I’m a big fan of the Ardennes strain. Whatever the WY number is.
If I go with 575, I was figuring fermenting initially at 65max, then let it rise after 3-4 days until I get to around 72 and let it finish out. I would like a little spice that balances, and would be happy if it finished around 1.010-12.
That’s really interesting. Because it flocculates so well I’ve had trouble with getting 3522 to finish dry enough. I just did a split batch of Blonde with 3522 and 3864 and they finished at 1.0150 and 1.0085, respectively. That wort was about 10% sugar too.
I’m really liking 3864 as an all-around Belgian strain so far. I also like 3787, but not in low-gravity beers.
If you do go with the blend, be prepared for it to change with re-pitching. That’s how the yeast labs get you!
Pardon my ignorance, but what do you mean by this
“If you do go with the blend, be prepared for it to change with re-pitching. That’s how the yeast labs get you!”
Its a blend of yeast strains and the ratio can change from batch to batch.
I used 575 on a dubbel recently and it wasn’t overly spicy. I like 530 and a low ferm temp for a subdued spiciness.
I though thats what he was saying regarding harvesting and reusing yeast. But are you also saying there is significant variation from vial to vial?
Not from vial-to-vial, but potentially from batch-to-batch if you harvest and repitch. The strains are present in a particular ratio in the vial, but each strain in the blend may grow at different rates, or have differing flocculation properties, etc. that may alter the ratio within the blend the next time you pitch it.
Huge fan of 3864 myself, bummer that it’s not a year-round strain. One hell of an attenuator, too. Just got my Quad down from 1.090 to 1.014, and didn’t care that my basement was barely 60 degrees the whole time. Works great on smaller beers, too.
Many of us are serial repitchers, and blends tend to be less reproducible. I’m sure Whitelabs uses the same ratio each time they make up a batch of vials.
Actually I gave some 575 yeast cake to a friend and he’s making a tripel with it. I’m sure it’ll turn out good.
3522 took my last blonde down to just about 1.0085 (going by memory I think it was 1.009). It doesn’t seem as thin as the previous batches, but still doesn’t have the body I want. I think I’m going to get rid of the sugar in the next batch and up the DME/malt. I also have some 3864 and was thinking I’d try that in the next batch. Maybe I need to do a split.
In general, I have a harder time making lower gravity beers that I am happy with than I do with the higher gravity ones.
You can culture it from the bottle and have it year round. I haven’t done a side-by-side but I have some cultured slurry and a pack of 3864 just waiting to go head to head.
My experience with 575 was also that there was some serious drift in the blend over batches. Of course, the first two batches I used it on were 10% so there was likely selective pressure to support the strongest strain of the three, so using it on more gentle beers would probably show less drift or at least less drift so quickly.
i’ve decided to go with wlp575 and see how i like it.
As far as the Belgian candy, i’m using 1# of it, and that has my OG target at 1.064. with wlp575, i’d expect to be able to hit around 80% attenuation and shouldn’t have any issues hitting FG of 1.012 or lower., so i’m wondering if i should add the Belgian sugar at the end of the boil, or wait and add it during fermentation? never used it before, so what do you Belgian brewers typically do?
I typically add my sugars at the end of the boil. I’ve added them to the fermenter when I have forgotten to add them to the boil, but not as a general practice.
I’ve always added Candi Syrup at the end of the boil. I suppose if you were brewing a super high gravity brew and were worried about attenuation, then you could add it to the fermenter, but IME I’ve never had attenuation issues even with my biggest Belgians.
makes sense - I’ve read people doing it both ways. most comments I’ve read adding during fermentation, is related to attenuation or caramelizing. they add it during fermentation so the yeast attenuates well with the wort before additional workload of the sugars is added. since I’m not pushing a very big OG and my attenuation target is within range, I’d presume adding it up front wouldn’t impact negatively.
It’s not my experience that adding all the sugars in the kettle will have a negative impact on attenuation. With a good pitch of yeast and good oxygenation I’ve had no trouble fermenting even my biggest tripels to the expected FG.
I know some people go for the additions in the fermenter, but for my money it’s just more work.