BGSA yeast comparison results; more confusion.

[BudzAndSudz]

Ok so the results are in!

I had made a 5 gallon batch with just 12lbs pale malt, tettnanger hops, and 2lbs turbinado sugar. Nice, simple recipe to really let the yeast shine. I split the batch between 4 different white labs strains, 500, 530, 550 and 570.
Out of my panel of taste testers (myself, SWMBO, and two friends) we all unanimously picked 530 as the best tasting. It had a delicate sweetness and fruitiness, subtle spicy phenolics and almost none of the tartness we found to be overwhelming in 570.

The problem here is that my goal is to make a Belgian Golden Strong Ale. This is pretty common knowledge that WLP530 is not the correct yeast for this style. If I brew this up, would this be the sort of thing that would get points docked at a BJCP event? I'm not worried about my house, I'm sure SWMBO and myself will drink the heck out of it (we chose it as the best, after all!) but if I decide to enter it in some competitions, I don't want to lose 10 points just because I went with a weird yeast.

Thoughts?

 

[BudzAndSudz]

My mistake, the hops were styrian golding, not tettnanger.

Also worth mentioning that 500 and 550 tied for second place in my book, and 570 had an off flavor that I just really didn't like. I hear that yeast is 100x better with extended aging though, which makes sense because I absolutely love Duvel so I was very surprised by that result.

 

[beergolf]

That yeast is fine for a BGSA. I don't use 530 but 3787 a lot which is supposed to be the same yeast and it works great.

From the Wyeast site


YEAST STRAIN: 3787**|**Trappist High Gravity™

Back to Yeast Strain List

A classic strain selection for brewing Belgian dubbel or Belgian tripel. This Abbey strain produces a nice balance of complex fruity esters and phenolics, making it desirable for use in other Belgian style ales as well. A flocculent, true top cropping yeast (additional headspace is recommended), that will work over a broad temperature range. This strain makes a great Belgian style “House” strain.

Origin:
Flocculation: Medium
Attenuation: 74-78%
Temperature Range: 64-78F, 18-25C
Alcohol Tolerance: 11 to 12% ABV or higher
Styles:
***Belgian Dubbel
***Belgian Golden Strong Ale
***Belgian Specialty Ale
***Belgian Tripel
***Bière de Garde

 

[BudzAndSudz]

Thanks for the response! I figured it would be fine, but since tripels and BGSA's are so similar, and BGSA grain bills are usually so simple I didn't want the yeast selection to be the thing that really makes it lose points in a competition.

Does the taste of this strain change much as the beer ages? For the taste test everything was only about a month and a half old, so I know that influenced the outcomes.