Which yeast for a belgian tripel?

So, I got a Brewers Best Belgial Tripel kit for Christmas this year, and am just now getting around to brewing it. I have a question on wether or not to use the Nottingham yeast that came with the kit, or use a packet of safbrew s-33 that I just picked up while at LBHS.

Any input would be helpful, wanna brew this tomorrow.
Thanks

I would use a purpose strain liquid yeast like White labs WLP500 (trappist) or WLP530 (abbey). They are cultured for higher alcohol brews and provide the nice fruitiness distinctive to Belgians. I use WLP500 to make my 10% dunkleweizen (might up it to 12% next time) because it gives the estery flavors similar to a european hefe yeast but also attenuates the much higher gravity of the brew.

EDIT: didn't see that part of your post but the next best would be the s-33, also cultured for that Belgian characteristic. If that's what you have go with it, never used it myself so I can't comment on how well it'll do.

IMHO, pick up a true Belgian yeast for best results. I just brewed Saccharomyces' Belgian Pale Ale last night and it is fermenting away with WLP 550 after asking folks around here what they preferred and why. Here is the thread...

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/whats-your-favorite-belgian-yeast-strain-157208/

I plan to brew several Belgian recipes with this yeast at different fermentation temps, then repeat my favorites with a different strain. My FIL has brewed that kit several times with the packaged yeast and while it is OK, it is definitely lacking true Belgian character and "digestibility" only found with a true Belgian strain.

Happy Brewing

It's the yeast that makes a Belgian. Nottingham won't come close. S33 is also British, but I've never used it either. I'm a big fan of Wyeast 3787 and WLP550.

WLP500 for a dunkel? I've been looking for a good alternative to German weizen yeast for big wheat beers. Seems every time I've tried WY3068 on anything bigger than 5% I've ended up with undrinkable banana-phenol hell.

I have done a side by side of trappist and abbey yeasts from White Labs (5gall each). They are both delicious but totally different beers. The abbey is a bit more complex, the trappist is "Cleaner" in my opinion. I am not good at describing flavors though.
-Matt

SickTransitMundus said:

It's the yeast that makes a Belgian. Nottingham won't come close. S33 is also British, but I've never used it either. I'm a big fan of Wyeast 3787 and WLP550.

WLP500 for a dunkel? I've been looking for a good alternative to German weizen yeast for big wheat beers. Seems every time I've tried WY3068 on anything bigger than 5% I've ended up with undrinkable banana-phenol hell.

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Yea I know what you mean, first time I tried my Tripple Dunkelweizen I used WLP300, it tasted like maple syrup, caramel and banana with vodka (It actually got to around 8.5% abv). It was fairly drinkable after a year in the bottles though (flavors rounded out and alcoholic burn mellowed).

WLP500 makes a good dunkel, I got the idea after using it to make a dubble and thinking, "This is what I want my dunkelweizen to taste like"

Thanks guys, I went to my LHBS looking for the white labs yeast, but unfortunatly they don't carry, or were out of it. I did a quick search on my droid phone(man I love this thing), and from what they had to choose from, the s-33 was the only one that said anything about belgian, or trappist, so I purchased it, figured it was only 1.99, and I'll ask the folks at HBT what they think. I really want to brew it tomorrow as I just finished my keggle today, and am really itching to use it. I even picked up a bottle of Chimay Grande Reserve to celebrate.

I also just did the Brewers Best Dunklewiezen kit, and also their english brown ale(both also x-mas presents). The Dunkle used Munich yeast, and the English used nottingham, thats why i asked about using nottingham for a tripel. I thought that an EBA was nothing like a Tripel, so it was wierd that they would use the same yeast.

rerobb said:

Thanks guys, I went to my LHBS looking for the white labs yeast, but unfortunatly they don't carry, or were out of it. I did a quick search on my droid phone(man I love this thing), and from what they had to choose from, the s-33 was the only one that said anything about belgian, or trappist, so I purchased it, figured it was only 1.99, and I'll ask the folks at HBT what they think. I really want to brew it tomorrow as I just finished my keggle today, and am really itching to use it. I even picked up a bottle of Chimay Grande Reserve to celebrate.

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Drink the Chimay, pitch the dregs into a starter (1g DME to 10 ml water), and voila...you have a legit Belgian yeast strain!!!

hmm, how long do you need to let a starter umm, start, before you pitch it?
I've never done anything like that before. How do you know if everythings healthy and ok to use?

so thats 1 gram DME to 10 milliliters water?

rerobb said:

hmm, how long do you need to let a starter umm, start, before you pitch it?
I've never done anything like that before. How do you know if everythings healthy and ok to use?

so thats 1 gram DME to 10 milliliters water?

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I know you want to brew ASAP, but it can take a few days to culture yeast from a bottle. If you had a Wyeast or White Labs version I would pitch it tonight and brew tomorrow without issue.

Do you have a stir plate?

