Farmhouse Ale Wyeast 3726

Has anyone used this yet? I was reading on another forum about this yeast and the Brewer/Microbiologist for Wyeast had this to say about this strain:

"If you cannot run your ferment at 90 with the Dupont strain, then plan on a very long and drawn out primary (weeks to a couple of months). If you can ferment at 90, then it will finish (and finish very complete) within days. A 75 degree F ferment could take a couple of months.

The key is to ferment at 90 from the start. Starting cool and then having to heat the brew later on to keep the ferment from slowing can have adverse effects on the beer. Prolonged fermentation at high temps can lead to oxidation and off flavors.

I hope this helps."

I listened to Jamil about his Saison, and eventhough he used a different strain, he says to start at 68 and after 2 days add 1-2 degrees a day until you hit 80 in a week. Then ramp up to close to 90. I'm really afraid to pitch at 90 degrees, but don't want to ferment for a month or have to add more yeast later. Thoughts?

That's good advice for the Dupont strain (3724). I know a local brewery who pitches at 90F and sees the tanks hit 98F+ before fermentation finishes. They follow with a 6 month bottle conditioning. 3726, from what I've heard, is from Saison de L’Epeautre, Blaugies. I don't know if the same advice benefits it or not. Everyone that I know who followed the "pitch at 68F" advice from Jamil saw their Dupont yeast drop out as krauesen started to break up. I pitched Dupont at 70F, saw it rise to 75F then stop, restarting only after raising the temp to 80F+ and a bit of rousing.

Bump... I am going to use 3725 Biere de Garde this weekend and it had a range of 70-95F but I am going to try to keep it in the 70's to see how that turns out. To many esters and maybe I wont like it and this is also Jamil's recipe but with this yeast instead of the one he chose.

shertz said:

"If you cannot run your ferment at 90 with the Dupont strain, then plan on a very long and drawn out primary (weeks to a couple of months). If you can ferment at 90, then it will finish (and finish very complete) within days. A 75 degree F ferment could take a couple of months.

The key is to ferment at 90 from the start. Starting cool and then having to heat the brew later on to keep the ferment from slowing can have adverse effects on the beer. Prolonged fermentation at high temps can lead to oxidation and off flavors.

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Awwww, crap. I guess I should have done some reading first. I haven't used saison/farmhouse/etc hightemp yeasts before.

I just pitched 3726 at 68F two days ago and am currently running it at 75F.

[runs to brewshed at 2am]

Ok, cranked the Johnson Controller to 80F. We'll see how this pans out.

fratermus said:

Awwww, crap. I guess I should have done some reading first. I haven't used saison/farmhouse/etc hightemp yeasts before.

I just pitched 3726 at 68F two days ago and am currently running it at 75F.

[runs to brewshed at 2am]

Ok, cranked the Johnson Controller to 80F. We'll see how this pans out.

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Can you report back on how your fermentation went, because I really don't like the idea of pitching at 90 degrees? I'm thinking of pitching at 80 and trying to maintain 80's till day 3 and then upping it.

I Used both the Farmhouse & Bier de Guard in a double brewday 2 weeks ago, Its been miserable hot here so both yeasts should be getting down & funky, it was 93 in the house the other night. I'm planning on bottling in another 2 weeks, I'll post my recipe after I approve a sample.


Jens

I used this yeast (WY3726) recently. I pitched at 68F, maintained for two days (was very active) and let it got to 80F. The yeast never missed a beat. The beer went from 1.070 to 1.006 in 8 days. 1.003 after 2 1/2 weeks. The beer is absolutely clear now after 2 1/2 weeks. Fruity profile with a tart finish. Good stuff I think. This is not the Dupont strain btw, so the horror stories do not apply.

KD

Edit: I should also add that I didn't use any simple sugars. All malt.

I pitched the Biere de Garde yeast about 10 days ago. Fermentation started rapidly and so furiously that it started bubbling out of the airlock. switched it with a blow off tube.

my apartment is at 80 degrees, and primary fermentation is still under way. maybe I should wrap it in some sleeping bags? anybody else have experience with a loooong primary? I don't think I have ever had primary fermentation last this long.

shertz said:

"If you cannot run your ferment at 90 with the Dupont strain, then plan on a very long and drawn out primary (weeks to a couple of months). If you can ferment at 90, then it will finish (and finish very complete) within days.

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How do you keep a fermentation at 90 for days, unless you're in the tropics?

cee3 said:

How do you keep a fermentation at 90 for days, unless you're in the tropics?

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Fermwrap with temp control.

Has anyone actually tried starting at 90? Conventional wisdom for most Belgians is to start low and ramp up, but that quote is very compelling. I think I have the ability to start at 90, so I'll probably try it out. But does anyone have any experience i.e. if excessive fusels or something were produced?

shertz said:

Can you report back on how your fermentation went, because I really don't like the idea of pitching at 90 degrees? I'm thinking of pitching at 80 and trying to maintain 80's till day 3 and then upping it.

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No sugars in mine, either, just grains.

