Switch from Abbaye to Kill Bananas?

General Homebrew Discussion
1

I have an old recipe I really like. I tried to kill myself with IBU’s, and by the standards of the time, the bitterness was pretty high at 60. I bittered with Nugget and then boiled a little Crystal for 15 minutes. Then I dumped more Crystal into the hot wort after the boil.

The grain bill is like an IPA. It’s 9 lbs. Maris Otter, 2 lbs. 10L crystal, and 4 ounces table sugar. I fermented at room temperature (75) because at that time, I liked bananas. I used Abbaye.

I made this stuff last month. I forgot the 15-minute hopping. I set the fridge at 63 to reduce the bananas, but some still came through.

It’s actually better without Crystal in the boil, but it seems to need more in the dry-hopping. It’s extremely balanced. Total session beer. I have had it for around a month, and the bananas seem to have dropped out.

I asked this elsewhere, but I’ll ask here anyway. I would like to reduce the bananas, so I am thinking of changing the yeast. S-04 was recommended. Sounds very promising. I still want a fast fermentation. I don’t want to use US-05 because it seems slow to me.

Am I better off trying S-04 or sticking with Abbaye and going down to maybe 60 degrees? I’m afraid Abbaye may be contributing more to the character than esters, so I don’t want to throw the baby out with the bath water.

Maybe I should just use Abbaye and let the beer rest a month before serving.

2

My thought is that if you like what Abbaye brings after a month of conditioning, I would stick with Abbaye. FWIW, I’ve never really liked S-04 (others certainly have different opinions), and it will be a very different beer with that. I did a batch with Abbaye last year at 64 degrees, and did not pick up any banana at that temperature.

3

I think going down to 60 degrees with Abbaye would slow down the fermentation, which isn’t what you want.

4

Why do you want a fast fermentation?

5

Let me suggest Verdant IPA as another dry yeast option. It throws some esters, but it’s mostly pear and stonefruit to my palate rather than banana. These esters tend to compliment hop flavors a bit more than a Belgian type strain would. If you’re looking for a yeast that is characterful, but with minimal banana, I think Verdant is the best choice of the readily available dry yeast strains.

6

Sounds like you’re after a Bepgian IPA. Try WY3522, the original Belgian IPA yeast