Gulden Draak

Ok, so I introduced myself where it says to. Now for the fun part

I mentioned in there that I was wanting to/ researchign the possibility of making a Belgian style ale. Specifically Gulden Draak, but with a twist.

I found a clone recipe in a book of mine, Clone Brews, by Szamatulski. You can search here for the recipe as someone also has posted it here.

My question is, would it be ok to use a different yeast than what the recipe calls for. Say a wine yeast, 4783 Rudesheimer. Riesling character, rich flavor, creamy, fruity profile with dry finish and a hint of Riesling sweetness in the aftertaste.

Then secondary it in a wine barrel that has had a tawney style port in it the past few years, and just got retired. (Friend works at the winery, and so it was a .......ummm.......gift):rockin:

I know it would not be an exact replica of Gulden Draak, but in you personal opinion, would it be ruining a good recipe to make those changes?

IMHO, a major part of what gives a belgian beer its flavor is the Yeast. Wine yeasts, even ones that are billed as full of character are much, much cleaner and fuller attenuating than pretty much any ale yeast, especally ones that are as full of character as belgian yeasts.

Now, some styles of beer I think that a yeast such as the 4783 could work with, granted that you built the recipies around it. Perhaps if you're looking for a riesling character, that a Belgian Golden Strong, which contained some reisling juice concentrate(if you can get ahold of it, some white grape juice concentrate if you cannot) to replace the high amount of simple sugar additions, fermented rather warm with the 4783 yeast would be quite interesting. I'm sure there are a few other combonations would work as well, but the key is to build your recipe around the yeast.

luckily there wont be much from a winery that I can not get ahold of. My friend is the chemist at the winery here, and has permission (I think) to help me out a little.

So you would not recommend trying what I asked, or try it but it won't taste like the Gulden Draak we all know and love? What is the consensus here? I know the yeast would not impart the same as the belgian yeast, but do you think it might be a good match with the ingredients of the recipe and the conditioning in the wine barrel?

you would end up with something much, much too dry- belgian breweries hit attenuation as high as 90% routinely, but i wouldnt be surprised if a wine yeast went even higher than that

using wyeast 1388 or 3787 will get you what you want- just aerate well (best with O2), add nutrient, keep temps in mid-60's until madness slows down, and then crank heat up to low 80's until the beer clears

what yeast does the recipe recommend?