Belgian Golden Strongs

[faroutadventure]

Discovered my favorite beer. I did a Duvel Clone. Now a Belgian Blonde and starting a Belgian Tripple. Been reusing yeast (WLP 575) and using yeast from a Duvel, Bier DuBucainier and a Belgian Wheat. The Duvel Clone actually has some left over S-23 and T-58. The beer tastes great. I let it sit on the yeast for over a month in 20*F-25*F. Love those Belgian Monks. They know how to brew.

 

[Pilgarlic]

If you like to read about beers and brewing, check out "Brew Like a Monk", if you haven't. Lots of good information about the Monks and the beers they brew (not Duvel, for example), their history, Abbey (not Trappist) beers and Belgian beers, generally. And, if you don't like to read, just enjoy those Belgian beers! Belgians tend to make up a bit more than half of my pipeline, from lower alcohol session blondes to higher gravity dark and golden strongs.

 

[faroutadventure]

That is an excellent book. I did as much research as possible before I started brewing my Belgians. My buddies enjoy my Belgian homebrews as much as I do. I'll be brewing Belgians for the Spring/Summer and Irish Stouts/Porters Heavy Darks for the winter.

 

[Tinga]

i have one sitting in primary as we speak. i did staggered sugar additions. 1 lb in boil 1 lb 3 days after pitching and 1 lb 7 days after pitching. been sitting for a month since the last addition. probably going to tansfer to secondary in a week and let it bulk age for 2 months. I'm excited to see how it turns out.

 

[bknifefight]

Are those temperatures right? Your beer would freeze at 20-25*F

 

[winvarin]

Are those temperatures right? Your beer would freeze at 20-25*F

I was wondering exactly that. I was thinking he meant celsius. Higher temps to keep the yeast moving and dry the beer out. Belgian funk requires warm temps

 

[Bsquared]

One thing with high alcohol beers and Belgian yeast strains I have found to be helpful in limiting the amount of higher-alcohol or fusel alcohol production (hot and solventy character) is to pitch yeast (at a standard pitching rate) at 4-6ºF below the recommended fermentation temp, then to let the yeast raise the temp on their own up to a upper limit of 76-78ºF.

Brew like a monk is a good book. I like it a lot.

 

[Nateo]

One thing with high alcohol beers and Belgian yeast strains I have found to be helpful in limiting the amount of higher-alcohol or fusel alcohol production (hot and solventy character) is to pitch yeast (at a standard pitching rate) at 4-6ºF below the recommended fermentation temp, then to let the yeast raise the temp on their own up to a upper limit of 76-78ºF.

Brew like a monk is a good book. I like it a lot.

+1 to both. I've heard if the yeast is hot during the reproduction phase, they'll spit out bad high temp flavors, while if it's hot later in the ferment they'll spit out good phenols/esters. From my experience, this seems true.

 

[Bsquared]

+1 to both. I've heard if the yeast is hot during the reproduction phase, they'll spit out bad high temp flavors, while if it's hot later in the ferment they'll spit out good phenols/esters. From my experience, this seems true.

It's not really that the will only do this during the growth phase at higher temps. The yeast will be producing these flavor components regardless, its really the amount they produce that causes problems. cooler temps in the beginning of fermentation is one way I have found to mitigate this problem. As the temperature rises later in the fermentation less yeast are active so the higher temps help the yeast that are still active to clean up the beer and balance it out.

another great book is Yeast:A practical guide. After all we make wort yeast make beer...

 

[heywolfie1015]

+1 to both. I've heard if the yeast is hot during the reproduction phase, they'll spit out bad high temp flavors, while if it's hot later in the ferment they'll spit out good phenols/esters. From my experience, this seems true.

I can verify this from personal experience. In my early days, I made a tripel that was foolishly pitched at 85F or so. It is the only batch I ever dumped. The solventy taste was horrible and stuck around after more than a year of aging.

In contrast, I just tasted a 10% ABV barleywine last night that I pitched at 63F and kept under 68F throughout. Just amazing.

 

[Nateo]

I've had good luck pitching really cold, like mid 50s, then letting it climb to room temp and above over a few days.

 

[sjbeerman]

In the most recent BYO issue, Jamil talks about brewing a Belgian Golden Strong. I thought he provided some really good tips that I haven't read from him before. I believe this brew has more than the usual amount of sugar and therefore may require additional precautions.

 

[faroutadventure]

Are those temperatures right? Your beer would freeze at 20-25*F

I should have been more specific on the temps. I put my carboy outside on the deck. The air temperature hovered in the 20*F-25*F temp for a day or two, then rose to about 26*F-33*F for the remainder of the time. The beer started to develope some ice crystals, but didn't freeze solid.

It's at 2 months in the bottle and really tasting good.

 

[Bsquared]

What temp was you primary fermentation carried out at? Thats the business end of flavor production. sound like what you did was cold crashing on you deck.

 

[faroutadventure]

What temp was you primary fermentation carried out at? Thats the business end of flavor production. sound like what you did was cold crashing on you deck.

Primary ferment was from 10/30/2010 to 11/14/2010 @ 68*F and then moved to a carboy for cold resting.

 

[drfritz]

what temp is best for the aging process? some of the brewers in "brew like a monk " were going cold after high temp ferment

 

[faroutadventure]

what temp is best for the aging process? some of the brewers in "brew like a monk " were going cold after high temp ferment

The Duvel Brewery does 28*F for 30 days.