Supposedly this is the Orval yeast without the Brett. However, I brewed a Belgian Blonde ale with it a couple months ago and tasted a bottle last night and it DEFINATELY has Brett. I know that White Labs has quality control out the wazoo (probably better than mine) but I am wondering if this one got past them. Has anyone else used this strain from them lately and gotten similar results? I don’t particularly mind my results (I now have a great Orval clone) but I am glad I noticed this during fermentation and did not harvest and pitch this in my Belgian Golden Strong - as was my intention.
Earlier this year my Belgian Pale Ale was selected by a brewery in Seattle (Ruben’s Brews) to brew commercially. For that beer I use an isolate from a bottle of Orval I have had for over three years. Because we could not pull off the logistics of increasing my isolate to 5 bbl pitching size (I’m from CA) we substituted WL Bagstone Ale yeast for the commercial batch. Although I have not tasted the Ruben’s Brews version, Adam (owner and brewer) says it came out great. I am sure he would have mentioned any brett as it would be considered off for this style. If your in Seattle, check out Ruben’s Brews and my Belgian Pale.
Sorry for the typo on my earlier reply; As posted it’s “Bastogne” Belgian Ale Yeast
I have not had this experience with this yeast. Did a BGSA earlier this year with it and it was mighty clean after 5 weeks in the primary. Well, clean as in no Brett funk/tart.
I have had great experiences using it as the primary yeast in an Orval clone, then pitching dregs of Orval at bottling time to produce a very nice Orval-type beer.
I used WLP510 earlier this year on about five consecutive brews. The beer which was brewed with WLP510 is mostly all bottled now with no signs of contamination. It’s possible that you may have bought a bad batch.
Maybe. Nothing I have brewed before or after that batch has shown signs of problems so I don’t think it is my brewery. I was just wondering if anyone else had this happen. Doesn’t appear that you have. I have mine entered into a competition as an Orval clone. I’ll see how it does.
Thanks for the replies.
So how did you beer turn out?