Safbrew T-58

[EvilGnome6]

Any comments on how this one does for bottle conditioning? According to the manufacturer description it's often used for that because of its high alcohol tolerance and will stick nicely to the bottom of the bottle. I brew a lot of high gravity Belgians and want a good strain for fresh bottling yeast. I've been using Nottingham lately but I don't like how it clumps together in little chunks.

 

[ate-star]

Is T-58 good for wheat beer, like Hefe? Has anyone brew wheat beer with T-58?

 

[ghpeel]

I haven't done it, but it seems like it would <del>definitely</del> <i>maybe</i> make a decent hefe just based on the smells I'm getting from my Belgian Amber.

Update on my own brew: DAMN its better than it was a week ago.

This yeast has surprised me. The beer I'm drinking tonight has less banana than my first one, which is good for making "Belgians" instead of hefe's. I'm getting some Belgian-y "bread" aromas, and with this particular recipe (malty amber ale) I'm thinking that I could make a decent Three Philosophers Clone if I added some cherries to the secondary maybe.

My beer is slightly more bitter than I would like, which is weird because I planned on it being only about 20 IBU's, but I think with some more time this will shape up very nicely.

 

[MVKTR2]

I was trying for a dark american ale, but I fudged it a bit. There's a bit of chocolate flavor and a nice cascade kick. OG 1.073, didn't take a FG.

If you'd like, I could bring you a bottle. I go between the west suburbs and hyde park every weekend.

Oh how I wish you could bring me a bottle, but that'd be a long drive as my location is 'Oprah's birthplace' as in rural Attala County in Misisipi. But hey if you're up to it, I'm game! :fro:

As for my brew I'm still a ways away from being able to offer any tasting notes of worth as mine isn't even a week old yet. I plan on checking the gravity on Thurs. which is day 9. If it's good I'm gonna cold crash it and bottle it the following Tuesday. Wheat biers are usually good young, this will be yet another test for this yeast.

Schlante,
Phillip

Tasted the hydro sample last night at 2 weeks. Just so happens I was drinking a Paulaner's Hefeweizen at the time of the tasting. My bier is an attempt at cloning a now discontinued local Krystalweizen. The bier, Blue Heron, reminded me of Paulaners only maltier, less wheat, and more bubble gum/banana forward. My clone attempt is all those things exactly. The nose, esters, and profile is dominated by banana, then bubble gum, then undertones of clove and just a touch of spice. It's also fairly malty and the gravity went from 1.055 to 1.011. I'm cold crashing it right now in a 30 degree fridge for a week or so before bottling, trying to help get a 'krystal' bier. btw I fremented in the high 70s and as high as 80-82 degrees for a brief period.

Is T-58 good for wheat beer, like Hefe? Has anyone brew wheat beer with T-58?

I would say this yeast made a pretty good hefe for me on my one attempt above. The hydro sample was suprisingly close to the Paulaners I was drinking at the time. The Paulaner's was more bready/wheaty but the recipe accounts for this as I only had 35-40% wheat malt in my bier. The Paulaner's also had more clove/spice flavor, but I anticipate a lowering of the fermentation temp would balance it out between the fruity esters and spice. I'll definately be brewing up a batch of 50/50 wheat/marris otter and fermenting in the 72-75 degree range with this yeast at some point in the future to see what the results are for a true hefe. I say go for it, I think it'll come out pretty good.

In my one experience with this yeast I'd say it's more a hefe yeast than a belgian. Others thoughts on this? If I were attempting a Belgian style with this yeast I'd absolutely definitely most assuredly under pitch to try and coax more complex esters/spice and maintain temps in the high 60s until fermentation was almost done then let it go to finish/dry the bier out.

Schlante,
Phillip

Ps I was thinking this might be the yeast used to brew North Coast's PranQster bier? Didn't do any research on it, but it certainly is more fruity estery for a Belgian style than spice forward.

 

[loganb]

last night i had one of my cheater bottles that isnt really ready but close enough. man i gotta say that this yeast is awsome already. my recipe was 2 row and amarillo .5oz FWH and .5 10 min but there was alittle hop aroma but more fruit aroma and i kept the temps around 64ish. cant quite put my finger on it but it kinda smells like pear or apricot its kinda weird but awsome my wife said it smelled like banana and pears but i only got a small hint of banana. flavor is really good got some hop aroma but this yeast really stands out flavor wise. i think it would be pretty good in a belgian IPA. this is my new favorite yeast i think. i will let you know how they taste in a week or 2.

