Praise for Wyeast 3711

This yeast is a beast!! I haven't been on here much lately because I wasn't brewing over the summer. Also, I've decided that I like making big beers the most. I like PAs and whatnot but given the cost of good Belgians I decided to focus my brewing on 9%+ABV Belgians and just buy PAs and weaker beers when I want them.

That's where 3711 comes in. I've used it before but since I started back up, I've made a 1.084 and two 1.092s. The 1.084 went to 1.003 in 9 days. The first 1.092 is at 1.005 and still dropping and the second one went from 1.092 to 1.010 in 3 days.

The first one is at 10.6% and has been in the bottle for almost 3 weeks. I tried one last night and it still has a slight sulphur smell. I'm going to leave it alone another 3 weeks and see how it is.

It's going to be a good winter. 3711!!!!!!!

It's actually almost a pain fro that reason. It dried my Quad out too much. Now when I use it I never use sugar and mash it high, even for a saison, and it has no problems.

I find the taste profile so deep and interesting that I don't notice any dryness with it. I've talked with a few other brewers who have used it a lot and we've agreed on that point. To me, it should taste dry but for whatever reason it doesn't. (to me)

Everyone is different and it sounds like you've fixed the dryness problem for yourself.

I think I will mash my next one a little higher and see if I notice.

For myself, I haven't actually noticed that mashing much higher left me with a higher final gravity for 3711. Anything from 148 to 158, and it pretty much just eats its little heart out. But as you said, even with the really dry beers, they still taste very full, b/c 3711 produces a lot of glycerol.

The 8.5% imperial saison I brew won a competition a while back, and I got to do a pro-am brew for the GABF. The beer finished at 1.002 (both for the HB competition and for the pro-am entry). The judges' comments were all extremely positive, but all noted that it should be a little dryer and less sweet for the style. Even some of the comments on RB and BA mentioned this as well. For me, this was a pretty clear-cut blind-taste-test proof of how full 3711 can leave a beer tasting, even when it really dries it out to a very low FG.

I love this yeast. I've done several beers with it, from a lower gravity Saison with Sorachi Ace to a Belgian Strong Dark (that it dried out to 0.998). As someone who loves dry beers, it's great. I have noticed though, that most of the beers it produces are good with age. The lower gravity Saison I brewed in April really hit its stride about a month or two ago. The Strong Dark is only getting better and it's got about 10 months on it.

Yeah, it went to 1.001 from 1.038 for me when mashed at 160 with 6% Special B. It didn't really seem to slow it down at all.