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Author Topic: Belle Saison Dry Yeast  (Read 66114 times)

Offline kylekohlmorgen

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Belle Saison Dry Yeast
« on: February 20, 2013, 06:49:29 am »
Anyone experimented with this strain yet?
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Offline majorvices

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Re: Belle Saison Dry Yeast
« Reply #1 on: February 27, 2013, 10:35:53 am »
I just ordered a brick of this to try out. Will post results in the next few weeks.

Offline Joe Sr.

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Re: Belle Saison Dry Yeast
« Reply #2 on: February 27, 2013, 10:56:17 am »
I'd be interested to hear how it performs.

I asked about it at the LHBS a couple weeks back, but they had no reports and didn't seem to be aware of the difficulties associated with WY3724 which made me suspect of any recommendation they might give for saisons.
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Offline Siamese Moose

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Re: Belle Saison Dry Yeast
« Reply #3 on: February 27, 2013, 07:17:11 pm »
I'm curious to hear also. I teach classes at the LHBS, and they just asked me to use this to make a saison at my next class as a test of the flavor profile.
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Offline kylekohlmorgen

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Re: Belle Saison Dry Yeast
« Reply #4 on: March 01, 2013, 06:34:00 am »
This yeast is a BEAST so far... from 62F - 68F in 36 hours, still fermenting away at 70F (I pitched on Sunday night).

The recipe was an uber-simple saison:

1.060 OG. 70/30 Belgian Pils to flaked wheat as a base, a touch of aromatic, and 1 lb of honey (~15% of total fermentables). 40BUs Apollo at 60 min. No late hops.

Rehydrated one packet (per Danstar's instructions) and pitched. Shook to aerate. Placed in ferm. chamber with cooling set to 72F.

I normally don't just let the fermentation temp go (at least through the first 48 hours), but that's what a lot of brewers advice on saison yeast. I've heard of many homebrewers taking the same approach, whether they are taking cues from the pros or simply dont have temp control and brew saisons in the summer.

Either way - it should be a good test of this yeast's attenuation ability and flavor profile. Updates coming.
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Offline thebigbaker

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Re: Belle Saison Dry Yeast
« Reply #5 on: March 01, 2013, 06:51:02 am »
Thanks Kyle, really looking forward to your updates!
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Offline Joe Sr.

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Re: Belle Saison Dry Yeast
« Reply #6 on: March 01, 2013, 07:39:09 am »
Yes.  Please let us know if you get the dreaded 1.03 stall.
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Offline kylekohlmorgen

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Re: Belle Saison Dry Yeast
« Reply #7 on: March 20, 2013, 12:43:30 pm »
An update:

Altogether, this was a good first run. The yeast chewed through the beer in about a week, attenuating to 1.005.

The flavor profile is dominated by clove-like phenols, which may be due to the high wheat content. These flavors (and the high IBUs) overpower orange notes, along with a touch of strawberry and black pepper.

The phenols, bitterness, and flavor of the wheat are the major flaws with this beer, all of which I believe can be improved with recipe/process tweaks (100% barley malt, lower bittering charge, higher pitch temp).

I have one more packet and will try this yeast again, with the proposed changes. I think, for now, this yeast has proven itself as an excellent attenuator and a viable backup to more finicky strains.
 
 
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Offline redbeerman

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Re: Belle Saison Dry Yeast
« Reply #8 on: March 20, 2013, 01:16:59 pm »
I picked up a pouch of this yeast and will be brewing a more classic saison with it in the next month or so.  In order to define the ester characteristics for this yeast at typical saison ferment temperatures, I will use a rather simple recipe consisting of 95% pilsner malt,  5% wheat malt, 30 IBUs of Saaz.
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Offline kylekohlmorgen

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Re: Belle Saison Dry Yeast
« Reply #9 on: March 21, 2013, 06:34:03 am »
I picked up a pouch of this yeast and will be brewing a more classic saison with it in the next month or so.  In order to define the ester characteristics for this yeast at typical saison ferment temperatures, I will use a rather simple recipe consisting of 95% pilsner malt,  5% wheat malt, 30 IBUs of Saaz.

40BUs is pretty gnarly, but I think part of that is the high-alpha variety. Maybe I'll use Saaz, but you just have to use so damn much of the stuff!
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Offline redbeerman

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Re: Belle Saison Dry Yeast
« Reply #10 on: March 21, 2013, 10:27:47 am »
I picked up a pouch of this yeast and will be brewing a more classic saison with it in the next month or so.  In order to define the ester characteristics for this yeast at typical saison ferment temperatures, I will use a rather simple recipe consisting of 95% pilsner malt,  5% wheat malt, 30 IBUs of Saaz.

40BUs is pretty gnarly, but I think part of that is the high-alpha variety. Maybe I'll use Saaz, but you just have to use so damn much of the stuff!

I usually have at least couple of pounds of noble hops of around, so that's just my preference.
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Offline majorvices

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Belle Saison Dry Yeast
« Reply #11 on: March 22, 2013, 05:34:56 am »
IMO if you are using low alpha hops for buttering you are wasting hops and wort. There's not going to be much flavor left after a 60 minute boil and the amount of wort absorption becomes significant.

Offline kylekohlmorgen

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Re: Belle Saison Dry Yeast
« Reply #12 on: March 22, 2013, 06:11:43 am »
IMO if you are using low alpha hops for buttering you are wasting hops and wort. There's not going to be much flavor left after a 60 minute boil and the amount of wort absorption becomes significant.

I've always had this mindset as well, and I use Apollo/Warrior for bittering in every beer. I was surprised at the harshness in this beer at 40 ibu. If I reduce the Apollo by half, I think I'll be good to go.

In future saisons, I was thinking about using Saaz/Styr Goldings throughout, with good-sized additions at FWH, 30, 15, and after KO.
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Offline redbeerman

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Re: Belle Saison Dry Yeast
« Reply #13 on: March 22, 2013, 06:38:32 am »
IMO if you are using low alpha hops for buttering you are wasting hops and wort. There's not going to be much flavor left after a 60 minute boil and the amount of wort absorption becomes significant.

IMO American high alpha hops do not work well in European beers.  I have used Magnum in the past for bittering and I think it works really well, but I just don't make enough beer over the year to justify a pound of it.  My American styles will use Columbus and Chinook for bittering and that's fine for an American ale style.  Now that you're pro Keith, you will look at things differently than I do and that's OK.  Money's not a big driver for me as far as brewing is concerned, so I tend to stick more to tradition.
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Offline anthony

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Re: Belle Saison Dry Yeast
« Reply #14 on: March 22, 2013, 08:28:18 am »
In my very limited experience with this yeast, if you just let it ramp up and go, it will blow past the phenolic stage. The fruityness is much more pronounced at temperatures over 75F. You also seem to need to follow their pitching rate guidelines. I effectively turned off the jacket on our fermenter when I pitched this and it went up from 68, topping out at around 85 before hitting terminal gravity and falling back down on its own.