 

[jrfuda]

I took another gravity reading last night. Now it's down to 1.013. Seems like it's never gona quit! The sample tasted great. The only downside is that it's more bitter and less aromatic than planned due to the restarted ferm post-dryhopping kicking out alot of volitiles. Sort of tastes like a cross between an American Pale Ale and Belgian Dubbel right now. I'm going to take more gravity reading over the next couple of days to see if it's finally leveled off for good so I can crash cool and bottle.

It's interesting that the yeast seemed so neutral when I transferred from primary, then - when ferm restarted, it started giving me more of the attributes we expect of a belgain yeast... probably due to the low (61F) in the primary and warmer (68-72) in the secondary.

Looks like it'll be a tasty beer, probably my best yet (my 6th homebrew).

 

[beerandcoding]

I'm brewing a Wit with this yeast right now. Currently at about the 72 hour mark and I am getting a peppery, pineapple aroma off the sample glass I pulled for taking hydro readings. I am fermenting in the 72-74*f area.

Here is the recipe I used

5.5 lbs German Pilsen Malt
1.0 lbs White Wheat Malt
2.5 lbs Flaked Wheat
1.0 lbs Flaked Oats

0.5 lbs Rice Hulls

.50 oz Mt. Hood @ 60
.50 oz Mt. Hood @ 20

.75 oz Coriander @ 5
.50 oz Orange Peel Granules @ 5
.07 oz Chamomile @ 5 (2 one gram, all chamomile tea bags)
Zest of 2 medium oranges @ 5

Mashed @ 149 for 60 minutes, sparged @ 170.

Cheers!
Kevin

 

[beerandcoding]

**Update**

The Wit I am brewing is now 4.5 days in the fermenter. I took a hydro sample today and I am already down to 1.013, just shy of my target FG at 1.012.

I'm going to leave it in primary for a full 2 weeks before bottling, so I'm sure whittle off another .001. I read that the yeast doesn't attenuate well, but I am already at 73%, albeit I started with tame OG of 1.048. Still, I am quite happy with its performance so far.

Cheers!
Kevin

(The information is also posted in my thread about T-58's fermentation)

 

[fredthecat]

i've heard from other people and i thought in other threads on here that the general consensus was t-58 was bad??? im thinking of trying it for a belgian golden soon, it'll be alright? especially considering im totally limited to dry yeast at the moment

 

[Crazytwoknobs]

It's not bad, it's not what I expected.

It would work for a belgian golden, I'd imagine it'd have that bitey taste thing that Leffe has.

 

[MVKTR2]

**Update**

The Wit I am brewing is now 4.5 days in the fermenter. I took a hydro sample today and I am already down to 1.013, just shy of my target FG at 1.012.

I'm going to leave it in primary for a full 2 weeks before bottling, so I'm sure whittle off another .001. I read that the yeast doesn't attenuate well, but I am already at 73%, albeit I started with tame OG of 1.048. Still, I am quite happy with its performance so far.

Cheers!
Kevin

(The information is also posted in my thread about T-58's fermentation)

Keep us updated, any progress on the flavor?

As for my wheat ale with the very high ferment temps, I bottled it on March 6th. I fermented in high 70s low 80s then cold conditioned for 2+ weeks in the high 20s. At bottling I was watching for alcohols and got very little in my 5.9% abv malty wheat bier. It's slightly less banana/bubble gum than first reported with the hydro sample, with more balanced spice & clove coming through. I'm VERY pleased with my wheat and think it would be a dead ringer for a Paulaners if I had the correct 55/45 wheat-base ratio and fermented in the mid 70s. Solid weizen yeast with enough flexibility to probably work with lighter belgian/wit biers. I'll be using again soon, am even doing an experimental brown ale with it this weekend.

Schlante,
Phillip

 

[ghpeel]

Had another of mine last night. Its sort of a sweet amber/brown Belgian ale ("Rare Fox" in my signature). I'm getting lots of banana in the nose and tons of juicy, pleasant flavors.

As others are stating, I am starting to think that this is going to be better for Hefeweizen or Wit-style beers than for Belgians. Maybe ferment it a little cooler for Belgians to keep the banana down a little.

After being disappointed with WB-06, I am really happy to have a dry yeast that can make good Belgian/Weizen beer!

