Post by BaloononPost by JoergThanks for the info. IIRC the expiration is at least a year out. We
keep those packs in the fridge and I take them out the morning of brew
day. Same for the harvested trub I am going to use on a Irish Red
today (the remainder of it is used to make a delicious bread).
I've read a few unhappy blogs about trub bread, saying it was too bitter from
the hops.
It is, but mostly just hoppy. That is one reason why all except one
friend of ours aren't "too wild about it". And he is half Italian, so
just as biased as we ex-Germans are. Interestingly, he does not drink
any beer or other alcohol. The main reason why others don't like it is
different though. People who grew up in America are used to fluffy bread
which IMO doesn't really have any substance. I grew up in Germany where
bread is really bread, slightly sour-tasting and most of all with a
thick crunchy crust. That's how our trub bread is.
Post by BaloononDo you wash the yeast?
No, never done it, not even for re-use in beer. I just split off 15-20%
of the previous trub per new batch. Maximum 30% total for two batches
because any more and we won't have enough starter dough for a decent
loaf of bread.
For the beer all I do is drop that salvaged chunk of trub into the wort
and off it goes. Airlock actvity usually starts within less then 4h. I
found that splattering in the harvested trub in a circle works better
than just splotching it all down the center. Results in faster starts.
Of course, I make sure not to use harvested trub to start a beer that is
lighter or less hoppy/bitter than where it came from.
Post by Baloonon... Have you compared it to regular baking yeast
in a controlled way?
Nah, no scientific experiments so far. The starter dough works off of
the beer yeast, US-05, T-58, BE-256, Nottingham, or whatever I used for
the batch. The 2bd dough (bread dough) then gets baker's yeast in
addition. We mostly follow this guideline:
https://delishably.com/baked-goods/SALLIEANNES-TRUB-BREAD-A-Wonderful-Yeasty-Bread-Made-Using-Beer-Trub
However, we bake this with wood fire, very hot, so it is much more dense
and the crust is thick and hard. Just as we like it. A non-commercial
over won't be able to reach such temperatures without damage. My parents
had a commercial oven which could.
Got to have good teeth to eat this kind of bread. I just had five
slices, lightly toasted, with cold cuts and cheese for lunch. I also
take a small sandwich of that on long bicycle rides. Not even fist size
and that's all I need, it is so rich.
Post by BaloononPost by JoergPost by BaloononHow is it? The only dry Belgian yeast I've used is T-58, which I
like, but I've always fermented in the low 60s because I've read it
gets harsh at higher temps.
It's expensive but good :-)
https://fermentis.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/SafAle-BE-256.pdf
I like the taste, the Belgian Tripel and Quadrupel are my favorite
beers but I don't have enough experience to compare because I haven't
used any other yeast on those yet. Brewed them over half a dozen times
though.
Do they come out close to any commercial beers? I struggle with descriptions
of yeast and beer characteristics, since things like "peppery" are pretty
broad and vague in my experience.
My Belgians are quite close to what I was used to from abbeys and pubs
when I lived in the Netherlands. About 1mi from the Belgian border so I
was over there all the time. In the US I found it hard to buy decent
Tripel or Quadrupel. Now that I am brewing it I gave up searching
because I've got my own beer which will always taste much more fresh. I
guess that is partly due to bottle conditioning, something that only
very few commercial breweries still do.
--
Regards, Joerg
http://www.analogconsultants.com/
