Belgians and their spices

Try to find Goose Island's Pere Jacques, should be easy in your area. Also Ommegang's Abbey Ale and Anderson Valley's Brother David's Double are a few of my favorite American versions of the style....

 

I'm not surprised, I was speaking of sugar added to the wort and being fully attenuated in the fermentation process.

 

This is all very accurate but candi sugar does not or would not add the clove/spice flavor the OP is referencing. I suspect he is picking up on various yeast characteristics, as well as actual various spices as well.

 

Are there spices in the beers he refers to? I don't believe they contain spices. And again, Belgian candi sugar adds a very distinct flavor that reminds me of fennel.

 

I am not a yeast rancher so I am uncertain if I have any more "light" here.

I have no specific idea where Wyeast, White Labs and others obtain their yeast strains. If a brewery bottle conditions their beers using the primary yeast strain that is certainly one way that the yeast vendors can obtain yeast but there are other ways (which I have no specific knowledge of) for how they obtain their yeast. I have attended the past three National Homebrewer Conferences and I have had the opportunity to speak to many microbiologists that work for the various yeast vendors (Wyeast, White Labs, Lallemand (Danstar), Imperial Yeast, etc.). They are all very smart people but the yeast business is a competitive business and there is only so much information they can share with customers. How each vendor obtains their various yeast strains is a topic that they are not particularly motivated to share.

Cheers!

P.S. I can share one story. At one of the NHC's I had a lengthy conversation with Stan Hieronymus on the topic of Grodziskie beer. Stan volunteered to me that he had access to a Grodziskie yeast strain from Poland and that he would be willing to provide it to a yeast vendor for them to commercialize/propagate. I asked Stan if he would mind if I spoke to the Wyeast folks on this topic (since I had a good working relationship with them). He gave me permission so I did indeed have the conversation. The Wyeast microbiologists educated me that the best they could do is go back and talk to the Wyeast business folks on this topic. This conversation occurred three years ago and to the best of my knowledge Wyeast has not yeast banked/propagated this yeast strain. I guess they determined there was not sufficient demand for a Grodziskie yeast? I would buy this yeast if it was produced but I suppose there are not enough other homebrewers interested in this strain?

 

These aren't good styles to fall in love with if cost is a big consideration, haha. All the best examples of these styles are Belgian imports and are on the pricey side. I have not come across a single good example of an American-made Dubbel, but there are some good beers labeled as "Abbey" or "BDSA" by breweries already mentioned on this thread, like Ommegang and Allagash. I think Boulevard makes a great tripel (Long Strange Tripel) and quad (The Sixth Glass). Also, the Spencer Trappist Ale is fantastic, but is only available in a couple states and is still on the pricey side. But hey, all this stuff is cheaper than sours and barrel-aged stuff at least! Long story short though, if you want a dubbel that's about as good as the one's you mentioned for a lower price, you are out of luck.

 

Achel gets yeast from Wesrmalle. Read Brew Like a Monk.

 

Not really, I homebrew a Dubbel using Westmalle yeast every year. A very economical solution here.

Cheers!

 

Unless you are offering to send OP some of your homebrew, I don't see how this is a reasonable solution to his query. The time and money investment required to brew, and brew well, especially considering the hundreds of years of tradition/practice most of the best Belgian brewers have, cannot be ignored. This is like telling someone if they don't like today's music that they should go and learn an instrument and write something better. Nah man, that person is asking you show them something that's worth it to download today. In terms of the discussion at hand, what can OP buy today that's nearly as good for a lower price, being a U.S. citizen? As far as I can tell, he is in fact, out of luck.

 

Yes, fermentation temperature will impact the flavor profile of the resulting beer but there are other ‘knobs’ you can adjust as well to impact the resulting beer’s flavor profile:

· Yeast pitch rate

· Wort gravity

· Aeration amount

· etc.

Cheers!

 

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”

Lao-tzu

Have yourself a nice evening!

 

No doubt! I should've been more clear but I was a few beers deep. I kind of kept going on additions those Belgian brewers like to make to their beer. Thanks for the clarification!
Cheers!

 

On the back of my Rochefort 10 it says "non malted cereals" as one of the ingredients. I also read Chimay uses hop extract -although in the bottle it doesn't say so-, which at first I considered a heresy.

My question is: discovering which ingredient on any of those "sacred" beers would be considered a sacrilege?

 

Not in my wheel house, but my dad on his most recent visit bought in Neshaminy Creek Tribute Triple. Kinda digging it, different, not over the top, it opened my eyes to what's possible I this style. A big beer to be sure.