ABV Limit of Belgian Strong Ale Wyeast #1388

[jsteyer]

Hi,

I am going to brew a modified clone of Gulden Draak tonight and am wanting to push the gravity up a bit.

According to Wyeast, Belgian Strong Ale (1388) can handle 12-13%, but being fairly new to brewing and never having used this strain before I wanted to see if anyone as some insight as to how close I should/can push this to the 13% ABV limit?

Thanks!

 

[DannPM]

Not sure myself but do you mind posting your gulden draak clone? I've been looking for a good one.

 

[avidhomebrewer]

I've used that strain to make many big Belgian brews. If you do, make a huge starter (look on this forum how to make one if you don't know how) and aerate the wort after transferring to primary for at least 5 minutes with oxygen.

 

[jtejedor]

As long as you have a proper starter it should handle that and maybe even a little more. Also the golden draak yeast is out right now as a seasonal yeast the flanders golden ale. If you really wanted to be dead on you could use that. But 1388 should make some tasty stuff too.

 

[AmandaK]

Also the golden draak yeast is out right now as a seasonal yeast the flanders golden ale.

What company (Wyeast/White Labs) is making that? And what #??

And to the OP, yes, that 1388 will handle some high ABVs. I have a BDSA sitting at just under 11% that I made with it a few months back.

 

[jtejedor]

Its one of the Wyeast Seasonals thats out right now actually.
Wyeast 3739-PC Flanders Golden Ale Yeast.

 

[jsteyer]

Sure, here is the original clone. I strayed away from the pure Gulden Draak clone by substituting the Goldings with 1 oz of 4.5 AA Wilmettes, and upped the specialty grain and LME a bit to get an OG of 1.22 - estimating 12.95% ABV.

I also had 1/2 oz of Valencia orange peel, so I threw that in as well.

Gulden Draak Clone
TYPE: Partial Mash
Taste: (35.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 4.08 gal
Estimated OG: 1.109 SG
Estimated Color: 21 SRM
Estimated IBU: 26 IBU
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
11.00 lb. Extra Light Dry Extract (3.0 SRM) Dry Extract 77.74 %
1.00 lb Wheat Dry Extract (8.0 SRM) Dry Extract 7.07 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 7.07 %
4.00 oz Aromatic Malt (26.0 SRM) Grain 1.77 %
2.00 oz Biscuit Malt (23.0 SRM) Grain 1.41 %
3.00 oz Caramunich Malt (56.0 SRM) Grain 1.41 %
1.00 oz Brewer's Gold [10.70 %] (60 min) Hops 13.4 IBU
0.25 oz Styrian Goldings [5.40 %] (15 min) Hops 0.9 IBU
1.00 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
0.50 lb Candi Sugar, Clear (0.5 SRM) Sugar 3.53 %
1 Pkgs Belgian Strong Ale (Wyeast Labs #1388)
2nd Choice: Trappist high gravity yeast (Wyeast Labs #3787)

Crush & steep specialty grain in 1/2 gallon, 150F water for 20 minutes.

Primary: 5-7 days
Secondary: until fermentation completes

1.25 cups extra light DME for priming - bottle condition for 4 weeks.

 

[PaulHilgeman]

3739 is an absolute monster. On a re-pitch, it took a BGSA from 1.085 down to 1.008 for me in 4 days at 68F.

1388 is much different in my opinion, it is temperature sensitive and a slow worker. Plus it throws a lot of apple and pear flavors. I think you need to treat it like Duvel does to get a decent beer out of it, and then it tends to be pretty clean. I did a 1.085 beer with it once, and it was just too much for it, I had a huge starter, lots of O2, but I could tell it just struggled with it, and never really tasted that good.

I'd say go with the 3739 if I were you, second choice would be 3787 or 3522. Then more of a last resort would be 1388.

 

[AmandaK]

3739 is an absolute monster. On a re-pitch, it took a BGSA from 1.085 down to 1.008 for me in 4 days at 68F.

1388 is much different in my opinion, it is temperature sensitive and a slow worker. Plus it throws a lot of apple and pear flavors. I think you need to treat it like Duvel does to get a decent beer out of it, and then it tends to be pretty clean. I did a 1.085 beer with it once, and it was just too much for it, I had a huge starter, lots of O2, but I could tell it just struggled with it, and never really tasted that good.

I'd say go with the 3739 if I were you, second choice would be 3787 or 3522. Then more of a last resort would be 1388.

Thanks for the info guys! I'll be looking into getting this 3739, I'm always looking to brew something Belgian.