Belgian fermentation temp question.

I have never brewed a Belgian and really wanted to put one in the rotation for this year.

I was reading through the recipes for the Belgian's on tis site and noticed that most of them recommend fermenting at 85 degrees and maintaining at a stead temp of around 70 degrees. Currently, I ferement at the temp of the house or if I need to warm I use a space in heater in a small bathroom. I have no way maintaining a constant temp and I'm not certain I could reach 85degrees in the house. Any options? Or should I wait until I finally build a kegerator with temp control?

What kind of Belgian?

I was thinking a Dubble or a Triple.

I also like the sound of this one:

Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: WLP500, Trappist Ale
Yeast Starter: 2 liter
Batch Size (Gallons): 5
Original Gravity: 1.090
Final Gravity: 1.010
IBU: 33.2 ibu
Boiling Time (Minutes): 90
Color: 18.6 srm
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): starting at 65, increasing to 75 over 7 days
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 9 months @ 75 degrees
Tasting Notes: it is outstanding in my eyes

In Stan Heironymous Brew Like a Monk that yeast will give you

75°F-85°F
Fruity, Mod Phenolic, Solvent

67-75°F
Spicy, Light Phenol, Fruity

58-66°F
Clean, Balanched, Earthy

From my recollection, 65-75 seem to be more common for Belgians. The only one I can think of that gets up to 80 or more is Saison. The best bet is sticking to the high 60s to low-mid 70s.

If I remember correctly, Belgians are particularly exothermic so your temp inside could be a bit higher than ambient.

So, it sounds like I could give this a try maybe when the weather warms a little more and the house temp is warmer. Maybe I will shoot for an April/May brew month.

Thanks for the advice!

Trappist yeast @ 85? Sounds like fusel oil hell.

I pitch my belgians at 65 and let them naturally heat up and cool as the fermentation progresses. I have thermostatted chest freezers, so I put it in at 65 and shut down the stat at the first sign of fermentation. After a week or so, I set the stat to whatever temperature the carboy settled out at, typically around 70.

I had a really hard time getting complete attenuation in belgians without temperature control. Brew Like A Monk talks about it - abbey yeast is robust in many aspects, but even slight downward spikes in temperature can stop it before a reasonable final gravity.

So, yeah, I recommend better temp control. I buy old chest freezers from craigslist - if you're patient, you can find ~15 cubic foot boxes for less than $100 - and stick analog thermostats on them. Yeast health is also very important, as I mentioned in a recent thread.