belgian ale - wrong yeast?

[Karle]

I brewed a high gravity Belgian ale this weekend (OG 1070) but since I could not find a special Begian Ale yeast in the two homebrew shops I went to, I took a wheat beer yeast. I made a starter (one dry yeast, approx half a litre of water, gravity 1030, at 20 degrees C, left it for 7 hours) and after pitching it in the wort it's showing vigorous activity.

I know that the yeast isn't perfect - could it be that it will be killed by the developing high alcohol levels and not finish the fermentation. Should I pitch a second round of yeast?

 

[shot0rum247]

If I am understanding you correctly you are assuming your yeast will die off once the alcohol levels start to rise. I wouldn't make that assumption until it happens. It's good that your yeast is off to a good start so let it ferment. Once there is no activity in the airlock take a gravity reading and check out where you stand. If you are way off, go ahead with some more yeast ( would recommend using the same stuff). Also for future reference, making a starter with dry yeast does not really do anything for you except open yourself up to contamination but they are really for liquid-suspended strains. I think your beer will be fine.

 

[Bigsnake]

I'd actually be interested to see what the results of that beer are like with a different yeast strain. I think so much character of a beer comes from the yeast so I'd figure it could make a good difference in the final taste. Let us know.

 

[z987k]

aside from usually being more alcohol tolerant, Belgian yeast are known for the flavor they impact. I wouldn't worry about you yeast not attenuating, rather that your Belgian won't taste like a Belgian.

 

[Bob]

+1. The characteristics flavors of Belgian beer come from no other source than the yeast. You can brew a wit with raw wheat, Curacao orange and coriander, but if you ferment it with Nottingham, it won't taste like a Belgian-style Witbier. I ought to know; I've tried it. The differences are dramatic.

Will it be a Belgian-style strong ale? Nope. Not without the yeast. You're going to have a nice, strong wheat beer, that's for sure, and it'll be worth drinking. Just because it isn't going to end up precisely where you wanted doesn't mean the beer will suck!

Most all ale strains will ferment to high gravities without pitching more yeast. Provided you sufficiently aerated the wort after chilling, there ought to be enough stuff in there to ferment from 1.070. My worry is that you made a starter with the dry yeast. Quality dry yeasts have a sort-of starter engineered into the powder itself; that's why they tell you to rehydrate and pitch. You needed 14 grams of dry yeast to properly pitch your beer and you probably pitched 11g, so I wouldn't worry about stalled fermentation.

Cheers!

Bob

 

[Karle]

Cool, I'll let you know how it went and how it tastes in a few weeks' time. Thanks for the advice! I definitely have to organise some Belgian ale yeast and try again.

 

[carnevoodoo]

Just FYI, I would read up on starters again. 7 hours is really not sufficient time to build a starter. It didn't hurt anything, but I can't imagine it helped all that much.

 

[david_42]

Not many people make big wheats, so you might end up with something special.