Favorite Saison Yeast

Beerrific · 07-28-2009, 01:06 PM

I am brewing a Saison this Sunday, and I am going to pick up the yeast at lunch today.

What is you favorite Saison yeast? Any preference for one over another?

I tend to gravitate (for no real reason) towards the White Labs so I have to choose from....
WLP565 Saison I
WLP566 Saison II
WLP568 Saison Blend

I am aware that Saison I can take some work to get it down to a low FG. I am willing to wait it out and am getting some US-05 to help if needed. I think that the Saison II and the Blend are essentially offered to help ferment faster as compared to the Saison I.

I plan on fermenting in the 80s somewhere in an upstairs closet with a heating pad if needed.

Any input is appreciated.

**pjj2ba** · 07-28-2009, 02:00 PM

I've only used Saison II and love it. It chugged right through a beer that ended up at 1.008 for a 10% ABV brew. And this was fermenting at 68 F. I find this beer leaves a residual sweetness, even though the gravity says it should be dry. I think it is the yeast themselves that are sweet as while working my way through a keg I moved it and stirred up the yeast a bit and the next pours tasted extra sweet.

PseudoChef · 07-28-2009, 03:02 PM

I second the Saison II. It took right around 7 days to ferment a 1.057 Saison to 1.008, if I recall correctly (my Beersmith crashed, and lost the data on a bunch of my brews).

I drank through a lot of the bottles pretty quick and just recently had one of the 3 remaining and it is downright phenomenal if I do say so. It is showing slight signs and notes of that Dupont "funk" - controlled and subtle, not completely sour. If I had known it would turn into this, I would have waited with the whole batch - oh well. This prolonged flavor development could be due to the yeast blend not containing 100% saison yeast, but I am completely unsure.

However, in my mind, the correct answer is buy both the 565 and 566, brew 10 gallons splitting the wort between the two different yeasts and compare and contrast from there