Safbrew abbaye

[andrewmaixner]

I brewed a Christmas Belgian Dark Strong Ale almost 3 weeks ago with 2 packets of T-58. Fermentation took off almost immediately as I pitched somewhere around 68 degrees. I definitely had the sulfur smell coming through the air lock starting day 3 or so but it has curtailed and now just the sweetness of the beer comes through.

I brewed this with the intention of taking it to holiday parties which start in 5 weeks (Dec. 13th). If the hydrometer readings are consistent, is there any reason to leave it in the fermenter before bottling (this is only my 2nd batch, so I'm still pretty much a noob)? I'd like to start bottle conditioning early enough so the beer is mature enough for the holidays. I'll probably save a few bottles to test months down the road to compare as I know Belgians (and most homebrews) continue to improve over time.

Though this is slightly off topic for this thread, yes, go ahead and bottle it if the gravity has stopped changing and you need it ready in a few weeks. You might want to store it at a higher-than-cellar temperature (maybe 70-72F) to accelerate the conditioning since you plan to drink most of it next month.

 

[ABVIBUSRM]

My brother boaught me a pack of this a few days ago im gonna make a dubbel or a orval type brew i will let you know in 9 months

 

[jiggs_casey]

I was pretty surprised by this yeast! I brewed this on September 1st. for a November 1st tasting. I was in the mood for something with a really strong rye flavor. I questioned the addition of the caramel malt because generally, I don't like caramel malt but, I felt it would balance well with the rye. I wasn't disappointed!

10 gallon.
20 lbs Pilsner (2 Row) Bel (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 78.4 %
3 lbs 8.0 oz Rye Malt (4.7 SRM) Grain 2 13.7 %
2 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 3 7.8 %
4.00 oz Hallertau [4.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 4 29.2 IBUs

As stated in an earlier post, lag time was really short! Fermented at 65', left in primary until bottling (Oct 18th). I was really concerned that there wouldn't be enough time for it to carbonate. By the 30th though, it was fully carbed. Gorgeous, creamy head, smooth and strong rye flavor, offset by the cara notes. Pretty damned delicious! I really like this yeast. It will be fun to experiment with in the future!

Mash In: Add 35.08 qt of water at 167.1 F 156.0 F 45 min
Sparge: Batch sparge with 3 steps (Drain mash tun , 3.83gal, 3.83gal) of 168.0 F water

 

[RADMAD]

Bottled our Christmas beer this morning - a Belgian specialty ale spiced with bitter orange and Coriander. The sample tasted great. This beer used t-58 last year but was changed over to the new Abbaye yeast this year. Will be able to do a taste testing of the two in a few weeks.

 

[jspain3]

Bottled our Christmas beer this morning - a Belgian specialty ale spiced with bitter orange and Coriander. The sample tasted great. This beer used t-58 last year but was changed over to the new Abbaye yeast this year. Will be able to do a taste testing of the two in a few weeks.

Can't wait to hear how it compares. I think this will definitely be in my seasonal rotation for years to come.

 

[highgravitybacon]

I'm pretty interested in this yeast too. ¿Has anyone used it?

I tried it. I didn't like it at all. Sluggish performance, odd green apple flavor in the final beer. Weird esters, little in the way of phenolics. Not a very good yeast at all. I don't understand Fermentis yeast. Some are just awful. Of the remainder, only US-05, S-04, K-97 and 34/70 are worth getting. I don't understand how they make any money off those other yeasts.

But the Abbaye yeast, it's not even remotely worth trying when there's so many decent liquid yeast options. I'm pretty much done with these dry yeasts for anything even remotely Belgian.

 

[MXDXD]

I'm brewing one today (Some kind of Belgian Stout), then next weekend (some kind of Belgian IPA). Will report in due time.

 

[MXDXD]

It took off 75 minutes after inocculation, pitched at +- 68.

So far, so good.

