Belgian Strains for Apfelwein

Since there seems to be a lot of experimentation going on in the Apfelwein camp I was wondering if anyone had tried any of the Belgian style yeasts. Looking at their listed characteristics they seem to match up well with others that have already been tried. Many of them also allow fermenting at the higher temps that could be present for many of us as we head into summer.

If no one else has tried any of these I'll probably give one a try for my next batch. Any suggestions would be welcome.

Stryder

I'd be interested to hear about the results of this. I can see it either going really well...or not.

I think it would be good. Be preapredfor alength "animated" fermentation though.

I've decided to give the Wyeast 3942 Belgium Wheat a try. I'll get it started this weekend and see how it goes.

Stryder

I added wyeasts roeselare blend(lambic) to a 2 gal portion of my cider. Now ~2 weeks in carboy its pretty sour. As of now I wouldn't recommend it, but who knows. I'm sure I'm the only person crazy enough to try it. Lambic cider? Good luck with the wit yeast, should be interesting. Update when finished please.

I had planned to start the batch with the Belgium Wheat strain from Wyeast last weekend unfortunately it was backordered. I've just received word that it's back in stock and was shipped today. Baring further mishaps I'll get this little experiment started Sunday.

As often happens life got in the way for a few days but I finally managed to get started with the Belgian Wheat experiment yesterday. This morning it's bubbling away quite vigorously.

I used the following recipe:

3 Gal White House Apple Juice
2 Cans Seneca Apple Juice Concentrate
1 Lb Dark Brown Sugar
1 Pkg Wyeast Belgian Wheat 3942

I heated about 1/2 gallon of the apple juice just enough to dissolve the brown sugar. Added that to the remainder of the ingredients and let cool to room temperature then pitched the yeast.

OG was 1.068. Beersmith estimates final gravity to be in the neighborhood of 1.017.

The wait begins

I had a cider planned for this weekend, but I think I'll wait to hear the results of this experiment before I begin. I'm a fan of the belgian yeast for summer concoctions, and I'm interested to see how it would work in a cider. I'm too much of a wuss to try it on my own though (those smackpacks are expencive!).

mike

I transferred this to the secondary and checked the FG 2 weeks ago. It fermented down to 1.005 which is a bit drier than I expected. That should be about 8.5% abv. It had a light apple aroma but little evidence of apple in the taste. The alcohol was very evident. Not at all a harsh or bad taste but not what I was looking for either.

I had another taste of it last night and there seems to be a bit more apple/fruity taste.

I don't think I can make any final judgement at this point but initial impressions are at least somewhat positive. I'll try to give another update in 2 or 3 more weeks.

John

I was thinking of doing this exact thing later this week when I found this thread. I'm actually embarking on a quest to work my way through as many yeast/juice/adjunct combinations as I can in one gallon batches. I just want to make a really good cider that "I" like.

I'm actually planning on using the Belgian Lambic Blend Wyeast activator pack.