Combining yeasts (belgian tripel 134+256)

[DillBill]

Has anyone combined 134 and 256? I'm interested in brewing a triple this weekend, and the local shop only carries dry yeast. From my reading, and a past dubbel, the 256 is a little too clean for what I think I want. I'm wondering if I can double pitch with 134 and get some extra spice.

 

[Sipina]

I would just stick with BE-134 taking into account what I have experienced with these two yeasts. BE-134 will give you the fruity as well as the phenolic aspect in general a nice belgian profile and I find this yeast works really nice with hops as well as other botanicals. Belgian Tripel is a quite hoppy beer. BE-256 could add some interesting fruity esters though. I am sure it would be a good beer combining the two yeast however, if I would be making it I would use only BE-134.

Cheers!

EDIT: If you can get some Mangrove's Jack M31 or M41 dry yeast these two should perform good as well.

 

[mac_1103]

I'm no expert, but ISTM that if you use a saison yeast then you're brewing a saison. OTOH maybe that's what you want to do, even if you're calling it a tripel.

 

[Kickass]

I'm no expert, but ISTM that if you use a saison yeast then you're brewing a saison. OTOH maybe that's what you want to do, even if you're calling it a tripel.

I’ve not heard 134 or 256 referred to as saison yeast.

 

[mac_1103]

BE-134 is diastatic, and Ferrmentis recommends it for saisons.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

EDIT: If you can get some Mangrove's Jack M31 or M41 dry yeast these two should perform good as well.

My suspicion is that M41 is repacked BE-256 and M31 is a 50:50 blend of Belle Saison and BE-256, although I can't prove it (yet).

You can see that M31 is a blend of two different coloured yeast pellets, and the colours are the same as Fermentis and Lallemand yeast; we know that M29 is repacked Belle Saison (pers comm) and that MJ generally use Lallemand where they can, but BE-256 doesn't have a Lallemand equivalent.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

I use M31 for Triples and other strong Belgian beers. Really good yeast.

 

[Sipina]

I will argue that BE-134 can indeed be used for belgian tripel style beer.

Fermentis says:
"This typical brewer’s yeast strain is recommended for well-attenuated beers, produces fruity, floral and phenolic notes and a dry character. Produces highly refreshing beers."

BJCP says:
"A strong, pale, somewhat spicy Belgian ale with a pleasant rounded malt flavor, firm bitterness, and dry finish. Quite aromatic, with spicy, fruity, and light alcohol notes combining with the supportive clean malt character to produce a surprisingly drinkable beverage considering the high alcohol content."

If it can be used for a saison I see no reason why would could not use it for a belgian tripel. If the yeast gives proper characteristics it's good to use no matter what it's called or whatever.

You could go with Lallemand's abbaye dry yeast as well.

 

[dmtaylor]

Both BE-134 and BE-256 are saison yeasts AFAIAC.

Also, I've blended BE-256 with Belle before and enjoyed the result very much.

I've never used BE-134 or the M31 or M41 yet but eventually will.

 

[mac_1103]

Both BE-134 and BE-256 are saison yeasts AFAIAC.

Interesting. I agree on BE-134, but I'd be interested in hearing why for BE-256. I guess some would say it's all semantics and we should just use whatever gets the result we want.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Both BE-134 and BE-256 are saison yeasts AFAIAC.

Nah, somewhere I've posted a slide from a Fermentis presentation which has BE-256 in the middle of the English group on the "Gallone" dendrogram, which suggests it's a similar story to the Rochefort/WLP540 thing.