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I'd like to reuse my Belgian yeast (Zymoferm Z039 Belgische Klosterbiere und Ales) and I'm looking for information on how long various Belgian beers should be matured. My cellar capacity is very limited so I'd rather not brew anything that requires > 6 months of aging, and additionally, by my wife's request with OG no higher than 1.075.

I like Leffe Blonde. The syle for Belgian Blonde Ale fits the OG requirement, but the question on maturation remains. How long these beers should be aged?

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3 Answers 3

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Well, you should be able to completely ferment it within 3 weeks with proper yeast health and management. Belgian Blonde is not that complex of a beer that it should take months. I'd ferment and bottle. Then you can try the beers a bottles incrementally until you think its perfect and really start drinking them. Seeing how you are going to be reusing some yeast, I'll assume its very healthy. So I don't really see a problem here for a quick turn around, even with a 1070 blonde.

Beer making is a very process dependent operation. And process and conditions vary brewer to brewer. So the only real answer here is to try it and see.

EDIT: Just looking at "Brewing Classic Styles", Jamil says a week to ferment, carbonate then lager for one month.

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Good answer without answering directly. Thank you. :) –  zgoda Jun 9 '11 at 13:07

I think a typical Belgian Ale lower than 1.070 shouldn't take more than 3-5 months to really come together. Unless you add weird spices that need to settle down over time, or souring bacteria that need a few months to work, then you should be good to go with any "normal" Belgian style that clocks in lower than 1.070. So Blondes, Dubbels, Tripels ... all those styles will be ready before the month mark. Maybe just stay away from Golden Strongs (Duvel), as those take some time to loose their edge.

One more caveat, I used T-58 Dry Belgian yeast once and while it made a delicious beer, it took maybe 6-8 months to loose its "banana" aroma.

If you are cloning Leffe Blond, it will be very drinkable after maybe just 2-3 months of aging I'm sure.

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I have Belgian pale ale on tap now that had an OG in the 1.055-60 range. Took about 3-4 weeks to ferment and it was on tap a couple weeks after that.

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