 

[MXDXD]

I put on a blowoff tube (if only because I was extremely close to the top of the carboy), but while Abbaye would start quick, really quick, it wasn't much of a "riser" though, at least this time around. 3 days after brewday, I felt safe and confident to use an airlock.

However, the recipient of the blowoff (containing StarSan solution) was quite a bit sulfury.

 

[cgpeltier]

Brewed a Belgian specialty ale with juniper berries and nutmeg with this yeast. Been in primary for two weeks (in ~68F water bath, fairly steady temps) and still have an insane sulfur smell. Tasted with FG reading today (OG=1.069, FG=1.01 today) and seems more mellow and less spicy and fruity than 3787, for instance. I think it's possible that the lack of ester character could be because fermentation temps were pretty stable the whole time. I'm surprised to still have sulfur smell after two weeks, but will update with another week or so of aging.

 

[MXDXD]

Ended up bottling yesterday.

Went from 1.064 to 1.015. Good for 75,4 %, which is not far from bad considering I had +-15% of Cara malts/Chocolate Malt, and close to 10% of Brown Malt (about which I don't know THAT much about fermentability).

Started fermentation at +-63F and was able to raise it to 68F after 5 days at +-63.

Pre-bottling sample was... Actually very clean. No sulfur at all at this point and wasn't any different than, say, US-5 straight out of the cake.

I have a 2nd one fermenting at the moment (Pelgian IBA) with basically no non-fermentables, with the same temperature schedule.

 

[brewhaha_rva]

Just pitched this in a Belgo-American pale ale. Buddy of mine opening a brewery and wanted to know if this would be a viable back-up yeast for some of his Belgian styles. I'm going in with an open mind. I will say that I enjoy T-58, it's not the most refined yeast on earth, a little bit of a loose cannon, but I like it. I like the Westmalle strain the best for Belgians but in the spirit of experimentation, I figured I'd give this a whirl. Here's the recipe I went with.

10.0 lb 2-Row
0.75 lb Crystal 40L

0.75 oz Mosaic (US) 70 min Boil Pellet 11.6%
0.25 oz Mosaic (US) 20 min Boil Pellet 11.6%
0.25 oz Mosaic (US) 15 min Boil Pellet 11.6%
0.25 oz Mosaic (US) 10 min Boil Pellet 11.6%
0.25 oz Mosaic (US) 5 min Boil Pellet 11.6%
0.25 oz Mosaic (US) 0 min Boil Pellet 11.6%

Irish Moss

Safbrew Abbaye pitched at 61 degrees

OG 1.060
IBU 45

Fermentation activity noticeable at hours, temp rose to 64 with blanket wrapped around the fermenter after 36 hours. Lots of airlock activity.

 

[MXDXD]

Just bottled my 2nd brew with that yeast, which was a Belgian IPA. 4% CaraPils, reminder of grain bill being good fermentables. Mashed at 152.

Went from 1.058 to 1.010 in 3 weeks. Started fermentation at 62F, raised to 68F after 4 or 5 days.

The beer came out great -- faint traces of Aceltaldehyde, that's it -- and it was otherwise quite heavy on raisins esters. I didn't notice it in my earlier Stout, but it was very, very obvious in this one. Actually, the yeast was as much "present" as the hops... And there was 1 oz of hops in a 1-gallon brew.

 

[Newmanwell]

I brewed a Belgian blonde with it about a month ago. The fermentation was straight up sulfer. Like more sulfer than I've ever experienced. After crashing I racked into my keg for carbonation and I still was getting sulfer albeit much less. I just tried it tonight after two weeks in the keg and I'm still getting sulfer. There are some fruity esters and phenols there but I can't say much about them because the sulfer is still pretty distracting. I'll give it a few more weeks and report back.

 

[brewhaha_rva]

I brewed a Belgian blonde with it about a month ago. The fermentation was straight up sulfer. Like more sulfer than I've ever experienced. After crashing I racked into my keg for carbonation and I still was getting sulfer albeit much less. I just tried it tonight after two weeks in the keg and I'm still getting sulfer. There are some fruity esters and phenols there but I can't say much about them because the sulfer is still pretty distracting. I'll give it a few more weeks and report back.

