Trois Pistoles clone?

[Evan B]

thanks fupa! that will definitely get me headed in the right direction! hopefully i can find this yeast. i'm really not a huge belgian fan outside of this beer and ABT12, so getting the character as close as i can is my ultimate goal.

[Spidey]

You can still get the Wyeast strain if you shop now. I just checked and some online stores still have supplies, but they're going to be limited. Just search Yahoo! or Google for "wyeast 3864". IMO, you really need this strain to get a recipe for Trois Pistoles (or any other Unibroue beer for that matter) even close. I know there are some clone recipes elsewhere online, but I can't speak as to the credibility of any of them. Supposedly, Unibroue uses a lot of cane sugar in the beers and grains of paradise/paradise seeds are used in most of them too. I agree belgian pale or pilsner would be the appropriate base malt. Add some special B, a little caramunich, some chocolate, star anise, paradise seeds and you should be set. Best of luck!
P.S. 3864 is a vigorous fermentor; more than typical Belgian yeasts, so put on a blow-off tube for sure.

[Fupa]

Good call on the grains of paradise, Spidey, I do remember the distributor mentioning that they are used in a lot of their beers. I have yet to spice a beer with them, any input on quantity and times to add? Also, I think the beet sugar or dark candi syrup is a must as well, unibroue's beers are nice and dry and drinkable...or "digestible" as the belgians say.

As far as the vi-gar-ous fermentation...the belgian pale I brewed yesterday with this yeast was just getting going this morning. Within 2 hours the krausen was pushing out the top of the carboy, and that's for a 1.051 beer with no sugar additions...so yeah...it could be messy with lots of simple sugar.

[Chris_J]

Good call on the grains of paradise, Spidey, I do remember the distributor mentioning that they are used in a lot of their beers. I have yet to spice a beer with them, any input on quantity and times to add? Also, I think the beet sugar or dark candi syrup is a must as well, unibroue's beers are nice and dry and drinkable...or "digestible" as the belgians say.

As far as the vi-gar-ous fermentation...the belgian pale I brewed yesterday with this yeast was just getting going this morning. Within 2 hours the krausen was pushing out the top of the carboy, and that's for a 1.051 beer with no sugar additions...so yeah...it could be messy with lots of simple sugar.

I think if you listen to the Ommegang show they discuss using grains of paradise as well as a bunch of other spices. I seem to remember that being a great and really informative show. Check it out.

[Fupa]

Just to let everyone know who has been following this thread (both people ). Northern Brewer has a few packets of wyeast's CAN/BEL yeast available, I just picked one up there last thursday, June 4th. You might have to call the store front as opposed to ordering online or calling their warehouse, I'm sure they could accomodate your requests as they're cool people.

The belgian pale I have brewed with this yeast is a real crowd pleaser and insanely drinkable. I have another batch going now (repitch) and plan on doing a few more before summer is over. It works great to spike with fruit flavorings or syrups and has been a great base beer to expand into stonger styles, ie trippel.

Cheers.

-Fupa

[Evan B]

Thanks for the heads up! I'll have to get on that and make this one of my next brews!

[Spidey]

I've already banked some at -80C and I've been reusing from the yeast cake. Thus far I've done a dark dubbel sort of hybrid, belgian pale, and a Maudite clone with this yeast. My 3864 belgian pale has been quite a crowd-pleaser also. If anyone goes for the Trois Pistoles clone, please let us know how it turns out (w/ a recipe posting). Thanks!

[Evan B]

i'm hoping i can make this one work out. I most likely won't be able to brew again until july, so hopefully i can get a hold of some of that yeast before then