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Author Topic: Wyeast 3711  (Read 3886 times)

Offline ANDREW.GROGAN1

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Wyeast 3711
« on: August 11, 2016, 09:53:37 am »
Does anyone have a lot of experience with this yeast?  I brewed a rye saison and pitched this 5 days ago.  I tried it last night and it taste fine but I am getting a little bit of a banana ester taste.  I know it produces esters but not that taste like banana.

I know it's early and maybe it will go away.  When my house A/C is one it ferments at around 70 degrees.  I went out of town for a few days and my wife turned it off so it's been fluctuating from 70-74.  Could the temperature be the problem?  I know it good at that temp but maybe the changes in temp?   

Offline Stevie

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Re: Wyeast 3711
« Reply #1 on: August 11, 2016, 09:58:40 am »
I've never got banana from it. Lots of spice and citrus, but not banana. The temps you are using are within range, even if that is ambient and not beer temp. 5 days is a bit early, I go 2 weeks before tasting and others here quote a month.

Offline dilluh98

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Re: Wyeast 3711
« Reply #2 on: August 11, 2016, 09:59:38 am »
Give it some time in the mid-70s. 3711 is a monster but five days is still fairly early to determine if your saison is ready or not.

Offline brewinhard

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Re: Wyeast 3711
« Reply #3 on: August 11, 2016, 10:00:45 am »
+1 to making a judgement call too early with only 5 days in. Let it ferment for a good 3 wks or so before checking in on it again. Those initial esters produced may easily be converted to something else.

Offline ANDREW.GROGAN1

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Re: Wyeast 3711
« Reply #4 on: August 11, 2016, 10:01:23 am »
Give it some time in the mid-70s. 3711 is a monster but five days is still fairly early to determine if your saison is ready or not.


Absolutely.  I would never expect it to be ready after 5 days.  Just a little nervous about the banana.  Not the flavor I was going for. 

Offline dilluh98

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Re: Wyeast 3711
« Reply #5 on: August 11, 2016, 10:01:57 am »
I've also never gotten banana from this one before but I've also never tasted a saison at 5 days.

Offline HoosierBrew

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Re: Wyeast 3711
« Reply #6 on: August 11, 2016, 10:07:57 am »
+1 to making a judgement call too early with only 5 days in. Let it ferment for a good 3 wks or so before checking in on it again. Those initial esters produced may easily be converted to something else.


Yep. Saison yeast takes a while to finish attenuating and cleaning up. I bet it's a totally different beer @ 3 weeks.
Jon H.

Offline blair.streit

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Re: Wyeast 3711
« Reply #7 on: August 11, 2016, 10:16:44 am »
As Stevie mentioned, be sure to note the distinction between ambient temp and beer temp. With this yeast it's probably not the worst thing, but an ambient temp of 70F with a highly active yeast could yield a beer temp of 75F or more at the peak of fermentation. At ambient 74 you could be over 80F.

And even if you're not too concerned about the actual temp, the beer is also likely experiencing temp swings of +/- 5F through the course of fermentation. This could set the stage for a stalled fermentation if the temperature peaks and then falls off 5 or 10 degrees -- the yeast may decide to pack up shop rather than clean up.

Offline dmtaylor

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Re: Wyeast 3711
« Reply #8 on: August 11, 2016, 10:20:43 am »
If there is any banana at all, it will disappear in a matter of days, before final gravity is reached.  I never got banana from this yeast, but don't doubt that it might be possible in the early stages of ferment.
Dave

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Offline neddles

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Re: Wyeast 3711
« Reply #9 on: August 11, 2016, 11:51:58 am »
+1 to no banana from that yeast. For me, Saisons are some of the worst beers to try sampling early. They always taste horrible to me unlike a pale ale or bitter that gives you a good sense of where it's going. Also, 3711 like most saison yeasts is a low flocculating yeast. You must have been drinking a ton of yeast at 5 days out. Blech!

Offline 69franx

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Re: Wyeast 3711
« Reply #10 on: August 11, 2016, 12:46:49 pm »
As a different angle, I sampled my saison at 9 days(1 fermentor) and the other at 10 days. The main object of these tastings were to see where fermentation was at, before racking to secondary this weekend. 1 will get blackberries and the other will get fresh picked lemon balm. I was happy to see that they were both already down from 1.052 to 1.006/7 and both samples tasted great. The yeast was a combination of Napolean from Imperial and 3724. I got a very pronounced spiciness that previous batches with 3724 and 3711 or just 3724 never had after packaging. With those batches, I did not sample that early though and ferm temps were regulated higher than room temp as this year's batches have been. I am confident that going to secondary this weekend is good timing at 2 weeks from pitch as long as I make sure to bring along plenty of yeast in the transfers. Little bit different story, but just another data point in my saison experience
Frank L.
Fermenting: Nothing (ugh!)
Conditioning: Nothing (UGH!)
In keg: Nothing (Double UGH!)
In the works:  House IPA, Dark Mild, Ballantine Ale clone(still trying to work this one into the schedule)

Offline zwiller

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Re: Wyeast 3711
« Reply #11 on: August 11, 2016, 02:50:03 pm »
Never got banana from 3711 and I keg pretty quickly.  Actually never got much of anything from it and felt is was quite bland.  Dry as heck tho. 
Sam
Sandusky, OH

Offline natebrews

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Re: Wyeast 3711
« Reply #12 on: August 11, 2016, 03:02:38 pm »
As other have said, I have never gotten banana from it.  Spice and citrus, to the point where someone asked me how much "lemon or something" I put in it.  I ferment at 68 (start) to 74 (finish) and mine were done in about 10 days (1.044 starting gravity, 1.002 finish), so at your temps you should be done in a couple weeks.  Always test though, the time is irrelevant, the gravity and flavor will let you know.
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Offline reverseapachemaster

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Re: Wyeast 3711
« Reply #13 on: August 12, 2016, 10:34:20 am »
3711 is pretty much lemon and pepper with some clove-like phenols at cooler temperatures. I've never experienced banana from it either but that doesn't mean you are wrong about what you taste. As others have said, it may just be an issue with the age that will resolve itself.
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