I got a lot of sulfer as well, I splash-racked it into the secondary and that dispelled most of it. I dry hopped with two more oz of Mosaic and now I get some phenols, esters and mosaic hops off the airlock. Will report back.

 

[MXDXD]

Reports on the Stout, 3 weeks after bottling :
Still very green

 

[brewhaha_rva]

Well just bottled the Mosaic Pale Ale. First time using either the yeast or the hop. It's a fun beer. The Belgian character is there but it's subtle, as I intended. Wanted it to be a background note to the malt and hops -- a fun twist on a fairly standard APA. Mission Accomplished, as Bush might say. No sulphur, think the splash rack took care of that. Pitched at 58, rose to 68 before crashing back. I'm happy and will use the same yeast again for the fall edition of Dave's Pale Ale.

 

[andrewmaixner]

Well just bottled the Mosaic Pale Ale. First time using either the yeast or the hop. It's a fun beer. The Belgian character is there but it's subtle, as I intended. Wanted it to be a background note to the malt and hops -- a fun twist on a fairly standard APA. Mission Accomplished, as Bush might say. No sulphur, think the splash rack took care of that. Pitched at 58, rose to 68 before crashing back. I'm happy and will use the same yeast again for the fall edition of Dave's Pale Ale.

neat. I also used 3711 and bell saison yeasts for a borderline pale ale / mild IPA this year. I felt that the bell saison had a better (more appropriate, less intrusive) character for the style, but both were good.

 

[MXDXD]

A few weeks later...

My Stout doesn't appear to be quite ready. No problem with carbonation, but the beer still feels somewhat green and has that acidic tang. Maybe that taste will never disappear, but I doubt it. Worst case scenario, it's a pretty good beer.

The Belgian IPA is probably the best beer I ever brewed, but not quite sure of the role of the yeast in this. It feels Belgian, but it's a very, very clean beer. Might have to do with ferm temps that were quite low.

 

[andrewmaixner]

A few weeks later...
It feels Belgian, but it's a very, very clean beer. Might have to do with ferm temps that were quite low.

That pretty much mirrors my experience on the dark ale. Less "Belgian character" than the split T58 batch, and very drinkable.

 

[brewhaha_rva]

That pretty much mirrors my experience on the dark ale. Less "Belgian character" than the split T58 batch, and very drinkable.

Yep, I have a terrible habit of wasting a perfectly good beer 10 days or so into bottle conditioning just to see how it's coming along. Beautiful thick lace on the pale ale, tastes green as expected but overall it's way cleaner than I thought it would be. Will update in a week.

 

[Wheelspin]

Brewhaha, would you say Abbay is good for a Pale Ale as an alternative to Notties or 05 ?

 

[MXDXD]

Brewhaha, would you say Abbay is good for a Pale Ale as an alternative to Notties or 05 ?

In the low 60ies, its not as clean as Notty (it still has Belgian character, just very subdued), it's definitely not as flocculent. It is also much more expensive. Attenuation is roughly in the same range.

Never brewed with Abbaye in the hi '60ies, but at that point, US-5 is cleaner anyways. And Us5 is more flocculent as well.

I guess I'll stick to hoppy Belgian-ish brews in winter with Abbaye. Its not like you want an ester bomb in these anyways.

 

[Newmanwell]

So after a couple more weeks the sulfur has faded out. The esters and the phenols are light. Which leads me to my problem with dry yeast. There really isn't enough information about how much yeast is in a package. The manufacturer website says "at least" 70 billion cells. And mr malty says 220 billion. So who really can say how much you pitch. I usually get good results with Belgian beers when I under pitch a little.

That said I'll enjoy the beer while it's on tap but I wouldn't consider entering it into a competition.