 

[beerandcoding]

MVKTR2: I pulled a new sample the night before last and am down to 1.010, putting my attentuation around 78-79%. I was getting more fruit in this new sample, but still more pineapple than banana.

For what it's worth, I pitched around 80*(F), let it drop to around 70* and then naturally ramp back up to around 75*. After fermentation slowed (day 3 or so), I let the temp naturally drop instead of forcing it. It is in the 60-64* range currently. I was attempting to avoid the clove taste and I think this process achieved that.

The hydro sample tasted very good; wheat forward with the spices building at the end of the taste. Not quite as peppery as I hoped, but I'll probably still try this yeast on a Saison next.

I plan to bottle tomorrow night, I check back in when I crack the first one open in a few weeks.

Cheers!
Kevin

 

[beerandcoding]

I cracked open on of my Wits tonight. Yeah, only 4 days in the bottle, I know.

My friend had a 6-er of Mothership Wit so we could compare. I wasn't attempting a clone, but my Wit is tasting damn close to New Belgium's brew. Mine has a slightly richer spice profile while Mothership has a more peppery finish.

Cheers!
Kevin

 

[B-Dub]

I use T-58 to bottle most of my Belgian style beers. With a low temperature threshold, high alcholol tolerence and highly flocculative properties it makes bottling to easy.

BW

 

[smizak]

I use T-58 to bottle most of my Belgian style beers. With a low temperature threshold, high alcholol tolerence and highly flocculative properties it makes bottling to easy.

BW

I want to do the same with a Tripel I'm going to brew. I plan on crash cooling it with gelatin, then adding a little T-58 to the bottling bucket. I love my belgians, just not the gunk I always get in the bottom of the bottle.

 

[beerchemist]

I used T-58 for what started as a high-gravity Spiced Baltic Porter, figuring the yeast character might complement everything else I added. Pitched at 68 F, hit 82 F within a few hours. After 10 days, I actually came in *under* my expected FG by a few points. It cleared the beer like nothing I've seen before, but still carbonated very quickly in the bottles (thick, persistent head after only a week). Definitely tastes more Belgian than I expected it to.

I'll have to try the T-58 again in a simpler beer, but this yeast really impressed me the first time.

 

[78kombi]

Ive often wondered about half pitching, or mixing yeasts to cure that over Belgian taste.
say 11g -05 and 5g T-58 for clean up??

 

[smizak]

Ive often wondered about half pitching, or mixing yeasts to cure that over Belgian taste.
say 11g -05 and 5g T-58 for clean up??

I love wyeast 3787 because it's not overly fruity, and has a nice phenol bite to it. Ferment it cool (68ish and lower) and it will be pretty clean.

Just curious, why brew belgian-styles if you don't like the yeast? You can use whatever yeast you don't like the yeast character. Brew it with all US-05, it won't be a bad beer.

 

[alcibiades]

i made a straight forward belgian ale with it, and it was quite good. Fermented at around 68.

 

[MVKTR2]

T-58 update time. I brewed a small batch parti-gyle and pitched T-58 slurry into the bigger bier. Fermented this bier at 64-68 F. This was a 1.093 OG brown ale with a basic grain bill IIRC of Marris Otter, Crystal, Pale Choc., Choc., & flaked wheat. Bittering & flavor hop additions were Willamette. At less than 2 months old this bier is SUPER good, super smooth. WOW I'm just blown away. Best I can describe it is that it taste like 1/3 Chimay & 2/3 Am. Brown ale. It's got a mild fruitiness with an even milder spice, sort of British in character. Maybe with a sample in front of me I could describe it better but this'll have to do.

Schlante,
Phillip

 

[onemanlan]

I just made a house recipe for a Wit with T-58 a guy gave me as an upgrade. Though he didn't note which yeast he was going to give me if he didn't upgrade me so I am just running with it. What the hay, right? What could be the harm in having an extra unique strain around.

Wirror Bittering hops
Wheat Spray Extract - 4Lbs
Belgian Light Candi sugar - 1lb
Granulated white sugar - 2 cups - because I wanted to experiment
Bitter orange peel - .5 oz @ last 5 min
Crushed Coriander - .5 oz @ last 5 min

I made a 5 gal batch and the OG is at 1.055 now. I rehydrated the T-58 in 2 cups of water and pitched it into the wort while mixing slowly. We'll see how she turns out. I'm going to try to maintain the fermenting temps @ 68*F for this round.

