Farmhouse strain effect on Witte recipe

I posted this in the recipe section, but haven't got a response so I thought I'd try it here as well.

I'm planning on brewing up the witte recipe from Brewing Classic Styles. I often do 10 gallon batches and am thinking about splitting this brew up into a carboy using a Witte strain (WLP400) and a second carboy using a Farmhouse strain (WY3726-PC) in an attempt to make a saison.

My question is if people had experience in how Coriander and Bitter Orange Peel will come across when using the farmhouse strain? I'm a fan of saisons and like to experiment with them. This seems like an easy way to make one since I am planning on making the wit anyway.

The BCS recipe is pretty basic:
48.8% Pilsner
48.8% Flaked Wheat
2.4% Munich
Hallertaur 22 IBUs
Coriander
Bitter Orange Peel
Chamomile

My experience with this strain is that it produces beers with big fruity, bubblegum esters up front that fade into an earthy spiciness. It also accentuates wheat flavors and aromas. Probably work very well.

I finally got around to brewing this up and the two carboys are fermenting away happily. We'll see how the saison turns out

I'll be brewing the BCS Wit recipe this spring. I look forward to hearing how the 3726 turns out and which you prefer.

I just kegged a hoppy american IPA with this yeast strain. Had a couple samples and it tastes great. Can't wait for it to settle a bit, should be even better. Fermented between 80 and 90 degrees, then dropped down to 75 and dry hopped with amarillo.

The 3726 will probably flocculate a little better and attenuate a little more, although saison yeasts tend to produce a lot of mouthfeel-enhancing glycerol.

I used it with Biermunchers "Orange Kolsch" recipe. I fermented low (67) and it came out fine.
I kinda of wished I had split the batch and done one high and the other low.

Funkwerks makes a wit with 3711. It's delicious.

Well I hope they both turn out well. I'm varying the fermentation regimen with them. I pitched both at 67F and kept them both at 68F for 48 hours. I then pulled the 3726 carboy out and put it at ambient in my house for 2 more days and have just transferred it to my warm garage to do a steady escalation in fermentation temps. I've done a similar regimen before with saisons and have gotten some nice flavors and great apparent attenuation numbers. The WL400 has stayed in my fermentation chamber at 68F the whole time.

Do you know if Funkwerks does a "saison" type hot fermentation with their Wit?

I'm not positive on their fermentation schedule but I know the beers are pitched around 67F. I believe they only take them to the upper 70s because their beers don't display the intense yeast character 3711 will give you in the upper 80s like Jester King does.

I'm taking mine a little higher than that, more like lower to mid 80s in the garage. Perhaps it will highlight the differences between the two beers. It's my first time using this yeast so I'm not sure how it will behave that warm, but I've been happy with getting my temps up that high using other saison yeasts from White labs.

To close this thread out I thought I'd give some feedback.

The WLP400 finished at 1.009 and the WY3726 finished at 1.007. I pulled the saison yeast carboy out of the temp controlled freezer that I ferment in after 48hrs and left it at ambient temps to finish it's fermentation (initially around 72 then creeping up to lower 80s over the course of a week.

The WLP400 tastes like a classic Witte and is a pleasing beer. Just like you would expect from a BCS recipe.

The WY3726 tastes a lot like it's cousin the standard Witte. The spice flavors are more pronounced but still pleasing and it does have some of the pepper and spice character I associate with a saison. The mouthfeel is OK for the style. It's not bone dry, but definitely not full or cloying by any stretch of the imagination. Overall, I'm happy with this beer.