Who Has Experience With Wyeast 1388 - Belgian Strong Ale?

[NoDoubtAddMoreHops]

Fun fact, this yeast does much better at higher temperatures. If you go to white labs website they have a document for what their belgian yeasts do at different temperatures. It's buried deep, here's a link:

http://www.whitelabs.com/files/belgianchart_0.pdf

Next time I brew a Belgian golden with this yeast or it's White Labs equivalent WLP570, I'll probably start at 66 and let it free rise to 74 and then hold it there. Also, sufficient yeast count and a step infusion mash 145-148 for 45 minutes then 152-155°F for 20 minutes

 

[m00ps]

Fun fact, this yeast does much better at higher temperatures. If you go to white labs website they have a document for what their belgian yeasts do at different temperatures. It's buried deep, here's a link:

http://www.whitelabs.com/files/belgianchart_0.pdf

Next time I brew a Belgian golden with this yeast or it's White Labs equivalent WLP570, I'll probably start at 66 and let it free rise to 74 and then hold it there. Also, sufficient yeast count and a step infusion mash 145-148 for 45 minutes then 152-155°F for 20 minutes

Fun Fact - EVERY yeast does "better" at high temperatures. Some just produce tasty flavors the hotter they are, some make nasty stuff

 

[kskiles]

After the first debacle, I brewed a small golden ale (1.042 OG) with the Whitle Labs version as a starter for another Golden strong.

I washed the yeast from the small one and will make 2 starters from that for the pitch in this new batch. That plus the added control of my chamber should do the trick.

 

[NoDoubtAddMoreHops]

Fun Fact - EVERY yeast does "better" at high temperatures. Some just produce tasty flavors the hotter they are, some make nasty stuff

Yep, that chart explains that a little further. This yeast produced better flavors in that upper range. I fermented in the low range and got some undesirable phenols last time. My wife liked it and apparently everyone else who tried it does, but coupled with the excess residual sweetness, I don't like how it turned out much.

 

[kskiles]

I am going to assemble the starter(s) this evening and brew Sat or Sun. Picked up what I needed from my LHS last night.

Am curious as to why to cold (66°). Does the yeast multiply better at low temp?

 

[beergolf]

Yep, that chart explains that a little further. This yeast produced better flavors in that upper range. I fermented in the low range and got some undesirable phenols last time. My wife liked it and apparently everyone else who tried it does, but coupled with the excess residual sweetness, I don't like how it turned out much.

Just be very careful of the higher temps. I would not attemp to start it out at the upper temp range. The fermentation will take off fast and create even higer temps, which will be difficult to control. If it gets out of control and gets too hot too fast, then you might as well call NASA and ask them if they want some rocket fuel.

I know this because when I first started brewing I read the often repeated " Belgian yeasts like it hot" I started a brew at 75 and when it took off ( and it took of fast) it got into the 80's befoe I could cool it down. Rocket fuel.

After brewing tons of Belgians I have found that the best way to handle them is to pitch at the lower end of the yeast recommended temp, hold it there for a couple of days and then slowly ramp it up to the upper end of the temp range. This gives the best flavor and the yeast will finish without stalling.

Am curious as to why to cold (66°). Does the yeast multiply better at low temp?

To answer your question. If you start at 66 and then let fermentation start. it is easier to control the temps without them getting out of control. Start high and the heat generated by fermentation may get the temp up faster than your fermentation chamber can cool it. If it gets too hot too fast, you run the risk of fusels.

 

[kskiles]

I started it off at 67° for the first 2 days. I bumped it to 69° on Wed and plan on bumping it to 71° tomorrow. It is pretty active but I did not need to put a blow-off tube on it. My OG was 1.070 so it is going to take a few days. What is a good temp to stop the ramp-up?

 

[yourlastchance89]

Sorry to revitalize an older thread but I wanted to share my experience with this yeast. I brewed a Belgian Golden Strong eleven days ago. OG was 1.076 with 3 lbs of Belgian Candi sugar added at flameout of boil. Reading about this yeast on various threads I went with a bigger starter. Utilizing the Brewer's Friend yeast starter calculator I boiled 8.1 oz. of DME in 4L of water and sat it on my Maelstrom stirplate for 2 days before to come to an estimated cell count of 409 billion cells. I always cold crash and decant my starters at least 24 hours in advance of pitching. One thing I did notice was after 36 hours in the fridge, this is the only strain I used that did not appear to almost completely flocculate and drop out of solution, so I decanted most, stirred it up, and pitched about 0.5 liters of starter solution in the beer. I did not oxygenate but I aerated the crap out of it with a whirlpool wand attached to a drill and dumped it in the fermenter. I've gradually increased temp from 64°F up to 80°F two days ago. It's been eleven days and in that time blow-off activity has almost completely resided to maybe a bubble every 5 minutes or so. I pulled a sample today and it read 1.002, which comes out to a little over 97% attenuation. Definitely getting alot of Belgian like esters from it with the most prominent being banana. Will let it sit for the next 2.5 weeks to see how it tastes from there before deciding to keg or not.

 

[luckybeagle]

Recently brewed a Belgian dark strong ale. ...... 1388 is definitely all about slow and low, but damn it's good!

I'm brewing an Affligem Blonde clone today using this yeast, and am already eyeing what I want to pitch the yeast cake into next. 1388 is Affligem's yeast (or at least what they are purported to use), but Affligem does not have a Quad/BDSA, so I'm curious... how did your Quad turn out, if you can remember?? What did you like/dislike about it?

I've done both a Quad and a Tripel with WY1214, but it came out way more complex and intensely estery than I cared for, so I'm excited to give this yeast a whirl.

Have you ever brewed a quad with WY3522? Has anyone? I've also brewed Blonde, Dubbel, Tripel with that one, with fantastic results, but never a BDSA/Quad...

If the 1388 Quad was good, would you care to post up your recipe and process?


Many thanks