Does your Belgian beer really need recultured yeast?

Brewing beer — By DJ Spiess on December 11, 2008 at 8:40 am

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Your favorite bottle of Belgian brew has gone through quite a bit to get to your hands. The beer was produced, bottle conditioned, sent over seas, stuck in a warehouse, put onto a truck, a stuck on a store shelf (for who knows how long) until you purchased it. The yeast in the bottle are not going to be at their best. I understand you want “authentic” Belgian ale, but there is another alternative. The yeast you want is available commercially, fresh and viable.

Isn’t “fresh and healthy” better than “tortured, jetlagged, and left for dead”? You can buy the same yeast used to make your bottle of Chimay in a fresh, healthy and much happier state. Wyeast and White Labs have already done the work for you. The best part is these yeast are happy and healthy! Here’s the list of commercial yeast, and the Belgian or Trappist source.

Wyeast
1214 Belgian Ale	Chimay
1762 Abbey II	Rochefort
3522 Belgian Ardennes	Achouffe
1388 Belgian Strong Ale	Duvel
3538 Leuven Pale Ale Yeast	Corsendonk-Bocq
3724 Belgian Saison Yeast	Saison Dupont
3787 Trappist High Gravity	Westmalle

White Labs
WLP500 Trappist Ale	Chimay
WLP510 Bastogne Belgian Ale	Orval
WLP515 Antwerp Ale Yeast	De Koninck
WLP530 Abbey Ale Yeast	Westmalle
WLP540 Abbey IV Ale Yeast	Rochefort
WLP550 Belgian Ale Yeast	Achouffe
WLP565 Belgian Saison	Saison Dupont
WLP700 Belgian Golden Ale	Duvel

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