Belgian yeast

[breadbohn]

Hi All,

I brewed up a clone of the DogfishHead Raison D'Etre, from the recipe in Radical Brewing. However, my LHBS did not have the Wyeast strain 3522 that was called for. Oh, well, what the heck, how about another Belgian strain? So I picked up Wyeast's 1214 instead.

Question: What can I expect here? Am I making something completely different from what's intended? Or will it still likely be reminiscent of the Raison D'Etre? I really haven't understood yeast at all, except that there's a difference between ale and lager.

Thanks for any advice.

 

[Oldsock]

It will certainly be different, 1214 (Chimay) will give more fruit/banana than 3522 (La Chouffe) which tends to be milder and spicier. You will still end up with a good beer, but it will certainly have a different character.

I just brewed a Belgian Amber over the weekend with 550 (La Chouffe from White Labs), first time using their version of the strain.

 

[breadbohn]

Don't know if anybody still cares, but man, Oldsock nailed it. I just opened this Raison D'Etre clone after three weeks in the bottle. It's very drinkable, has the right raisin kick, I think, but there's definitely a little banana flavor. But not in a bad way, like a bacterial infection.

My mohter-in-law (not a regular beer-drinker) called this "the most unusual beer" she's ever had. For tonight, I'll take it as a compliment.

 

[BA_from_GA]

what's the grain bill you used? I love the raison, would love to clone it myself.

 

[breadbohn]

Here you go. The recipe is based on the one in Radical Brewing, but I swapped in demerara for candi sugar:

Fermentables
8 lbs light dry malt extract
4 oz. Crushed 40-50 L crystal malt
8 oz. Crushed light chocolate malt
6 oz. Pureed raisins
8 oz. demerara

Hops
1/2 oz warrior hops, 15% AA (30 minutes)
1/2 oz. Vanguard hops (end of boil)

Yeast
Wyeast 1214 Belgian Ale

Steep the grains for 15 min at 150F. Save 2 cups of steep water, and puree the rasins in this. Add this along with demerara five minutes before the end of the boil.

I found OG = 1.072, FG = 1.018

Enjoy!