[unmaltedcheese]

I hate to say it, but as a carbed sample last night, I wasn't really happy with it.  I think it is an abbey style yeast, not a saison...my problem really is with its use for a Belgian Golden.  The Beer had Belgian sugar at high Krausen or just past that point.  The flavor is somewhat Trappist-like, but kinda "flat", without much in the way of esters, other than a subtle pear note.  I am going to let one warm up quite a bit and see if that has any effect.  All things considered, I would say that the flavor profile lacks the complexity that I have come to taste with the liquid yeasts that are Trappist originated.  My recipe was basically Pilsner 8 lbs, Wheat 2 pounds, lightly hopped with  Hallertauer and Hallertauer Mittelfruh, but I don't recall the specifics on that presently.  I may try it in a Dubbel to see if there is any better result.

I tried in a dubbel. I don't like it. It's just not a nice blend of flavors. There's too many sharp edges with this yeast. It's just odd. I remember Fermentis trying to call that S-33 yeast a "belgian yeast" too. It wasn't. This, Abbaye yeast,  doesn't have any qualities that I would even begin to say are "Belgian." I tried it in the recommended range, at about 68, and finally ramping up to 72F at the end.

This isn't the most helpful description of it, but I just don't know what to say about it other than it's just odd. If you've tried that T-58 yeast, you'll get it. That's another weirdo yeast. Sour, pepper, weird. Abbaye isn't like T58 in any way, except both are weird.

For some reason I am the eternal optimist with these dry yeasts and I am continually disappointed. Of all the ones I tried, and I have tried tons of them, the ones that I like the best are the least marketed and least popular.

Safale K-97 for instance. Fantastic alt yeast. Really awesome. Clean, crisp, malty. Everything you want in an alt yeast. I would use it for a cream ale, maybe a festbier, biere de garde, dry stout maybe, kolsch. Very nice yeast.

Not to get too far off the mark here since we're talking about the Fermentis Abbaye, but they make good products, but they insist on selling the good yeasts like S-189, K-97 in 500g bricks only. I heard that K-97 is coming out in homebrew sachets someday soon, but for how many years have people been buying the half kilo bricks and repacking it? At least a decade. As a business, take a hint!

[MonkeyButt]

I just used this yesterday to bottle condition a Saison.  I will report back in a couple of weeks.

[Steve Ruch]

.

Not to get too far off the mark here since we're talking about the Fermentis Abbaye, but they make good products, but they insist on selling the good yeasts like S-189, K-97 in 500g bricks only. I heard that K-97 is coming out in homebrew sachets someday soon, but for how many years have people been buying the half kilo bricks and repacking it? At least a decade. As a business, take a hint!

There are a couple of homebrew shops that repackage the S-189. I've used it to good success in a marzen and recently ordered five more packs from Atlantic Brew Supply. They have a USPS option on shipping so that's pretty low cost for a few packs of yeast

[Iliff Ave]

.

Not to get too far off the mark here since we're talking about the Fermentis Abbaye, but they make good products, but they insist on selling the good yeasts like S-189, K-97 in 500g bricks only. I heard that K-97 is coming out in homebrew sachets someday soon, but for how many years have people been buying the half kilo bricks and repacking it? At least a decade. As a business, take a hint!

There are a couple of homebrew shops that repackage the S-189. I've used it to good success in a marzen and recently ordered five more packs from Atlantic Brew Supply. They have a USPS option on shipping so that's pretty low cost for a few packs of yeast

Thanks for sharing! I see that they have k-97 too. I hear that is good for kolsch so I would like to give it a try

[mattybrass]

I saw that Danstar recently released a similar yeast. Does anyone know if it's the same strain?

http://www.danstaryeast.com/company/products/abbaye-belgian-ale-yeast

[dmtaylor]

Oh crap, you're right... I'm pretty sure I've been getting the two mixed up.  I took a bunch of notes and now I don't know which notes are applicable to Safbrew vs. Danstar.  Ugh, why do they do this to us, and both come out at the same time........

[newmanwell]

I brewed a Belgian blonde with it about a month ago. The fermentation was straight up sulfer. Like more sulfer than I've ever experienced. After crashing I racked into my keg for carbonation and I still was getting sulfer albeit much less. I just tried it tonight after two weeks in the keg and I'm still getting sulfer. There are some fruity esters and phenols there but I can't say much about them because the sulfer is still pretty distracting. I'll give it a few more weeks and report back.

