Ranking Belgian Yeasts Based On Your Personal Experience

[brodie113]

Short answers: I like WLP530 and WLP550.

Flavor-wise, WLP530 (Westmalle) is my fave.

WLP500 (Chimay) is also nice for some of the higher gravity Belgian styles, but it's pretty fruity.

I agree 100% with both statements. The fruitiness of the the WLP500 mellows after some time but is still there. One or Two Strong Darks that I have brewed picked up an earthy, almost oaky flavor; however, there was still some banana-y overtones. I found the 500 was less flocculent, almost like the WLP400.

I moved over to the WLP530 in search of a less fruity yeast. It's been doing a great job so far. It really seems to ferment quickly.

The WLP550 is also great. With some high percentages of simple sugars, this one can attenuate very well. I have had a saison attenuate in the 88% range with this yeast. It provided some nice fruity and peppery flavors.

[dmtaylor]

I succeeded in scoring a 41 on my last dubbel using WLP530. The fruitiness was very pear-like, and very pleasant indeed. However I was shooting for more of a Chimay flavor, so I am going to try WLP500 next to see how that turns out. It's on deck, I've got all the stuff, should be brewing in the next week or two.

[ipaisay]

I have used the 1762 for belgian darks and never found it to finish the way I want. I have used starters and sometimes I just used three smack packs. Recently used 1214 and liked it better. As for the Westmalle, I say every beer I have tasted with that yeast was better than Westmalle beers!

[kace069]

I really have nothing to add here but the wyeast 3944. I used it for my first Wit and I liked the results. Their website suggests it as a yeast for dubbels and tripples and I am inclined to give it a shot.

[tavish2]

I am a big fan of the whitelabs belgian golden strong yeast. it has a real nice pear note in it. its quite versitle and i use it for my belgian pale, blond, golden strong and dark strongs. I am in the process of growing up the bastogne yeast right now and i will let you know how that turns out.

[TapItGood]

WLP530 - Just a GREAT versatile Belgian Yeast
WLP565 - This is a touchy moody needy yeast, but dam it makes a nice saison
WLP570 - A Sweeeet Belgian Golden Strong Yeast

[Gnome Brewer]

I've had a lot of luck with WLP500 for strong ales (belgian blondes, barley wine, imp stout) and I also use it for Belgian IPAs and Pales, some mild fruitiness goes well with a couple ounces of sticky west coast cones. I actually JUST bought a vile of 500 about an hour ago for this weekend's Pale, planning on using the slurry for a Dark Strong next weekend. Obviously this isn't true of the hop forward ales, but as for the strong blondes and goldens i've found that they really mature quite nicely after about 6+ months in the bottle.

I really like 530 for Dubbels and Golden ales but they can get really muddy without a simple grain bill. I'm planning on nerding out on the 550 for this Summer for Saisons, but haven't tried using it yet.