Brewing a Belgian.

[Martybhoy]

I'm brewing a Belgian blonde this Sunday. Never brewed one before except from a Brewferm kit.

Does anyone have any tips, particularly around pitching and fermentation? Is over or under pitching recommended? The OG is 1.056 so it's not that big a beer. I am using WLP530.

I plan to begin fermentation at 18°, keep it there for 2-3 days, then rise to 25° over the next 4 days, then keep it at 25° until fermentation is complete.

Thanks

 

[dad_of_jon]

candi sugar is your friend, if you want funky a higher pitching temp. generally you underpitch belgians to stress the yeast to produce more esters, phenols etc.

 

[Linalmeemow]

WLP530 is my favourite Belgian/saison yeast yet, I had excellent results doing a Belgian blonde then harvesting the yeast to do a Belgian Golden Strong followed by a Belgian IPA - the blonde was good, but the second two were superb, the best beers I've made. I followed roughly the same temperature discipline as you, didn't think about underpitching though and probably overpitched on the BGS and IPA and still had great results.

I recommend the Greg Hughes BGS and this: http://www.craftedpours.com/homebrew-recipe/santan-supermonk-belgian-ipa-clone-homebrew-recipe if you choose to havest the yeast.

 

[Martybhoy]

Does WLP530 produce much krausen? If I recall correctly, come Belgian strains produce quite a lot and a blow off tube might be needed.

Also, I have found a few sources on line who say yeast for a Belgian beer needs a big starter.

 

[Linalmeemow]

Does WLP530 produce much krausen? If I recall correctly, come Belgian strains produce quite a lot and a blow off tube might be needed.

Also, I have found a few sources on line who say yeast for a Belgian beer needs a big starter.

Gigantic krausen. When I did a 23l BGS probably a litre of yeast escaped from a 28+ litre FV. It wasn't as bad with the lower gravity beers but if you're brewing a biggie use the biggest FV you have to hand AND a blow off tube.

I didn't make a starter, but I brewed a small blonde first so as not to stress the yeast, then harvested a lot of yeast for the BGS.