What are people's experiences with MJ M31 Triple Yeast?

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marshbrewer

Out on the marshes, wailing at the moon.
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As above, but specifically, what are the recommendation on fermenting temp, given its specs give a range of 18-28°!

I've got two packs in the fridge I want to give a spin, I've also finally got my grubby mits in Graham Wheelers Euro beers book. So am going to brew his Duvel clone with the MJ yeast.

I was thinking of unplugging the cooling part of my brew fridge, setting the temp to 23°, and just let it rise to what it wants (but never let it drop below 23°) then cold crash after 2 weeks. I'll pitch 2 packs .

Does that sound like a plan? It's a fairly simple recipe, so any yeast derived flavours would be welcome. I realise I'm not going to get a true Duvel clone.
 
I realise I'm not going to get a true Duvel clone.
Why not? If you use the right ingredients and follow their conditioning routine, you should get pretty close. Here's their conditioning routine:
https://www.duvel.com/en/the-beer/duvel
Duvel runs out at 8.5% abv, but I make a light clone of Duvel Tripel Hop- Citra as it's the Wise One's favourite tipple. My version is based on a formulation for Duvel with Citra hops added. It runs to 7.5% abv instead of the 9.5% of the triple hop edition.
For 25 litres:
5Kg Chateau pilsner (from thehomebrewcompany, but any pilsner would be ok)
625g Carapils
625g Sugar (ordinary plain, white sugar)
62.5g acidulated malt (to ensure mash pH is ok with all these light malts)
Mash at 65C (I leave it overnight)
Bitter equal weights of Saaz and Savinjski Goldings to give 30 IBUs FWH for 70' boil
Add 17.5g each of Saaz and Savinjski Goldings for last 10 minutes of boil (disregard the IBUs provided by this addition)
This gives me the basic Duvel (light) base to which I then add the 3rd hop of the Tripel-Hop formula, but that's not what you're trying to make so I put that bit in brackets, below.
I use Saflager 34/70 and ferment it warm. This is an amazing yeast as it provides a nice clean ester profile when fermented warm and a crisp Pilsner profile when fermented cold. I have a sachet of M31, I can't remember why, but I've been afraid to use it in case it gives the phenolic character found in so many Belgian blondes.

(15 minute steep at <80C of 31.25g Citra, 16.25, Ahtanum, 16.25g Simcoe. This is not an authentic copy as Duvel only use Citra for the third hop. Dry hop for no more than 72 hours with 50g Citra).

OG 1060
FG 1003
7.5% abv
 
Oh yes, thats what I forgot to say, m31 is rather phenolic hence why my attempt was nowhere near 100% but still good.
Of course if you believe the stories then the original yeast can date back to a strain used in Edinburgh.
 
Oh yes, thats what I forgot to say, m31 is rather phenolic hence why my attempt was nowhere near 100% but still good.
Of course if you believe the stories then the original yeast can date back to a strain used in Edinburgh.
This is from the Duvel website:
Duvel ferments for the first time in tanks at 20 to 26°C. The brewer uses his own culture for this. The original yeast strain, which Albert Moortgat himself selected in the 1920’s, originates from Scotland.

Since then. it's had 100 years to mutate and adapt to local conditions. I'll bet it's a far cry from anything that started in Edinburgh/.
 
I made a Belgian tripel-ish (but darker) in the summer with M31, no temp control. Silly me didn't look at the weather forecast and it shot up to the mid 30's!

After 6 weeks it tasted like rocket fuel, but I tried one yesterday and its started to mellow out and is actually drinkable. I'll probably leave it till autumn to see if it improves.

I've also made a wheat beer with M31 which was my favourite beer to date, and I'm currently cold crashing another tripel fermented at 23°C which smells great so fingers crossed.
 
Rocket fuel or solvent? I had the same with S-33, but I noticed that it lessens in time. I think it was mostly gone after six months. Mind you, it was never so overpowering, but definitely noticeable.
 
Yeah definitely solvent due to the 35°C fermentation temperature! It's still there but is mellowing with age. Not a good beer by any standards, but drinkable and a good lesson on temperature control.
 
I've also finally got my grubby mits in Graham Wheelers Euro beers book.

