Belgian Ale Yeast/Brewing experiment

Hi, everyone. I'm new here, but I've just had some inspiration for an experiment I'd like to try with White Labs Belgian yeast strains, and I though some of you may have thought through some of the issues associated with this.

Basically, I'd like to make up an all-grain 5-gallon batch of wort for a tripel, and then split it up into 3-5 parts, each of which would undergo fermentation with a different strain of White Labs Belgian-style yeast.

I'll probably stick to a VERY simple recipe, so that I can really focus on comparing the effects of the different yeasts. Maybe something like

12 lbs. Pilsner malt
1.5 lbs. sugar (inverted by boiling in water with lemon)
2 oz. Hallertauer (1.5 oz. 90 min in boil, 0.5 oz 5 min in boil)
1 oz. Saaz (0.5 oz 90 min in boil, 0.5 oz 5 min in boil)
Single infusion mash, 90 min, 150 F; batch sparge at 170

Has anyone tried anything like this? Are there any pitfalls associated with a small fermentation volume (~1 gal), and are there ways to avoid them? For this small a volume, will I still need a starter?

All the best, GB.

Sounds fun!

It's more carboy cleaning, but I guess 1gal carboys are easier.

I would like to know how this turns out!

Shea Comfort is a yeast guy ( Welcome to the home of the Yeast Whisperer! ) and I listened to an interview he did with The Brewing Network guys last year.

He is a big advocate of doing what you are doing and then blending the beers afterwords. This way you can control how much of each yeasts characteristics you end up with in the final beer. He also said that White's trappist and abbey yeasts (500 and 530) are quite compatible and you can pitch them together in whatever proportions you like to get the characteristics you want.

Thanks for the linkage. I'll post an update when I am a little further along. Should be brewing this saturday!

I just did a little experiment with WL400 Belgian wit yeast, and I noticed a significant difference between the finished product in one 6 gallon batch and the 5 -1 gallon experimental brews, but I think this was due to pitching rates.

I made a starter for the 6 gallon batch, and calculated that I pitched twice the amount of yeast than in the 1 gallon batches.The one Gallon batches lacked haze and fruity esters.

One thing I have found with the WL Belgian yeasts is each strain acts different depending on Temperature, so you might want to consider that too in your experiment.

I've brewed several batches with the WL400, at different temps and found that pitching at 68ºF and raising the temp over the week of fermentation gradually to 78ºF creates a good complex ester profile. And with the Trapist ale yeast, bringing it up to 82º did it vary well.

Hey,

I was wondering how this turned out. My buddy is about to buy his first brew kit and is a huge Belgian beer fan. I was hoping to give him more info about the different strains than is available on White labs web site.

-Aaron

Looks like a Belgian Golden Strong Ale to me.

GordoBrews said:

Has anyone tried anything like this? Are there any pitfalls associated with a small fermentation volume (~1 gal), and are there ways to avoid them? For this small a volume, will I still need a starter?

Click to expand...

I do this all the time when testing new yeast to compare the differences. No theres no pifalls and no need for a starter with such small batchs.