Lost

Recipes 

Unibroue makes what I would say is easily the best weizen I've ever had. I'm glad I finally found a place that sells this.. I wish I had found it sooner. How they make the weizen-y flavors so smooth and yet pronounced is beyond me... the phenols flavors aren't sharp at all. I also don't know how they can make the beer 9% abv and yet not have an alcoholic taste when the the beer is neither hoppy nor dark and malty.

I know most of you have tried it but if you haven't then all I can say is you owe it to yourself. If you're not sure if you like weizens then this is definitely a good place to start. Anyone have a clone recipe?

edit: I should say that the beer is not listed as a weizen - it's a belgian strong ale, probably because of the alcohol content. But it sure tastes like any other weizen. Better than Tucher by a long shot. Of course I haven't been drinking weizens for very long so I may be way off base describing the flavors as very reminiscent of a hefe.. anyhow it's great beer, of this I am certain.

Monk

Recipes 

I've found that many strong belgian (and some belgian tripels) have a similar clove/banana flavor. It comes from the yeast methinks. I've had la fin du monde, but not in a long time. Liked it back then.

organicbrewer

Recipes 

La Fin Du Monde is a Triple not a wiezen

Lost

Recipes 

Yes, I see that it is not labeled as such on the bottle. However, as I said above, it tastes very much like a weizen.. at least to me it does. I think Monk hit the nail on the head.. it's those funky yeast strains the Belgians are using. I'm thinking I should try one in my next batch.. any one have a favorite strain? It would have to be from whitelabs..

Beer Advocate lists the beer as a Belgian Strong Ale, not a trippel. Of course the BJCP guidelines list it as commercial example of a trippel and they're pretty much the authority when it comes to these things. Anyhow, it tastes very very little like other tripel's I've had (St. Bernardus Tripel was probably the best). It's a lighter color and has a prounounced wheaty and phenol taste. The flavor isn't as sharp as the weizens I've had - Franziskaner Weissbier has been my favorite so far, Tucher wasn't bad but I wouldn't buy it again. Point is, whatever it is and whatever it tastes like, it's good and I'll definitely be buying it again. Or, better still, I'll make a batch if anyone has any suggestions. I'm assuming candi sugar would be invovled... but beyond that I'm really not familiar with the belgian styles.

I guess to my unrefined palate a lot of those belgian beers taste quite similar probably because of those yeast strains - they do seem to be the overriding flavor in those beer styles.

Axegod

Recipes 

The same company makes a rye flavoured brew (rye grains) called Raftman.
Its quite nice !

__________________
Primary : 5.5 G of Hard Cider
Secondary:
Bottled:
On Order: Got it all..for a few months
Thinking about: Plisner malt and saaz hops
Drinking: 5 G- Kidney_Punch Wine, 10 G Canadian Pils, Euro Pilz

Orpheus

Recipes 

I've had a few of the beers as well: Fin du Monde, Maudite, Raftman, Blanche de Chambly, Eau Benite, and La Gaillarde.

Each beer has a unique story to it. Maudite for example:

I remember many a night in Montreal drinking these products that I don't remember many a night.

__________________

Rodan

Recipes 

I was just reading what you guys had to say about one of my all time fav breweries.

The La Fin du Monde is a tripple. I think you may be confused because of the absolutely amazing yeast strain that they have. I heard that they spent a long time with that yeast because it was cultured wild (very wild). Took them a while to get it where it is today.

If you want a wheat by unibroue, buy a Blanche de Chambly! Its fantastic!!!

The worst thing is (for us homebrewers) is that we cant culture the yeast from the bottles. They are so protective of that amazing yeast that its ONLY used in the primary fermentation. After, the beer goes through a series of filterations, hence filtering the yeast strain out so no one can steal it! Bottle conditioning is with another, more neutral yeast strain.

I brewed a couple belgian style ales so far (all grain). Wyeast offers a "canadian/belgian" yeast 3864 (obviously a unibroue-style strain). I used this yeast in my tripple. My point? You MUST ferment that yeast at really hight temps to get all the complexity (and it still isnt as wild as the original unibroue strain). If you ferment at low temps, you wont get what your looking for.

Just my two cents!

Chairman Cheyco

Recipes 

Hey Rodan, you got any recipes for Unibrou stuff?

Also, we should hook-up, I don't really have anyone to brew with in cow-town.

__________________
Once the wind has been broken, it cannot be fixed.

Rodan

Recipes 

oh rad! You live in Calgary! Hey where do you get your brewing supplies? I made a really early transition to all-grain and since then i just order my stuff through Vancouver... place called Dan's Homebrewing Supplies (which by the way is a GREAT place run by a guy who really knows his stuff).

Unibroue clones... hmm. I maintain that the biggest difficulty you will have cloning Unibroue is the yeast man. That yeast strain that they have is so unique, and i seriously think that its half the reason i love their beers so much.

In my opinion, the best chance you'll have is HIGH fermentation... like 28 degrees celcius. The Wyeast 3864 is a good strain (i didnt ferment it high enough though...) or try some of the other wyeast belgian yeasts like the saison.

I may try to clone one... but i havent heard of any really good successes yet.....
Plus, i just (yesterday) brewed a massive oatmeal stout for winter!

pm or something!

organicbrewer

Recipes 

Their yeast is one of the Wyeast special releases and i think is out now Canadian Belgs or something