Tbh, I'd never heard of this book. I have BRYOBRA by GW which is exellent, so I thought I look on amazon to get the euro book. They have it on Amazon, but then I looked at the price £25!!!!!!. Dont think I'll be buying it unless theirs a steep drop in the price
 
Two summers ago I did the following using MJ M31, all were fine and fermented well in the warm weather:
Pale Ale
2x Dubbel
Patersbier
Belgian Stout
Belgian Dark 8 - a sort of watered down version of Westvleveren 12.

Last summer I did Saisons in the warm weather. The one with rhubarb was particularly memorable. Homemade marmalade also went down well.
2020 will probably be wheat beers, just for a change.
 
Two summers ago I did the following using MJ M31, all were fine and fermented well in the warm weather:
Pale Ale
2x Dubbel
Patersbier
Belgian Stout
Belgian Dark 8 - a sort of watered down version of Westvleveren 12.

Last summer I did Saisons in the warm weather. The one with rhubarb was particularly memorable. Homemade marmalade also went down well.
2020 will probably be wheat beers, just for a change.

what sort of weather was “warm” weather? I’ve got a triple brewing at the moment. Was made on Sunday using M31 and has been in the brew fridge at 20 degrees for the past 5 days. Today I’ve needed to take it out to use the brew fridge to cold crash another brew and the garage could hit high 20s over the next few days. I was planning to up the temp a bit towards the later part of the second week but not this high this quickly. Do you think this will be ok or should I grab some wet blankets and a fan?
 
I've just brewed a batch (intentionally) at 27°c, and it tastes great so far; it dropped right down to 1.002! It's cold crashing at the moment and I'll keg it at the weekend, but I would just take it out of the fridge and let it finish naturally; I'm sure it will be fine. I bet it's done the bulk, if not all, of its fermenting.
 
Ok, thanks. The pack says 18-28 degrees but I didn’t know if I should take any notice of that.
Yeah, mine took off like a train even at 20 degrees on Sunday. The airlock had stopped bubbling by yesterday (Wednesday) morning so I’d say it’s pretty well on its way to being finished now. It’s in the garage at the moment at 20 degrees so I think I’ll just wrap it in a few blankets in the morning so that the temperature increases slowly along with the surroundings. Ps. If mine finishes at 1.002 it’s going to be a lot stronger than what it was aiming for!
 
what sort of weather was “warm” weather? I’ve got a triple brewing at the moment. Was made on Sunday using M31 and has been in the brew fridge at 20 degrees for the past 5 days. Today I’ve needed to take it out to use the brew fridge to cold crash another brew and the garage could hit high 20s over the next few days. I was planning to up the temp a bit towards the later part of the second week but not this high this quickly. Do you think this will be ok or should I grab some wet blankets and a fan?

After 5 days, most of the initial conversion has taken place now, so it should be OK. If the garage is warmer than the house, why shift it there?
 
My brews aren’t allowed in the house:oops:

Yeah, that's a familiar situation, I guess. I suppose from the perspective of your beer, that avoiding severe temperature fluctuations is to be avoided and if you could leave it in wet towels in the garage during the day, then replace with dry as the sun goes down, that could protect it to an extent?

Brewing at the height of summer is problematic and always has been for those of us without control of our immediate environments, due to, basically having to live with women (LOL, don't we just love them!).

If you read the old books, brewing was often left until October, once the harvest was in and the weather was more temperate for the brewing of Ale.
 
I’ve wrapped it in a wet towel with a fan pointing at it. The temperature inside the garage hit 30 degrees today but my brew looks to be sitting nicely at 23 degrees so fingers crossed.
 
This is from the Duvel website:
Duvel ferments for the first time in tanks at 20 to 26°C. The brewer uses his own culture for this. The original yeast strain, which Albert Moortgat himself selected in the 1920’s, originates from Scotland.

Since then. it's had 100 years to mutate and adapt to local conditions. I'll bet it's a far cry from anything that started in Edinburgh/.

The Suregork Brew yeast family tree has Safale WB-06 very closely related to the Duvel strains.

https://beer.suregork.com/?p=4030
Would be interesting to see what kind of results WB-06 in a Belgian Golden Strong.

I also love the story that Duvel actually started life as being closer to a Wee Heavy seemingly as a result of the influence Moorgat took from his visits to Scotland. Seeming they changed it to a golden ale to compete with the pilsners that were the popular beer at the time in Europe.
 

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