I can't wait to see how it goes!

Edit.

Whao this yeast produces the most pure white krousen I've ever seen! It's so fluffy and large while being ghost white too! I'm pretty sure it's not only due to the ingredients, but as a result of the strain's coloration or secondary metabolite. Also to mention fermentation activity showed through the airlock within 8 hour of pitching!

 

[MVKTR2]

Wanted to throw out that I have another batch fermenting with this yeast, this time it's more Belgianesque. Basically a Belg. Pale Ale with 1 oz. fresh orange peel & 8 oz. homemade candi sugar added at 10 mins till end of boil.

Important thing is that I'm doing an open fermentation, I left the lid off for about 36 hours, basically high krauzen. I also top cropped the yeast during that time. Should be interesting & I'll update when tasting at kegging.

 

[sagnew440]

I'm getting ready to bottle my belgian wit that i used t-58 on. I've heard other people saying it would make a good hefe yeast. This yeast is definetly belgian(nothing like a hefe yeast IMO). Fermented low around 62 for a week, then it seemed to poop out. Started giving the fermenter a gentle swirl a couple of times a day and it started back up. O.G. 1.052 F.G. 1.010. This batch aint gonna last long.:rockin:

 

[jfr1111]

Will use T-58 for a basic Wheat next week. I'm brewing this for my girlfriend, and I want some subtle esters instead of just crazy clean attenuation that US-05 would give me. She loves the Canadian Belgian inspired White Beers, not so much the original Witbiers. Basically, I want something refreshing, citrusy and malty without coriander.

How high should I ferment if I want to avoid clove ? Banana and bubblegum would be fine in small quantities as they fade over time, but I still need for this to be ready in two months tops. I was thinking about starting at 68-70 and trying to keep it there.

 

[sagnew440]

I fermented around 62 and didn't get any clove. The lower you go the spicier it gets(so i've read). I really doubt you will get any clove out of this yeast(At least not like wlp300). I'd say starting around the 66-68 and letting it ramp up gradually should get you the bubblegum/banana your looking for.

 

[deathtomacro]

Here's one I brewed back on Dec. 18th
http://hopville.com/recipe/427180/belgian-pale-ale-recipes/smooth-belgianator

It was mashed at 153 for 60 minutes and sparged in 170F for 15 (following Deathbrewer's partial mash method on HBT)

OG. - 1.051 (lost a few from topping off too much.)

I re-hydrated and pitched two sachets of T-58 into a pretty well aerated wort (lot of sloshing back and forth for about five minutes, before pitching). Wort temp was about 64F. 2.5 hours later I had fermentation action! :rockin:

The temp had risen to about 68F and I let it do it's thing over night. The next morning I decided to put the brew belt on the bucket and that brought the temperature up to about 78F-80F (according to the fermometer) So, maybe a 85F inside temp? I left the brew belt on for four or five more days and then took it off and let it sit in the primary for seven more.

I usually usually keep the beer in the fermenter for a full three weeks, but decided to go ahead and rack it to the keg. FG. - 1.012

At day three of force carbin', I pulled off a few pints (first few sucked from pulling up what had fell out, bitter and somewhat bland). My wife and I had a couple the next night and it was really, really tasty! Nice subtle pepper, semi-spicy and a little fruity in the taste. More malty in the aroma and a little dank. This is an extremely interesting beer! Like a belgian pale/hefe hybrid.

Next, using the same techniques, I'm going to brew this modified version: http://hopville.com/recipe/459851/saison-recipes/belgianator-ii
Sorry for the novel; I like to be thorough.
Any thoughts?

 

[beerchemist]

This is quickly becoming one of my favorite yeast strains, after using it to develop my house summer beer:

50% Belgian Pils, 50% flaked wheat
Mash at 147
25 IBU worth of Cascade at 15 min.
OG 1.047, FG 1.006, no temp control for fermentation.

Clear, dry, extraordinarily quaffable. Except for the presence of hops, it could be a macro.

 

[deathtomacro]

Any tricks to getting a nice low gravity? Maybe the lower mash temp?

 

[beerchemist]

This yeast is a beast--it'll do most of the work for you.

Only other factors are doing a longer mash and mashing at a lower temperature (<150 F). On one of the earlier batches of that beer, I ended up at 1.004, and I think that was a 90 min mash at 145.