I recently tried brewing my first Belgian IPA. I picked up WYeast 1388 because it was labeled as “Belgian Strong Ale” yeast. When I went to bottle the beer, everything smelled fine, nothing out of the ordinary. Everything looked okay, but when I sampled a little bit, I noticed a definite sour taste. I later read the profile that said it gives a “tart finish.” I was wondering if anyone else has used this yeast, and, if so, has does it make the beer sour, or did I probably have a sanitation problem? I bottled it anyway, since I put all that work into it, but if it went bad, I guess I’ll have to dump them out.
1388 is not sour the way a sour ale is. It is tart the way a ripe pear is, as opposed to sour the way vinegar or lemonade is. Would not have been my first choice for a Belgian IPA though, but it does make a nice tripel or strong blonde.
I agree with your sensory analysis, but I have had good success using it in a Belgian IPA. I think that the flavors may clash with certain hop varieties, though. My current batch used Palisades and Santiam and I’m not as fond of it as the last batch, which used a lot of Cascades and had some rye malt in it.
It’s the Duvel strain; do you think Duvel is sour?
The concept of Belgian IPA has the potential for clashing flavors galore. Most Belgian beers don’t use many late hops. Try to pick varieties that match the yeast character, or at least don’t conflict. I know several Belgian brewers use Amarillo, for instance, so you might try that.