Whatever yeast you pick, I recommend mashing low 147F-152F. Also, if you want a Belgian true to style, be patient with the yeast until you reach absolute terminal gravity even if that means 3-6 weeks in primary. In most cases, you'll want a very dry beer. My 2 cents.

oh well, I'll just use the s-33 and see how it goes. I had already drank the chimay with dinner anyway. Thanks for everyones help.

I wonder why the don't supply different recipe styles with the correct style of yeast?


Yeah, I figured on 6-8 weeks primary, then a few months bottle conditioning.

I used Wyeast 1214 Abbey Ale and I fermented it @ 62 for the first five days and began ramping it up to one degree each day. The flavor is just what I was looking for, not too much ester formation but just enough to give it a nice banana flavor. As far as starters, I like to let mine ferment out for 18-22 hours and then either step it up to the next level or crash cool it.

TANSTAAFB said:

Drink the Chimay, pitch the dregs into a starter (1g DME to 10 ml water), and voila...you have a legit Belgian yeast strain!!!

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Be careful with that. You might also end up with legit Champagne yeast. A lot of breweries filter out the primary strain.

smizak said:

Be careful with that. You might also end up with legit Champagne yeast. A lot of breweries filter out the primary strain.

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You are absolutely correct that you have to be careful with a lot of brews, but Chimay referments in the bottle with their primary yeast strain (Brew Like a Monk and many other sources) as do many Belgian breweries. Search these threads and you will find TONS of brewers who have yeast harvesting/ cultivating/ brewing with yeast from a bottle success stories.

Here are some resources for those who are interested (found with a quick search right here :rockin

http://***********/component/resour...363-round-it-up-collecting-yeast-from-bottles

List of breweries that condition with primary strain:
http://www.nada.kth.se/~alun/Beer/Bottle-Yeasts/

If anyone has other (read more comprehensive and/ or current) info, please share! This list is from a site that was last updated in 1996!!!

I am a big fan of 550. I am also hot on La Fin Du Monde, the one beergasm I am assured with a twist of the top. So whenever we do a blonde Belgium brew it seems to be impossible to avoid at least a 4-pack and throwing all the lees into the fermenter.

So pretty much I end up with bastard Belgian yeasties, 550 plus La Fin Du Monde. So good it hurts.

Wyeast occasionally offers Unibroue yeast in their private collection as 3864. Sounds like you'd like it.

http://www.wyeastlab.com/PC2Q2010.cfm

rerobb said:

So, I got a Brewers Best Belgial Tripel kit for Christmas this year, and am just now getting around to brewing it. I have a question on wether or not to use the Nottingham yeast that came with the kit, or use a packet of safbrew s-33 that I just picked up while at LBHS.

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I picked this kit up a few weeks ago. When I pulled it off the shelf at the shop, the cashier took the yeast out of the box and dropped in some S-33 without even asking me. I was hoping to get some Wyeast 3787 Trappist High Gravity to use instead, but they didn't have any at the time. I might check my LHBS before I brew this weekend.

I was disappointed to see that the kit only came with 4oz of specialty grains. The rest is malt extract. I would like to add some more grains to the recipe. Brewing with grain (even if its just steeping) is more fun than "heat water, mix podwer". Plus it would boost the OG a bit. Any suggestions?

dmoore714 said:

I picked this kit up a few weeks ago. When I pulled it off the shelf at the shop, the cashier took the yeast out of the box and dropped in some S-33 without even asking me. I was hoping to get some Wyeast 3787 Trappist High Gravity to use instead, but they didn't have any at the time. I might check my LHBS before I brew this weekend.

I was disappointed to see that the kit only came with 4oz of specialty grains. The rest is malt extract. I would like to add some more grains to the recipe. Brewing with grain (even if its just steeping) is more fun than "heat water, mix podwer". Plus it would boost the OG a bit. Any suggestions?

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You wouldn't want anything more in a tripel, but if you want to convert it into a strong dark ale, go for it.

Keep in mind, however, that getting high enough attenuation for either of these styles can be difficult, especially with extract. If you push the OG too high you make things harder.

My first attempt at Belgian Tripel was my favorite 5 yrs ago,
using Nottingham. I've tried T-58, Safbrew (33 I think)
Wyeast - Begian Abbey I think & possibly Trappist.

I also had my best hard CIDER using Nottingham - vs. Cider House Rules, and other special cider yeasts, some of which just tasted like Asti Spumonti / champagne, which I don't like.

Mark

SickTransitMundus said:

It's the yeast that makes a Belgian. Nottingham won't come close. S33 is also British, but I've never used it either. I'm a big fan of Wyeast 3787 and WLP550.

WLP500 for a dunkel? I've been looking for a good alternative to German weizen yeast for big wheat beers. Seems every time I've tried WY3068 on anything bigger than 5% I've ended up with undrinkable banana-phenol hell.

Click to expand...