new guy, temperatures? and yeast?

[texasliam]

I think Ive read to much and I'm getting confused
What are good temperatures for primary, senconday and bottle conditioning for ale?

I'm using wlp 001. Should I stick with Whitelab's recomendations of 68-73°F

Next question, I've cultured yeast from a bottle of strong duvel beer in anticipation of making a tripel. I got an active ferment in a starter batch, but my question is, is this yeast appropriate, should I just buy a proven yeast culture?

Thanks by the way for all the great info in the old threads I've been reading

Liam

[danno]

for WLP001, those temps are fine. I'd even go a bit lower, you could go down to 60º, but your fermentation will take a bit longer. (especially bottle conditioning. if you're antsy about tasting this batch, bottle condition at 70º...)

your cultured starter will work well, just make sure you have enough yeast, I'd step up the starter several times until you have a good sized slurry...

[djaychris]

I do all my fermenting in my basement where it is a steady 68 degrees. No complaints here.

-Dan

[corkybstewart]

I'm not sure about that Duvel yeast. A lot of those bottle conditioned Belgians centrifuge the fermentation yeast and use a different strain for bottling. I'ld buy a commercial strain, WL Abbey yeast for instance.

[dparsons]

I like 66-68 for fermenting with Ale yeasts in general. For bottle conditioning I run the same temperature for a week or two for natural fermentation to create carbonation, and then cool the bottles down to condition further.

[Mad Scientist]

I hold my ales at 66 to 68 for the primary and secondary, then room temp for the bottles.

As for the Duvel, corky is right, you may find that the beer you make is very clean, and has no real belgian taste characteristicas at all. Continental European brewers are notorious for removing their primary strain, and replacing with a bottling strain. Somewhere on the net, there used to be more specific info about which brewers did this, and which didn't.

On the other hand, I hope you are using R.O. water. That water in Galveston is about as hideous as Midland's water....neither of which qualify as suitable for brewing.

[texasliam]

I used to live in Midland. Galveston water isn't great, but it isn't nearly as bad as midlands pool water.
Go permian...or was that mojo?

Originally posted by Boerne Brew
On the other hand, I hope you are using R.O. water. That water in Galveston is about as hideous as Midland's water....neither of which qualify as suitable for brewing.

[corkybstewart]

Midland's water isn't nearly as bad as it was 10 years ago, back when the public water supply was not approved. They changed sources and the water is much better now, but still nasty. Some beers really work well with that water, others don't. I've been using hard water for all my English style ales but I'll be switching to RO water for my Belgians from now on.

[BignJames]

Corky,

Got a recipe for that Black Braggot?