Belgian Dubbel with T-58?

Has anyone tried making a Belgian Dubbel, or similar beer, with Fermentis Safbrew T-58 instead of one of the standard Belgian liquid yeasts?

The description of T-58 of spicey, peppery and esters makes me think that it would fit Belgians quite well.

I've used it for American style wheat beers....I can't really see anyone finding it very belgian-esque. I recall it being somewhat spicy/peppery but not really matching up with what you would expect from something like WLP500.

Faint is good because I don't want it to taste like a jalapeno!

GregKelley said:

Faint is good because I don't want it to taste like a jalapeno!

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Personally, I would stick with the usual suspects...I just don't think that T58 has enough character to really pull off an impersonation of a belgian style yeast. YMMV. If you roll with it, let us know your results.

yep, I agree. T-58 actually makes a decent american wheat, but I wouldn't use it in a belgian.
-J

Its S33 that is supposed to be suitable for belgial beers.
But IMO belgians thats the only style that really needs liquid yeast.

Belgians have the most unique yeast which is really the only link between all the different Belgian styles, don't mess with something that has been working for hundreds of years or you will end up with something completely different than what you are expecting.

Piotr said:

Its S33 that is supposed to be suitable for belgial beers.
But IMO belgians thats the only style that really needs liquid yeast.

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I have no idea why they have that recommendation on their prod lit...S33 is typically listed as the Edme strain, an English ale yeast. I've used it plenty and there isn't anything Belgian in the flavor profile IMO.

Austin Homebrew Supply lists T58 as their yeast recommendation in their "AHS Gold Seal Trappist Dubbel" kit. Mine is currently carbonating in the bottles and too green to pass judgement on yet, but AHS seems to like it.

Don't use dry yeast in a Belgian. It's really not worth the $5 savings. Get a good pedigreed strain of liquid Belgian yeast (there are scores of them out there, with huge differences between them). I like 3787. For a Dubbel, the Chimay strain might be good (1214). I'm trying 3522 next.

brewt00l said:

I have no idea why they have that recommendation on their prod lit...S33 is typically listed as the Edme strain, an English ale yeast. I've used it plenty and there isn't anything Belgian in the flavor profile IMO.

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I see that they add it to some 'belgian' beer kits, and some of my fellows homebrewers used it in witbiers and dubbels. But I've never used it, so most probably you are right.

I was listening to The Jamil Show about Blond Ale, and he also mentioned T-58 as dry yeast for belgians, but he was equally sceptical about the results of their work.

I do use the S33 for my Belgian Pale, typically because I don't want anything terribly pronounced. You will get an interesting fruitiness from it if you push the ferment temp up like you would with one of the Belgian strains. T-58, I am not totally sold on. It's a decent yeast, but I really don't know if it is capable of giving you some of the dramatic results that you can get out of something like 3522.

Thanks for the advice. I've typically not gone cheap, especially with my Belgians. But I'm going to give T-58 a try, not for the cheap factor, but for the experimentation. While I was at my LHBS, they told me that Hoppin' Frog brewery uses it in their Golden Frog, a Belgian Strong Golden Ale. That convinced me to give it a try. I will report on the results.

Apparently the De Struise Brewery uses T-58 in their Pannepot Quaddruppel, which is a pretty awesome beer. The brewers admit it here.

I've never used T-58 before, but the De Struise Brothers know what they are doing so I'd like to give it a try.

GregKelley said:

Faint is good because I don't want it to taste like a jalapeno!

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that's not the same spicey/peppery taste that we're talking about in beer. For a dubble you can't go wrong with wlp 500 or 530, both amazing yeasts. And yeast are what really set Belgians apart.

Brewbeard said:

Apparently the De Struise Brewery uses T-58 in their Pannepot Quaddruppel, which is a pretty awesome beer. The brewers admit it here.

I've never used T-58 before, but the De Struise Brothers know what they are doing so I'd like to give it a try.

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sorta kinda....

"We use our home yeast that is regenerated every 5 batches with 2 x 500 grams of T-58. But we use open fermentation too, soo there are always some extra bugs in our beer."

Ok. Well I am using it for my tripple. Lets hope it works out alright. I like the taste so far. I'll keep you posted. I plan to keg it tonight.

Thought I would update everyone. My dubble using the T-58 dry yeast turned out pretty good. I have a bubble gum smell to it and a little bit of a peppery taste. I think that this was helped by brewing in the summer which led to warmer temps (about 72 F or more) in the basement.

I haven't done this recipe with liquid yeast so I have nothing to compare it to. My FG was a good deal lower than what BeerSmith calculated (1.012 vs 1.018). Yes the actual SG was the same as calculated.

old bump, but 2 cents: I used T-58 on a witbier and a belgian golden ale. the golden ale had a fairly good, mild peppery and spicy, appropriate yeast character. on the witbier it was a bit milder but the spiciness was noticeable. you might do better with a liquid strain that is more specific or a reculture, but i disagree with what one poster said about 5 dollars savings. depending on where you might be, the difference could be between $3.50 for T-58 and $13-$15 for the liquid (the difference i've experienced at my brew stores).
if you're just giving a belgian a try for the first time you should give t-58 a shot if you want. if you want to make a very serious ale, maybe use a liquid