I'm trying WLP 545 this week, it's going to be going in a quad once it's built up enough. There doesn't seem to be much info about it though, except that it's from the Ardennes region and that it attenuates really well. So, what is the brewery of origin? What kind of flavors does it give at different temps? What have been your experiences with this yeast? Any info is welcome, thanks!
It isn't Chouffe, but it's probably from one of these breweries http://en.ardennes-etape.com/holiday-ardennes/62-.html
Dang, I guess it's not very popular. Extensive searching shows that the description of being from the Ardennes region is possibly wrong, and that it is in fact the Huyghe yeast. Possibly.
I don't know what brewery it came from, but used it once co-pitched with 530 in a belgian dark. SG was lower than planned 1.060 and finished at 1.008, pitched at 68 and held to 71. Low spice and more esters, moderately fruity, just the way I like my belgians.
Not much info, huh? Well I brewed a 1.072OG quad on Friday 28th of August and pitched a 2L starter @68F. Let it sit at 68 ambient for 3 days when the ferment slowed a bit, Monday the 31st I added 3lbs of dark candi syrup to get the gravity up to a calculated 1.1. Yesterday the 1st of September I bumped the ambient slowly up to 78F and it's smelling great. I'm hoping to get the FG to around 1.01 and then bottle with some dark candi syrup for the priming sugar. This will sit until March before some of it goes into the beer fridge.
Bottled it Saturday. It finished at 1.006 for around 94% AA. Not too shabby! I just popped one last night to make sure everything was ok, and because I couldn't resist. It's still just a baby, but seriously tasty. Very similar to Chimay to me. Big dark juicy fruits, subtle spice, rich sugars, toffee, minimal alcohol, and not dry at all for the low FG. I saved some yeast that's going to be in a big amber, if it finishes low like this every time it could become my new house yeast.
I tried my quad last night and was floored by how good it already is. Super fruity, a touch of spice, good maltyness, a touch of alcohol, and a bit of a sweet finish. I'm pumped that I still have 40+ of these left for the winter!! This is going to be THE yeast I use for all of my quads and high gravity Belgians for quite some time
Brewing a Dubbel this weekend with 545 mostly because of your description "Super fruity, a touch of spice, good maltyness" I will report back with my results
Yeah, I'd like to see what you think of it. I brewed a big amber with some dregs harvested from the quad and it's cold crashing right now. 1.102 OG to 1.004 FG!
The plan is to brew a Quad on the Dubbel yeast cake in the near future. Would you share you Quad recipe?
I've been on a extract kick for a while, just to speed up my brewdays and get in 2 batches without killing myself. For 5 gallons 9lbs Pils DME 1lb aromatic steeped @ 150F for 30 mins 1oz hallertau @60 WLP 545 3lbs D-180 added after krausen Ferment at 66F ambient for 2 days, added the candi syrup, transferred to a 73F ambient room.
Just bottled the amber and I am once again floored at how good it is. This is absolutely going to be the only Belgian yeast I use for the foreseeable future!!! I saved a cup of trub to grow up some more of this. I might just buy a new tube of it to use as a future stock for growing starters. Grow a larger starter than needed and save the extra for the next time instead of using trub.