[dmtaylor]

Sulfur should normally age out within a month or so.  Just needs some time.

[ynotbrusum]

Bumping this thread to just add that this brew definitely rounded out better than expected with e few months in the keg.  I think this does have a saisonish tendency.  That somewhat cardboard-but-not lightly black pepper note has come out a bit.  All in all not nearly as bad as I thought earlier.

[newmanwell]

So after a couple more weeks the sulfur has faded out. The esters and the phenols are light. Which leads me to my problem with dry yeast. There really isn't enough information about how much yeast is in a package. The manufacturer website says "at least" 70 billion cells. And mr malty says 220 billion. So who really can say how much you pitch. I usually get good results with Belgian beers when I under pitch a little.

That said I'll enjoy the beer while it's on tap but I wouldn't consider entering it into a competition.

[Frankenbrew]

So after a couple more weeks the sulfur has faded out. The esters and the phenols are light. Which leads me to my problem with dry yeast. There really isn't enough information about how much yeast is in a package. The manufacturer website says "at least" 70 billion cells. And mr malty says 220 billion. So who really can say how much you pitch. I usually get good results with Belgian beers when I under pitch a little.

That said I'll enjoy the beer while it's on tap but I wouldn't consider entering it into a competition.

Newmanwell,

Did you use one packet or two?

[Joe Sr.]

This isn't the most helpful description of it, but I just don't know what to say about it other than it's just odd. If you've tried that T-58 yeast, you'll get it. That's another weirdo yeast. Sour, pepper, weird. Abbaye isn't like T58 in any way, except both are weird.

I've only used T-58 once and that was for a quick saison.  I thought it turned out nicely.  I don't have any notes, but lightly sour and pepper sounds about right.  Nice for a saison, but I don't think so nice for a dubbel.  The right tool for the right job, and all that.

I think the bigger problem is that the yeast companies try to market these dry strains as appropriate for a wide style of beers when, in truth, they aren't.  No one would tell you to make a dubbel with 3724 or 3711, but they make great saisons.  No one would tell you to make saison with Chimay yeast.

[newmanwell]

So after a couple more weeks the sulfur has faded out. The esters and the phenols are light. Which leads me to my problem with dry yeast. There really isn't enough information about how much yeast is in a package. The manufacturer website says "at least" 70 billion cells. And mr malty says 220 billion. So who really can say how much you pitch. I usually get good results with Belgian beers when I under pitch a little.

That said I'll enjoy the beer while it's on tap but I wouldn't consider entering it into a competition.

Newmanwell,

Did you use one packet or two?

Since my OG was 1060 i decided to go with two packets. If the manufactures website is correct, one packet would be grossly underpitching.

[Frankenbrew]

So after a couple more weeks the sulfur has faded out. The esters and the phenols are light. Which leads me to my problem with dry yeast. There really isn't enough information about how much yeast is in a package. The manufacturer website says "at least" 70 billion cells. And mr malty says 220 billion. So who really can say how much you pitch. I usually get good results with Belgian beers when I under pitch a little.

That said I'll enjoy the beer while it's on tap but I wouldn't consider entering it into a competition.

Newmanwell,

Did you use one packet or two?

Since my OG was 1060 i decided to go with two packets. If the manufactures website is correct, one packet would be grossly underpitching.

Thanks!

[unclebrazzie]

I've a Honey Brown in primary since last weekend. Pitched with Safbrew/Fermentis Abbaye and held at 24°C (75°F) for 5 days now. Upper end of what Fermentis recommends for this yeast but I picked up from other people's experiences that it doesn't produce much phenolic character so I decided to ferment warm.

Took a grav sample yesterday: from 1050 tot 1008, meaning apparent attenuation of 82% and climbing.

Smelled horrible. I got a faint whiff of the honey (2 lbs in a 5 gal batch), which got swamped by a dreadful sulphury stink. Worse: the sulphur's in the taste as well.
I've no idea what's causing the stink, but I'm suspecting the yeast. Maybe it'll clear up in time but I've got a bad bad feeling about this one...