Safbrew T-58

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onemanlan

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Hello everybody,

I was curious about your experiences brewing with T-58 dry yeast from Fermentis. I recently purchased a Belgian Wit recipe at my local home-brew store and they shop owner like my Office shirt so much he said he'd 'upgrade me for free.' Good, right? Actually I'm not quite sure. Well I don't quite know what he was upgrading me from at the time, but I'm guessing it was supposed WB-06. He gave me Safbrew T-58 dry pack instead of the intended yeast. Being a microbiology oriented yeast nerd I came back home and researched the change immediately. It seems most people on this website are not a big fan of this yeast. That leads me to ask the question, 'why is this an upgrade?' if nobody here liked it? Does anybody know the answer to this? Any good experiences with T-58? Any special steps I should take(ie. don't make a starter, dry pitch, etc)? Also, if this is not a strain I want to use what would a good alternate strain be?

Thanks in advance!
-onemanlan
 
Any special steps I should take(ie. don't make a starter, dry pitch, etc)?
I'd rehydrate and make sure to pitch it in wort 65*F or lower if you can. Also, keep the fermentation low... dry yeasts are known to throw off more esters/phenols and T-58 is an especially phenolic strain. I'm not bashing it or any dry yeast... I use mostly US-05, S-04 and Nottingham. They just need a little extra care.

Also, if this is not a strain I want to use what would a good alternate strain be?
From whitelabs: WLP550 will work, though WLP400 or WLP410 would be best. 410 is less phenolic

From Wyeast: #1214 will work (similar to WLP550 I believe), but #3944 is their wit strain and is the one I would use.

Hope that helps
 
Well there are quite a few people who like this yeast and I currently have a small batch 9% brown brewed with this which taste like 1/3 Chimay & 2/3 big Am. Brown... GOOD stuff!

I'll direct you to this rather extensive, or at least the most extensive thread we've got on T-58. There's some good info in it and several people pondering the uses and reporting the results of T-58 in a Witbier.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/safbrew-t-58-a-160245/

Read the above thread and draw some conclusion. I say go for it and let us know how it turns out. Post it to the longer thread so we can continue to build an info base on this yeast. If I had to give a consensus it would be that this yeast lies somewhere between Belgian, Hefe, & Wit bier yeast. Depends on how you treat it as to what you get out of it.

Schlante,
Phillip
 
I just brewed my first batch yesterday, used T58. It's a Belgian Wit. It's fermenting right now at about 64F.
 
I have used t-58, it's ok, for something like a Belgium pale, but it doesn't put off the all the great flavors you get with the classic wit liquid yeasts. Dry yeasts just don't produce the classic flavors that make the style. If you want to do a wit use the classic liquid yeast for the style. Dry yeast is for styles where the yeast doesn't make the beer, they always loose some thing in the drying process.
 
Thank you all for your help. I can't believe I missed that thread especially because I made it a point to search it. Well thanks for letting me know. Ill update when I'm done with it to see how it turns out. What has me thrown off is the idea of spiciness in my beer. There is no beer that comes to mind that has a spicy taste. We'll see how it turns out!
 
I brewed a hefeweizen, split the batch, and pitched WB-06 in one half and T-58 in the other. Both were delicious, although subtly different. It's a matter of personal taste which is "better." I personally liked the T-58 better, as do a few friends, while my brother and some other friends preferred the WB-06.
 
Thank you all for your help. I can't believe I missed that thread especially because I made it a point to search it. Well thanks for letting me know. Ill update when I'm done with it to see how it turns out. What has me thrown off is the idea of spiciness in my beer. There is no beer that comes to mind that has a spicy taste. We'll see how it turns out!

Well, my beer hasn't finished fermenting yet, and I haven't tasted a sample, but my guess is that the spiciness refers more to a light peppery quality to the esters, not an actual burn-your-tongue heat. I can see how it would work nicely, and I imagine I've had beers before that exhibit this. None come to mind right now though.
 
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