Beer Forum

I was wondering if anyone had any experiences with the Safale S-33 european ale yeast. I used it once before in a Belgian strong and it turned out pretty awful. It was really estery (to a flaw) and really alcoholic smelling. Well, today I was getting teast at the brewshop and that was what he recommended me. I forgot all about the previous nightmare and bought, pitched and then remembered. I've seen on other forums that people said it rocked and then another guy would say it sucked. If you have had any experiences I like to know. Good or bad. Thanks.

I've used it in a Belgian Strong Dark. I only used 1 pack and it didn't attenuate enough. Probably would have been better if I used 2 pack, but I'll stick with liquid/starter next time.

The fermentis descriptions are terrible. This is not really a belgian yeast at all but rather closer to the
old EDME dried strain. Low flocculant medium attenuation and more of an English flavor than anything else.
I have not really found a very good use for this yeast as I use the fermentis yeasts most if the time I have tried.
For English beers I like the S-04 and for the american styles S-05, some people have an aversion to the buttery S-04 and
if that is the case for you, you might find the S-33 more agreeable but I have had nothing but trouble using it. It has had to
be babied to get full attenuation and I was never really happy with the results.

Chris

I disliked the end result so much I dumped some Wyeast lambic blend into it...

It's ripping away right now. I decided to lower the temp in my Apt to about 63deg in an effort to avoid ester issues. So far no hint of bananas from the blow off tube yet so I guess all is well for now. I've used the S-05 a lot and it has always worked great but I wanted a little yeast character(as compared to the S-05) but not what happened to my Belgian. So I guess all I can do is wait it out and see what happens. Thanks for the help guys.

If you are looking for a belgian dry yeast the T-58 from fermentis is a much better choice.
It does a pretty good job. Make sure to pitch enough maybe 2 or 3 sachets if the gravity is high enough.