Averagely Perfect Dubbel - Poll #14 - Yeast Strain

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Here are a few reference points, if you are not familiar with all of the yeasts listed

Summary list of Wyeast flavor profiles from Dubbel experiment
(Listed in order of dominance)
Belgian Ale: 1214 Banana, bubblegum, clove, licorice
Abby Ale II: 1762 Cherry, vanilla, berry, peach, apple
Belgian Ardennes: 3522 Caramel, grapy, candy, spicy
Trappist High Gravity: 3787 Cherry, berry, banana, clove
Belgian Witbier 3944 Bubblegum, banana, apple, peach


This table is from an experiment I ran back in 2009 with a handful of BA forum homebrewers.
We all brewed the same dubbel recipe, each using a different yeast in the list. We then all exchanged samples and did tastings and summarized the flavor characteristics. I'm sure their are a lot of holes in this, so take it with a grain of salt.

I've brewed with all of these and my favorite is now 1762 (which I've voted for). I've been using this one for the past couple of years for dubbels, with great results.

Looks like the crowd is favoring 3787 (this happens to be my second favorite). Is there any reason why? experience? description? other?

 

For me personally, I have used 3787 before with good results. And I really don't like the heavy clove that 3522 tends to throw.

 

Perhaps this chart could help: https://www.whitelabs.com/sites/default/files/belgianchart_0.pdf

 

Everyone happy with WLP530? Now's your chance to jump ship for a less conventional offering......

I'll agree it's a good yeast. Is it the best? That, I don't know.

 

After reading @Naugled post, I'm switching to 1762

 

In the previous thread I didn’t mention dry yeasts by number. I see fermentis safbrew be256 is not listed. If dry yeasts get a lot of support, it might be worth revisiting. But I expect westmalle will win

 

I mentioned this is the yeast pre-poll thread, but I love the yeast character of New Belgium's Dubbel. Does anyone have any idea what strain they're using? They changed their recipe (including yeast strain) a couple years ago, so most clone recipes online may not be accurate. Assuming that they're not using 3787, I'll gladly switch my vote to whatever they are using if some can definitively identify it.

 

I just bottled a Dubbel a couple of days ago where I used 3787 (again). This yeast when fermented warm (e.g., 72-73 degrees F) produces a glorious mix of esters (fruity flavors) and phenols (spicy flavors) for my palate. I actually brewed this specific batch as a birthday present for my sister - she loves this beer.

I took note of the descriptors you stated of "cherry, berry". I have used 3787 to brew many batches of Dubbels (and Tripel and Quad) but I have never picked up on the specifics of these two fruit flavors. Do you recall what the fermentation temperature was for this batch? From my readings (and some limited personal experience) 3787 will produce notably different flavor profiles depending on the fermentation temperature. I have read that it will produce relatively cleaner beers if you ferment at around 64-65 degrees F for example.

Cheers!

P.S. I have zero experience with WLP530.

 

Hype. According to BLAM, 3 Trappist breweries use the same strain. Now that could mean we should think of it as the Chico of the Trappist breweries, the same old same old. But one of those breweries is the vaunted Westvleteren. Truth is, I never had a Westvleteren, or an Achel, for that matter, but I love Westmalle dubbel and tripel.

To be fair, though I like Chimay too, and interest in one of their beers led me to Beeradvocate, and this forum, in 2005. Without this forum, I'm pretty sure I would not have bothered to give homebrewing another try, so pretty much everything I am, vis a vis homebrewing, can be traced to Chimay.

 

Good Question, I found this in the notes when we were setting up the experiment.
"recipe suggests fermenting at 64 and slowly raising it to 70F. After fermentation is finished, it is suggest to lager this beer at 45-50 for 1 month"

So this was what was asked of the 5 people brewing the recipe. What actually happened with the 3787 yeast I can't tell you. But I can tell you what happened to mine (the 1762 yeast). I pitched at 70F and placed the fermenter in a 64F environment and let it rise to 66F over 9 days (OG of 1.065, FG of 1.011). I then kegged and lagered at 45F for a month.

I still follow a similar process for my Dubbels, I don't ferment on the warm side, and I always lager. I've found that lagering these do help to develop the nuanced flavors.

 

I am the brewer in question on the 3787 batch for the dubbel experiment Naugled is talking about. My BA handle was Adouble back then.

Looked in my old notebook. Not a single note on the dubbel haha. The recipe was well defined so I guess I slacked on the notetaking.

I am sure I followed the instructions. However, I seriously underpitched. This was something I came to understand later. I was making starters but did not have a stirplate yet. At the time I was working in a lab so had access to centrifuge, etc. Eventually started doing cell counts an realized I was not growing as much yeast as I thought with the intermitten shaking method.

In short I stole the show by what may be considered messing up!

I have used 3787 at a pitching rate of 450K cells/ml/plato and it finished same gravity as the 750K/ml/plato split 10 gal batch. I though the 2 brews had a different profile even though they were fermented identically in identical wort.

I have used it to ferment the 2nd runnings of a RIS. 3.5-4% abv. Had a distinct pear note in that dark wort. I think I did that more than once and got that same pear note.

Hope that isnt too much of a threadjack. Pitching rate is key. Less seemed to be more with 3787. YMMV.