Belgian Golden Strong with T58??

[amcclai7]

I recently used T58 on a Belgian pumpkin ale and loved it! It took forever to floc and tasted a little wonky when it was first kegged but after 2-3 weeks in the keg it is awesome! I fermented low and its got this wonderful spiciness that compliments the pumpkin very well. I've heard that if you ferment higher you'll get bubblegum and banana.

I've got a bunch of Pilsner LME, cane and candi sugar so I figured why not try this style out? I strongly prefer using dry yeast but do use liquid if I think its worth it. For example, I think you have to use 1968 or WLP002 in order to create an authentic english pub ale. S-04 simply doesn't cut it. I'm wondering if this is the case with this style?

Has anybody used T-58 for this style and if so what are your thoughts? For those that recommend against it, what is you favorite alternative?

 

[propush]

Greetings!

I have used it several times in a golder strong. And I have also used the wlp550 the recipe called for on a different occasion.

I am not "pro" at describing flavor. But, the t-58 was very 'Trappist' like. It had this "messy and noisy" feel to it. Which isn't bad or anything - just depends on your liking. It yielded this at temp of 22C. I have heard people claim that it is the Chimay strain, and after tasting the Chimay, I must say that they seem to have a point there.

On a side note, I came across an awesome hafe-wise in some local brewery. Those are very rare / non-existent here. They claim to have done it with the t-58 at 19C instead of the usual 20+! So note the temp closely, if you use the t-58.

So, I'd say it is proper for Trappist beer. Golder strong can and was done with it (by me). It was good. Depending on your exact intention you may want a liquid alternative - as that makes a huge huge difference.

 

[rupert130]

I have recently used it to ferment a Belgian Pale Ale. I ended up with a beer that has a very fruity nose and subtle stone fruit flavors. Fermented at 65-68 F. It was a fast worker, but only attenuated to 70%.

 

[amcclai7]

Depending on your exact intention you may want a liquid alternative - as that makes a huge huge difference.

How so?

 

[propush]

I noticed that the same recipe with different strain can be very different!
wlp 550, wlp 530, t-58 - same recipe will give different flavors. As far as my (limited) experience goes.

 

[amcclai7]

I noticed that the same recipe with different strain can be very different!
wlp 550, wlp 530, t-58 - same recipe will give different flavors. As far as my (limited) experience goes.

Ok, I agree. There can be a big difference between different strains even those that claim to be similar. I thought you meant that there was a huge difference between liquid and dried yeast. That might have been true in the past but is much less so now.

 

[propush]

The difference between the dry and liquid is just that they are different strains - as you are probably attempting to say. And the dry verity is smaller, sadly. I can not even buy liquid yeast here at all!! Everytime a relative goes abroad I fill him full of yeast hehe!

 

[Hanglow]

Yes it's good, assuming you can avoid the banana/bubblegum

I made two big belgian beers within a week with T-58 so I could compare them, but the second one I fermented too high and it's a bit overpowering. The other though, I really like the spicey/peppery notes you get. I still prefer WLP530 though for that, but t-58 can be good. So my advice is to pitch a bit cooler, then ramp up later to get good attenuation


As for english yeast, s-04 is if anything even more of a "classic" english strain than the fullers one, it's a whitbread-b variant that has been used and passed on by I imagine well over a hundred breweries down the years. Whitbread, Thwaites, Shepherd Neame, St. Austell etc and all the micros they have helped out all came from whitbread b. Obviously it will have changed and adapted to each breweries system. I appreciate that as a lactic acid producer it is not to everyones taste, so if you don't like a lactic tang then avoid, I'd certainly avoid it in malty/sweeter bitters where it will jar with the other flavours, but in stouts it can be very good and sharper pale ales it's worth a try imo . YMMV as always

 

[RM-MN]

I recently used T58 on a Belgian pumpkin ale and loved it! It took forever to floc and tasted a little wonky when it was first kegged but after 2-3 weeks in the keg it is awesome! I fermented low and its got this wonderful spiciness that compliments the pumpkin very well. I've heard that if you ferment higher you'll get bubblegum and banana.

I've got a bunch of Pilsner LME, cane and candi sugar so I figured why not try this style out? I strongly prefer using dry yeast but do use liquid if I think its worth it. For example, I think you have to use 1968 or WLP002 in order to create an authentic english pub ale. S-04 simply doesn't cut it. I'm wondering if this is the case with this style?

Has anybody used T-58 for this style and if so what are your thoughts? For those that recommend against it, what is you favorite alternative?

Any feelings on how Mangrove Jack's Newcastle Dark Ale yeast would be for English pub ales?

 

[amcclai7]

Yes it's good, assuming you can avoid the banana/bubblegum

I made two big belgian beers within a week with T-58 so I could compare them, but the second one I fermented too high and it's a bit overpowering. The other though, I really like the spicey/peppery notes you get. I still prefer WLP530 though for that, but t-58 can be good. So my advice is to pitch a bit cooler, then ramp up later to get good attenuation

That's what I did with my the batch of belgian pumpkin ale that I mentioned earlier (pitch low and let it ramp up) My question is this: Would you recommend pitching low and holding it in the high 60s during active fermentation only raising the temp after it had slowed, or pitching low and letting it free rise?

 

[Hanglow]

On a big beer with lots of simple sugars, I would probably control it rather than let it free rise, as it could get hot a bit quick. You can ramp it right up though after a day or two, most of the off flavours are made during the initial growth phase I think