Yeast advice for upcoming tripel

[griffi]

Hi all,
I'm planning on brewing a tripel tomorrow (It's a slight alteration of the Karmeliet clone I found on this awesome site). Last night I made a 1.6l starter with some harvested WLP500 from an extract tripel I brewed back in July (didn't do the greatest job washing it) and I'm now considering an alternative. I have a pail of an Allagash White clone that's been really doing well and primary is done. I'm considering racking to secondary and using the Safbrew T-58 yeast cake for my tripel instead of the starter. Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[eluterio]

What was the allagash clone SG? Only concern I would have if it was a higher gravity beer it might not be a good Idea as the yeast may not be able to comeback from fermenting it. I don't remember specific of what happens it been so long ago when I read it but when you use yeast cakes its preferred to start from lower gravity beer as the yeast will have more healthy cells available.

You could do something interesting and dump it on the yeast cake and add the starter??

 

[griffi]

Well that's exactly what I was thinking and I did it. It was a long brew day due to my disorganization but I finally wrestled it into the fermenter. I feel good about the beer (OG only 1.074) going onto the witbier yeast (OG was 1.050) and I think the Trappist starter will add character...

 

[eluterio]

Good to hear with the 1050 wit it should be perfect for a 1074 beer. I brew my helles with an og of 1046-1050 and dump my helles bock at 1076 right on top never had issues. Hope to hear your tripel turns out well. I just kegged my first ever tripel last week.

 

[m00ps]

I wouldnt use T-58 or WLP500 in a tripel. WLP500 is too plum/fig fruity for a tripel IMO. You want those apple/pear esters and spice. WLP550 or WLP530 would be much better suited. WLP500 also doesnt attenuate to the degree youd usually want for a tripel. The end result will too sweet and wont have that nice finish. You could use some saison yeast to help out here though

T-58 isnt a very good yeast IME. It doesnt match any of the liquid belgian yeasts available in terms of performance and flavor. Belgian beers are all about the yeast, so I would make sure you dont overlook your yeast selection and handling of the yeast if you want to make a great tasting one

 

[Hanglow]

Struise used T58 fwiw.

My favourite is WLP0530 though, its a great yeast

 

[griffi]

Thanks for the comments -- wlp500 is the only one I've tried for a tripel. I'll definitely try a different one next time. The blow off started bubbling within an hour of pouring into the yeast - I'll update with results in a couple of months.

 

[Calder]

I wouldnt use T-58 or WLP500 in a tripel. WLP500 is too plum/fig fruity for a tripel IMO. You want those apple/pear esters and spice. WLP550 or WLP530 would be much better suited. WLP500 also doesnt attenuate to the degree youd usually want for a tripel. The end result will too sweet and wont have that nice finish. You could use some saison yeast to help out here though

I don't know anything about T58, but WLP500 is the Chimay yeast, and they make a decent tripel that finishes quite low. I've used it and had it finish in the mid single digits ... lots of sugar as you would expect in a tripel.

I think WLP500 is more fruity than WLP550, which I would classify as 'spicy'. I've never used WLP530.

WLP570 is the classic example of pear flavors, being the Duvel yeast. I think both WLP500 and WLP570 produce excellent tripels, but you do need to mash low, and add simple sugars to help dry them out.

WLP550 makes an excellent beer, but will not give fruit flavors. Anchouffe and Westmalle use this yeast.

 

[griffi]

I don't know anything about T58, but WLP500 is the Chimay yeast, and they make a decent tripel that finishes quite low. I've used it and had it finish in the mid single digits ... lots of sugar as you would expect in a tripel.

I think WLP500 is more fruity than WLP550, which I would classify as 'spicy'. I've never used WLP530.

WLP570 is the classic example of pear flavors, being the Duvel yeast. I think both WLP500 and WLP570 produce excellent tripels, but you do need to mash low, and add simple sugars to help dry them out.

WLP550 makes an excellent beer, but will not give fruit flavors. Anchouffe and Westmalle use this yeast.

I used a lb of candi sugar but was still short of my recipe OG. Would you recommend adding more sugar during fermentation?

 

[Calder]

I used a lb of candi sugar but was still short of my recipe OG. Would you recommend adding more sugar during fermentation?

You can add sugar during fermentation if you need to add more. It is often done for high gravity beers.

I hesitate in recommending you do that because large additions of sugar will have an effect on the final product and I don't know what your recipe is. However, if this is a tripel, and the only simple sugar in the beer is 1 lb Candi-Sugar, that seems low.

For a tripel, I would just use plain table sugar. I don't know that light/clear candi-sugar adds anything to the beer.