 

[brewhaha_rva]

Overall my Belgian Pale Ale is good. I'm backing off on using this strain again, however. I'm just going to use White Labs 530. The extra $2 makes a world of difference in my book. It's not a bad yeast strain, it's definitely a Belgian. But the word that occurred to me was that it is a joyless yeast strain. A Belgo-American mashup is supposed to be fun, almost whimsical in my book: like Litle Sumpin' Wild. This yeast strain is pretty lifeless for a Belgian so I'm going to skip it and just do smack packs or white labs.

 

[RmikeVT]

I made a Belgian blonde (not really to style) with this yeast on 2/1/2015 -- 1.055 ish. I kegged on 2/14 to cold condition for two weeks. I am having trouble getting it to flocculate (I added 7g of Gypsum and 5g of Calcium Chloride so its not a calcium issue) and fermented side by side with a kolsch yeast, same wort. I waited two weeks and kegged and I am cold crashing in the kegerator. The Kolsch is already pouring transparent, but not quite crystal clear but the belgian abbaye yeast is cloudy and yeasty. I plan on laggering the Kolsch for 4 weeks and laggering/cold conditioning the belgian for 2 weeks before considering them ready to drink. I will post with more results.

The initial tasting, very undercarbed but cold, The Belgian Blonde tastes, well belgian and refreshing, although a bit green but I didn't have the same experience as the other poster who had an apple bomb. I suspect s/he let their temps get out of control. I chugged away in the low/mid 60's.

I will post again after it's had 2 weeks to condition out. I might add some gelatin to encourage the yeast to drop out. From the initial tasting I think this beer will be tasty and refreshing and I think this yeast is a good belgian dry yeast. I am definitely not getting anything offensive from it. A little apple and pear, some clove and spice. I'm not picking up much banana or bubblegum. I don't think it is a saison yeast as I'm not getting a ton of pepper and spice, and it didn't dry out the beer as a saison yeast would, although the beer is on the drier side. I will wait for it to condition and clear up before I make my final eval.

 

[TimothyPatrick]

The tripel that I made with this yeast is delicious. It was very green after one month of bottle conditioning. It's great now after 3 months of conditioning. It has the appropriate spiciness and flavor that one would expect from a tripel.
I will definitely be making this beer again.

 

[unclebrazzie]

Brewed a honey brown which I fermented with Safbrew Abbaye.

SG 1.050
FG 1.006

2 weeks in primary at 75F. Developed horrid sulphur smell and flavour during the first week, but cleared up afterwards. Very flocculent; beer became very clear around the two week mark. Developed a mild estery yeast presence, somewhere between peppery saison and fruity dubbel.

Ramped down to 40F over the course of another week. Very cohesive yeast cake made racking to secondary a breeze: not a speck of trub in the carboy.

While the marketing is misleading (no way this is your average abbaye yeast) and the intitial profile off-putting (that sulphur stench!), the end result may well be quite rewarding. I suspect this is a yeast which enjoys life on the warmer side, and is reluctant to release lots of typical banana esters unless coaxed to do so, either by fermenting quite a bit warmer than Safbrew recommends, or by combining it with another strain.

Overall, I'd use it again. Dubbels, browns, maybe a porter even.

 

[fuzzypennel]

I've tried this and have had good results with an OG=1066 brew (good flavour profile, good clarity etc)
I'm having another go now (similar OG) but more complex grain bill and 50g of Tettenang in the boil for 90 minutes. The primary is belting away now with the strongest fermentation smells I have experienced. It will be interesting.

 

[thecebruery]

Rehydrated and pitched 150g (a 25% underpitch, to encourage ester formation) in to ~1.75bbl of a 1.070 dubbel (mashed at 152F, added ~10% brown sugar, to give you an idea of fermentability) two nights ago. Took off fiercely within about 12 hours. I pitched at around 63.5F (17.5C) and have let it free rise up to 72F (22.5C +/- 0.5C, again, to encourage ester production rather than the phenolic notes a lot of people are describing). Smell coming off the airlock right now is a little fruity, mildly sulfurous. Will report back with how it turns out.