Belgian Yeast Suggestion

[BigRob]

I make a lot of Saison, in my uncontrolled closet that ranges into the high 80s in summer, I would like to make some non-saison Belgians now a well.

Criteria:

1) Able to tolerate mid-high 80's temps
2) Available readily (No Private Platinum Ultra Limited unless it's upcoming and not already sold out)
3) Able to make decent low ABV beers and a tripel or quad a few cakes down the road.
4) Easy to use, don't mind peeking at blowoff buckets, but I'm not raising temps 1deg at a time for a this project

Mostly I'm looking for input, because there's at least a dozen options for yeast and I can only assume some are great and others not so great. So what's your favorite belgian yeast that fits my needs? Thanks for any answers, or I'm going to pick blindly when the urge to brew strikes me.

 

[BBKing]

I dont do a whole lot of Belgians....

However, my one thing is that I wouldnt pick yeast "blindly" when the urge to brew stikes me.

Ya gotta plan man. That said, good luck on your saisons!

 

[DannPM]

Tolerating mid to high 80's literally eliminates any strain I can think of other than the Saison strains. All I do is Belgians and I'm fairly familiar with the strains available.

 

[BigRob]

Cool beans, if all I can make is saisons in the closet so be it!

Also when I say picking blindly I mean I would purchase a pack then build a beer around it, not that I was gonna make an abomination.

 

[bigbeergeek]

The wit strains tolerate high temps and are "non-saisons."

 

[beergolf]

http://www.wyeastlab.com/hb_yeaststrain_detail.cfm?ID=65

If you check out the manufacturers web site they will give you some good info. Looks like most of the Wyeast Belgian yeasts temp ranges high end is around 76-80.

I have used several of them but always keep them in the low 70's, and have not used them at higher temps.

Search for swamp cooler. If you are only trying to keep the temp a few degrees cooler it should be very easy to do.

 

[thunder]

I make a lot of Saison, in my uncontrolled closet that ranges into the high 80s in summer, I would like to make some non-saison Belgians now a well.

Criteria:

1) Able to tolerate mid-high 80's temps
2) Available readily (No Private Platinum Ultra Limited unless it's upcoming and not already sold out)
3) Able to make decent low ABV beers and a tripel or quad a few cakes down the road.
4) Easy to use, don't mind peeking at blowoff buckets, but I'm not raising temps 1deg at a time for a this project

Mostly I'm looking for input, because there's at least a dozen options for yeast and I can only assume some are great and others not so great. So what's your favorite belgian yeast that fits my needs? Thanks for any answers, or I'm going to pick blindly when the urge to brew strikes me.

I would use some safbrew S-33.I have used this many times around 79
to 82 degree F see spec sheet:

http://www.fermentis.com/fo/pdf/HB/EN/Safbrew_S-33_HB.pdf

 

[bassbone]

If you are willing to use a swamp cooler, that opens up a lot of other strains.

If you search for that on the forum, lots of information comes up. Basically you cover your carboy with a tshirt, and put it into a big tub of water that you rotate a few frozen water bottles into every day. If you add a box fan blowing on this rig, it is fairly simple to keep a ferment temp 10-15 degrees lower than ambient temp.

That would lower your temp to the mid 70's which is pretty much the wheelhouse of all Belgian yeast strains.

 

[FatherJack]

Try taking Safbrews S-33/T-58 for a spin at those temps. If you've read the book Farmhouse Ales the author states that sometimes we shouldnt be afraid to step out of the comfort zone for fermentation temps and see what happens.

I'm doing a saison myself this summer once our temps hit the mid 80s consistently and I'm going to take one of these yeast for a spin and see how it goes.

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

I wouldn't get into the trappist/abbey strains that high. I would be too concerned with too much ester production and/or fusel production.

I do like to ferment my Belgians by pitching in the mid-60s and let it naturally go up through the 70s during fermentation and during clean up in the next 2-4 weeks letting it go up to 80F when it gets that warm in my house. I get good ester production without being overboard. I use a swamp cooler to stay in the 70s until fermentation ends. Then I let it sit at ambient.

 

[BigRob]

No room for swamp coolers, it's a closet. I have a fermentation chamber, it's full, I use closet for saisons because they don't seem to care, was hoping there might be a belgian strain that isn't horrible outside the lab spec temps. Will take a look at s33 and some kind of Wit strain too, thanks folks.

 

[DragonOrta]

I would look at either Duvel's yeast or Westmalle's yeast. Duvel lets their yeast get up to 79-84 degrees and Westvleteren uses Westmalle's yeast and lets it get up to 84. Duvel pitches at 61-64 and Westvleteren pitches at 68.

Wyeast 3522 also looks like it could handle temps in the lower 80s fairly well.


This post is all based on info in Brew Like a Monk.

 

[BigRob]

I just finished growing some Schneider Weisse yeast, so I'll look to see if I can't lay hands on some Westmalle or Duvel to culture from. Thanks a lot, this is exciting news

 

[pohldogg]

WLP410 Wit II is currently available and supposed to be less phenolic than 400 so it may be a good candidate if temps get high. My LHBS was out, but he checked availability from WL and they have it as in stock, so I had him order me one.

 

[norsk]

I brew Belgians for the most part and in the beginning I had poor temperature control but did well (with enough time) with 1214 and 3787...depending on what flavors I was shooting for. Went to mid and high 70's frequently but still came out great.....

Back then...to give them the best chance... I would brew mid day and pitch the yeast and begin fermenting that night while the temp would be lower for the next 14-18 hours or so...primative but it worked well......

 

[BigRob]

Thanks guys, I will give some of these a shot, if they don't work out it's not a huge loss but a man can only drink so much saison.

 

[bassbone]

Another option would be to use the fermentation chamber you mentioned only for the beginning of the brew (a week or so), and the take it out and put it in the closet.

That should let you utilize the ferment chamer for something else more quickly while keeping the belgian from tasting like rocket fuel