WLP 400 tolerances???

[Rugrad02]

I brewed an all-grain Boskeun clone yesterday from the Clone Brews book. It is a Belgian Strong Ale with the addition of sweet orange peel and grains of paradise. The only changes I made to the recipe was an addition of 6 oz. of carapils to the grist as well as using White Labs WLP 400 Belg. Wit instead of the recommended Wyeast Belg. Witbier. I know this yeast has a medium alcohol tolerance. I was scratching my head a bit about the yeast recommendation as I've never seen this yeast recommended in a higher gravity beer. My OG came out to 1.092 which was a bit higher than I expected.

My question is, what constitutes medium alcohol? I'm assuming that this beer will probably fizzle out somewhere in the mid to low 20's and leave for a sweeter finish, which I'm okay with; I wonder if that was the purpose for this yeast recommendation. Has anyone else had experience brewing a higher gravity ale with this yeast? Any recommendations? Thanks.

 

[Hogarthe]

I haven't used that yeast, and I don't know if this is correct, but I always think of medium alcohol level as being 8-9% also, if you used a big starter and aerated the wort well, you should get the most possible out of the yeast.
Is that beer normally a bit sweet? I've never had it. the alcohol should help mask some of the sweetness, but if it finishes in the mid 1.020's I'd expect it to taste a bit sweet.

 

[Rugrad02]

Awesome, thanks for the info. I did do a starter and left it on the stir plate for 24 hours. I also aerated the the wort well.

 

[Rugrad02]

Ahhhh,

Okay, just noticed that the authors recommendation for yeast, Wyeast 3944, has an alcohol tolerance of 11-12% ABV. I assumed that WLP 400 and Wyeast 3944 were the same strain. Apparently I was mistaken??? Unless, they are the same strain and Wyeast accounts for the increase viability due to their smack pack starter?

 

[Toecutter]

I use WLP 400 all the time for my Belgian Wit. With that high a gravity make sure you use a good sized blow off tube. this yeast is very active and will spew all over. make sure to shake your carboy a couple times a day, it will stall a bit and some agitation helps it along.