Wyeast 3522

I'm going to be brewing a batch soon and my plan is to use Wyeast 3522 Belgian Ardennes yeast. I've seen Wyeast's description of this strain but I'd like to see an evaluation or two from fellow home brewers. What can I expect from this yeast?

I used it to brew the Antwerp recipe from the last BYO issue. I pitched just the smack-pack at 62 and brought up to 66-68 for a few days then let it rise up to the upper 70s to finish (no starter since I wanted to develop plenty of yeast character). The flavor profile has the typical Belgian yeasty bite to it like you get in a Wit, but the phenols I found to be surprisingly low; it isn't noticeably fruity, and the spicy character is rather subdued. Like most Belgian strains, it is a bit poky, after the initial vigorous (and I mean *vigorous*) fermentation, it burped on the airlock about 4-5 times a minute for over a week. I left it in the primary for two weeks and racked straight to the keg. It flocculated really well.

I don't get any aroma from anything other than the malt and hops. Definitely not the same character of a DeKoninck. Maybe next time I will try fermenting a bit warmer and see if it develops more character. I like Belgian pales so I will definitely give this strain a try again.

Cheers

- Eric

I made a belgian pale with it. I'm not good at describing some of the flavors, but I'd say that it has much of the character of La Chouffe. I think that's where that yeast comes from anyhow.