Questions About Belgian Dubbel Yeast Use

[ronclark]

Hey all,

I am getting ready to brew a Belgian Dubbel.

According to Beersmith, my OG will be 1.084.

I am using Wyeast 1762 Belgian Abbey II yeast.

Yesterday, I made a starter with one pack of yeast and added a hop pellet for preservation purposes (Thanks folks on the board for laying out the information on doing so). The starter is as per John Palmer's instructions.

That is where I stand. However, this is a pretty big beer for me.

Should I consider using two packs of Wyeast 1762 or tossing in a small amount of dry yeast to insure complete fermentation? I have a second pack in my fridge and don't mind sacrificing it in the name of beer.

The Yeast starter portion of Beersmith appears a bit off to me. I have had this on a few recipes where it tells me that I should use 5-13 packs of Wyeast yeast for a 5 gallon batch of beer (sometimes below 5% ABV).

Anyway, any help on this and moving this guy forward to making a solid beer is greatly appreciated.

 

[usfmikeb]

That yeast is very prolific. If you've made an appropriately sized starter, and aerate your wort, you'll be fine.

 

[beergolf]

1.084 should be fine with that yeast and a starter.

Another thing that I do sometimes on bigger Belgians is to hold off adding the sugar until fermentation starts to slow. That way the yeast starts off on a smaller brew, eats up a lot of the fermentables and then when you add the sugar it will start up strong again.

 

[iparks81]

I think you're fine with 1 smack pack...how big was your starter? Ive got a belgian in primary that I used this yeast with. It's OG was .1079 I had a 1.5 Qt starter and had vigorous (blowing out blow-off tube) fermentation in 14-ish hrs.

 

[GuldTuborg]

how big was your starter?

That's the real question. If your starter is appropriately sized, you'll be fine. Even if you're close, there will be no reason to worry. Use the mrmalty calculator to figure out starter sizes.

 

[ronclark]

1.084 should be fine with that yeast and a starter.

Another thing that I do sometimes on bigger Belgians is to hold off adding the sugar until fermentation starts to slow. That way the yeast starts off on a smaller brew, eats up a lot of the fermentables and then when you add the sugar it will start up strong again.

My fermentables will consist of approximately 10 lbs. of malt extract and 1 lb. of dark candi sugar. Would it be better to hold back some of the ME or the candi sugar? Thanks.

 

[GuldTuborg]

It might help to hold off on the sugar until fermentation dies down. I commonly use that technique for bigger Belgian ales, as do many others. It seems to help, but I haven't done any side by side comparisons with the same wort.

 

[beergolf]

My fermentables will consist of approximately 10 lbs. of malt extract and 1 lb. of dark candi sugar. Would it be better to hold back some of the ME or the candi sugar? Thanks.

Use all of the extract, then about 4-5 days later boil the sugar in a little water and cool it down, then just dump it in the fermenter. Be sure to have a blow off tube for a beer that big. You will probably need it.