Anyone used Safale BE-256 before, it's my back-up if my starter is a dud.

[Zephyr259]

Hi folks, I'm planning to brew a Dubbel tomorrow using the example recipe from Brew Like a Monk, only issue is that my starter of Wyeast 1214 (Chimay) doesn't seem to be doing much. The pack was 5 months from manufacture so is getting on a bit but should be ok and the strain is said to be slow to start sometimes. It got pitched into 1.2L of 1.040 starter yesterday afternoon and the starter hasn't started foaming or going cloudy so I nabbed a small sample and it's still sweet and +/- 1.040.

I know i'm still a bit early to be concerned but I have to brew tomorrow if I'm going to brew before going offshore, and this was an experiment with this yeast as Chimay is the only trappist beer my wife likes.

If it's not doing anything by tomorrow I could postpone the brew for a few weeks and get my wife to store the yeast in a few days in case it's just being slow, or brew with one of my dried yeasts.

The obvious choice would be BE-256 (formerly known as abbaye) I'd get a dubbel but no idea what this yeast is like, or to shake things up for now and go for the dubbel again later I could use belle saison for an amber saison or S-04 for a bitter / ruby ale.

Anyone got experience with the BE-256 yeast?

Thanks

 

[Ajhutch]

I used it as a replacement for the kit yeast in an Abdij. It was good, huge Krausen and got its work done quickly. I’ve only taste tested one as it’s supposed to sit for a while but it seemed pretty good, if slightly understated, yeast character.

 

[dad_of_jon]

I used abbaye and it climbed up the stairs and tried to strangle me! Best put an armed guard on that one it's a nutter
when I been discharged from hospital the beer it had made was good. i'd suggest lots of headspace and a blow off valve*

*8%+ beer with candi sugar may have aggravated it

 

[Ajhutch]

I agree with DoJ, I did a 9l kit in a 15l bucket and while it didn’t quite reach the lid it tried hard!

 

[Zephyr259]

Thanks for the feedback guys, I found a fairly decent thread about this yeast on homebrewtalk, I've heard it can be ridiculously violent when fermenting, my plan is 10L in a 15L bucket so might be ok.

What does it taste like in the beer? I've read that it can be really clean or can give an apple/pear flavour, not so spicy and can accentuate the malt? Bit of a mixed bag really and a lot of folks had conflicting options of if it was good or not.

Any of you used liquid versions of the belgian strains? Hopefully my starter will get a move on and I'll be able to use the 1214 as planned.