Hops for a La Fin Du Monde clone

Hey guys, I'm about to brew my third batch and my first big beer: an extract La Fin Du Monde clone.

The recipe calls for 6 AAU of perle (bittering) and 4 AAU of styrian goldings (aroma). I hit up LHBS and found the perle but no styrian goldings, so I grabbed US goldings figuring they must be somewhat similar.

Just did some more research and discovered that styrian goldings are actually a fuggle offshoot. So I can either use the US goldings, go grab some fuggle from LHBS, or try subbing in some Willamette I have laying around.

Doesn't seem like a huge deal but I figured I'd get some opinions since this one is gonna take a while. (US goldings are leaf, willamette and fuggle would be pellet if that changes anyone's mind).

Well, I went ahead and used the US Goldings just to see how it'd turn out. OG 1.084. Pitched a 3 liter starter at 72F and the airlock was bubbling when I checked on it 4 hours later. Let it sit overnight and then dropped the temp down to 66 in the morning.

I have to say, I LOVE the smell of Belgian yeast working it's magic. At first it just smells like hops, then it gets a little more floral, and now it smells like La Fin Du Monde seeping out of the airlock. I used the Unibroue 3864 Canadian/Belgian yeast and I'm really excited to see what it can do.

JesperX said:

I have to say, I LOVE the smell of Belgian yeast working it's magic. At first it just smells like hops, then it gets a little more floral, and now it smells like La Fin Du Monde seeping out of the airlock. I used the Unibroue 3864 Canadian/Belgian yeast and I'm really excited to see what it can do.

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It's an odd yeast.. I was hoping someone else would chime in on experience with it.

I pitched it into a Belgian blond at 70F 2 weeks ago. It took off like mad.. bloop bloop bloop for about 3 or 4 days, then it sloooowed down and settled into some sort of groove. I think I'm at about 60% attenuation at this point (tested it last night).

It smells AMAZING so far! I definitely think it's a yeast for patient folks who don't get freaked out by lack of bubbly airlock.

Definitely give the yeast a bit of time to do it's thing ... The kit I am working with said 2 weeks primary, but after reading the various threads on this board, and confirming with my reading last night, I'm going to give it closer to 3 weeks. She's a slow but deliberate creature.

Mermaid said:

It's an odd yeast.. I was hoping someone else would chime in on experience with it.

I pitched it into a Belgian blond at 70F 2 weeks ago. It took off like mad.. bloop bloop bloop for about 3 or 4 days, then it sloooowed down and settled into some sort of groove. I think I'm at about 60% attenuation at this point (tested it last night).

It smells AMAZING so far! I definitely think it's a yeast for patient folks who don't get freaked out by lack of bubbly airlock.

Definitely give the yeast a bit of time to do it's thing ... The kit I am working with said 2 weeks primary, but after reading the various threads on this board, and confirming with my reading last night, I'm going to give it closer to 3 weeks. She's a slow but deliberate creature.

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Yea, I've heard about the same as well- it takes off and then will drop to a slow but steady pace. Mine took off right off the bat. 4 hours after pitching it was bubbling once per second and at 8 hours it was almost double that. Had to clean the airlock out in the morning. It calmed down a bit and then when I dropped the temp it slowed up even more. It's at 66 now just blooping away with small bubbles once every few seconds. I'm just gonna let it do it's thing for 2 weeks before I even bother taking a reading.

The recipe I used calls for 2 weeks in primary, 5-6 in secondary and 8 in the bottle but I won't rack it at 2 weeks unless it's damn near done. I'll definitely be doing a lot of experimentation with this yeast if this one turns out as good as I'm hoping.