Comments on The Mad Fermentationist - Homebrewing Blog: Hoppy French Saison

I think you are right about 3711 being The Bruery&...

2011-10-31T09:29:47.155-04:00

I think you are right about 3711 being The Bruery's house yeast--had a 750 of Mischief last night & thought it a very saison-ish strong golden, for sure...checked the website & beer advocate to see what it was classified as in fact. Your recipe here looks delicious & the 88/12 breakdown between pils and wheat looks a lot like what I think I tasted last night. I think I'll do that ratio and sufficient malt to get me to 8.5% on my set up and hop to The Bruery's stated 35 IBUs with, I think, a big noble aroma and dry-hop addition & see what happens.

"Wyeast claims just to reach 12% abv toleranc...

2010-10-01T00:36:41.505-04:00

"Wyeast claims just to reach 12% abv tolerance, but I'm pretty skeptical."

I have recently used this yeast to make something resembling a Belgian Dark Strong Ale. While it might be drier and more attenuated than the style guidelines, my hydrometer tells me I've achieved 13.2% ABV. I'll let you know in a few months if those poor yeast are viable enough to bottle condition it.

Glad it turned out well. thanks for posting. Grea...

2010-07-31T07:58:54.619-04:00

Glad it turned out well. thanks for posting. Great beer for summer brewing and drinking.

Brewed it, loved it. Thanks for the recipe. Only m...

2010-07-31T00:49:07.347-04:00

Brewed it, loved it. Thanks for the recipe. Only my third ever beer and its a champ.
You're right, less is more, especially in this beer.
Thanks!
http://beercoop.wordpress.com

I asked Patrick a while back what the Bruery uses,...

2009-11-29T16:57:52.485-05:00

I asked Patrick a while back what the Bruery uses, and apparently it's something some of his homebrewing friends had cultured up or let mutate from a commercial strain. I do remember he compared it to Duvel yeast, but it's not quite that. I don't know how they keep it now, my guess would be it's banked for them by one of the big 2.

I love the French and Farmhouse saison yeasts. My ...

2009-11-25T17:29:16.367-05:00

I love the French and Farmhouse saison yeasts. My last batch was 100% pils, 100% cz saaz and 1/2 split between the two yeasts. I agree that you don't want to run these quite as hot as you have to run the Dupont strain.

It is hard to generalize, since the fermentation t...

2009-11-25T11:36:05.061-05:00

It is hard to generalize, since the fermentation temperature can impact the character so much. I think Sean gave a good description in his post, I don’t have enough experience with the two strains yet to add much.

The Brett-Dupont combo that Bullfrog uses in their Busted Lawnmower Saison is probably the best American made saison I have had, the extra character and dryness from the Brett really works wonders.

Wyeast claims just to reach 12% abv tolerance, but...

2009-11-25T11:09:26.384-05:00

Wyeast claims just to reach 12% abv tolerance, but I'm pretty skeptical. Waiting to hear back from Patrick if he can confirm what yeast they use. What have you found the flavor profile to be of this beer vs. those made with 3724?

i thought the Bruery's house strain was suppos...

2009-11-25T08:30:42.851-05:00

i thought the Bruery's house strain was supposed to be an old Duvel strain? I think this might be a good beer to start out a big beer with, but I'm not sure what the alcohol tolerance is like.

I'm wondering if 3711 is the house yeast of th...

2009-11-25T07:33:20.353-05:00

I'm wondering if 3711 is the house yeast of the Bruery as well? Patrick Rue claims to use their house strain (in combination of other yeasts) in the 19+% abv Black Tuesday. My only experience with 3711 brought my 1.080 saison to 1.000, 11.7% abv. It's a beast, no doubt.

Interesting stuff, thanks for the post. Man to ha...

2009-11-24T16:01:32.436-05:00

Interesting stuff, thanks for the post. Man to have a brewery with a saison yeast as the house strain, sounds like a really cool place.

We mashed at 154 for the big-dark saison that the cake from this went into, hoping to get a little residual gravity for some Brett to chew on. I get the ferment down on that one as well, no need to encourage higher attenuation or more aggressive alcohol in a bigger beer.

I really like the idea of doing a split batch of p...

2009-11-24T15:44:13.801-05:00

I really like the idea of doing a split batch of pilsner/saison, Mike! I might steal that sometime ; )

3711 is a big favorite of mine and it's also the house yeast for Upright Brewing where I am interning. You'd be surprised, I know a lot of saison experts say to mash low, but this yeast will take down anything! If you are looking for a beer in the higher single digits F.G., it's probably better to go with a mash temp of 153- 154. Upright mashes all their beers at above 150, and they still come out very dry, finishing in the single digits.

What I get from this 3711 is more tartness than the Dupont strain, as well as different esters. Both can be great, but I can see why this one is catching on fast since it performs so well. In fact I think that true Dupont yeast has never rarely been given a fair shake, since both Whitelabs and Wyeast sell an isolate of what is almost definitely a mixed culture. True Dupont yeast probably performs better and provides more complexity than either of the commercial isolates.

Also, in my experience, 3711 works better at a lower temp range than the Dupont strain. If I get into the 80's, it's only on the tail end of fermentation. It seems to produce too much noticable alcohol if fermented too hot, but this is also probably because it dries the beer out so completely.

I generally don't save a yeast cake for long, ...

2009-11-24T09:58:14.678-05:00

I generally don't save a yeast cake for long, this one was racked off the yeast cake the night before we brewed the next beer. I just left a half inch of beer covering it and left it in the carboy.

You could pour the slurry into a growler (or mason jar) and save it in the fridge for a couple weeks, but passed that I would wash the yeast and feed it some starter wort to get it going again before pitching.

I agree with you that the Dupont strain can make a good beer, but the beers I have tasted with this strain have been just as good. If I can get the same results without the hassle, then why not? That said I'll wait to see how these two come out.

What's your technique for saving the yeast cak...

2009-11-24T09:41:27.678-05:00

What's your technique for saving the yeast cake?

I like that you restrained the OG. Saisons have g...

2009-11-23T22:40:53.457-05:00

I like that you restrained the OG. Saisons have gotten out of hand with pushing 9% ABV, not really thirst quenching at the point. I keep my saison recipe right around 1.050 as I find that gives a good balance of flavor and refreshing quaffability.

As far as the fussiness of Dupont yeast... So what? It produces amazing beer. Worth the extra patience.

It is in a better bottle, it is just sitting in my...

2009-11-23T22:22:09.779-05:00

It is in a better bottle, it is just sitting in my hot water kettle in case it decided to ferment too vigorously (my blowoff tube was already in use).

what are you fermenting in? is that your brew ket...

2009-11-23T21:34:41.290-05:00

what are you fermenting in? is that your brew kettle to get in semi-open fermentation for some extra farmhouse funk?