Here's the timeframe:
8/3: 6pm. pitched at 68F, fermended at 70F ambient. Slow bubbling.
8/6: 2am. bumped to 80F ambient. Normal-to-quick bubbling
8/7: 7am. Fermentation appears to be finished. Smells great.

I will take a FG this Sunday.

I think I will try to follow what you did. Jamil also recommends that method. I wish I could split it and see the difference in 90's and one at 68. I wonder how different it would be. Next year maybe. Thanks again for sharing.

I think I'm gonna try fermenting it at about 85 degrees ambient (should be a little warmer in the bucket) from the get go, hope it finishes soon, and then move it to a cooler area to condition. This is with 3724 which seems to be similar. My only worry is having excessive fusels from starting out that high, but this yeast seems to be different for a reason.

RMohan13 said:

This is with 3724 which seems to be similar. My only worry is having excessive fusels from starting out that high, but this yeast seems to be different for a reason.

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Shouldn't be a problem with proper conditioning. Iron Hill Brewery pitches "as soon as you can stick your finger in the wort and not get burned" (around 90F) and sees their tanks top 98F during fermentation. They then condition for 6 months after bottling. I ramped mine up to 90F from 75F with WLP565 (aka W3724, aka Dupont). After tasting it, the head brewer where I work refused to believe that I fermented it that hot.

So, I brewed the Saison yesterday. Pitched in the low 70's and took it to 68. Will leave it there for 2 days and then into the garage it goes. The problem is that it's only suppose to get to the mid 80's this week. I will never be able to ramp it up beyond 70's. Oh well, maybe I'll get the electric blanket out.

cee3 said:

How do you keep a fermentation at 90 for days, unless you're in the tropics?

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In Texas ya just turn down the AC a bit...

fratermus said:

8/3: 6pm. pitched at 68F, fermended at 70F ambient. Slow bubbling.
8/6: 2am. bumped to 80F ambient. Normal-to-quick bubbling
8/7: 7am. Fermentation appears to be finished. Smells great.

I will take a FG this Sunday.

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8/10: FG 1.010. Bottled half, racked half onto blackberries.

9/7: first taste. Good stuff! Very cloudy like a german hefe (or more so). My palate is not well-developed in the BJCP sense, but after I tasted it I knew I wanted to brew more and pulled up beersmith to see what the recipe was. This beer reminds me of something an old man would drink with his lunch, or on an afternoon break. Rustic, unstructured, a little crusty, and deeply satisfying. Like the beer equivilant of a peasant's bread.

I actually made this batch as a base for a blackberry addition, then decided to bottle half to see what it was like on it's own.

Grain bill: 7# 2row, 1# flaked wheat, .25# acid malt. ~4% abv.

Can you taste acid malt, or is it only for adjusting the pH in mash? There is a subtle-but-enjoyable acid tang in this beer that I would like to be able to reproduce. It's my first use of acid malt so I don't know if it's a function of the yeast or the acid malt. Whichever, I'm going to brew a fiver of this recipe soon. It will be interesting to see what the blackberry version is like.

I am late to the thread!!! man this sounds so enticing i want the recipe oh, and a way to bump temps to the high 80's..

Nice

3726 is coming back in the fall, next month through the end of the year. Anyone have some brews planned? This would have been a great summer strain given the temp range 70-95F.

So what is the consensus? Is 3726 something we'll want to pitch high and ramp or pitch moderate and ramp? I'd much rather pitch rather warm if this strain allows for that as running my fermwrap pretty much to ramp from 80 to 90 will be much easier (and safer) than pitching at 70 and ramping from there when your basement is 60 degrees most days.

Let's hear back from some people who used this in the past!

I havent used this yeast yet but I can tell you I'd do the exact thing I do with Dupont which is pitch at 68 and let it naturally rise to 75 then 80-85 as fermenting gets kicking. That's assuming the ambient temperature in the house is around 78-80. If it's on the lower end in the house, I would pitch ambient (68 again) and wrap it in a blanket as the temperature increases from fermentation. I would expect the temp to top out around 82-85. I've gotten great results that way. But I will get my paws on this Farmhouse strain for sure. I feel a dark saison coming on.

To be clear, do you leave the heat up high through the whole process? So if you are doing a 3 week primary, how long is the heat in the 85-90 degree range?

It has to get there in the first week. The yeast will ferment out fast if you keep it high through the whole process. I usually just let it ramp up naturally. But if you're using temp control, start with 70s one day, the next several days ramp it up to 85-90.

I'm making a saison de noel (or something) with this yeast this weekend… I think I'm just gonna let it get started around ~72-74, and then wrap it in a blanket (maybe my down comforter, I don't need it et) and stick it next to one of the hot water pipes that's exposed in my apartment and let the ambient heat combined with the yeast's work raise the temps into the 80s.

I think I'm also going to make a yeast starter and park that next to the hot water pipe too so it gets nice and used to the warm.

Sounds like a plan. Let us know how it develops. Make sure it ferments at least a month would be my only advice.

Well, after a series of delays, I left my saison de noel with the 3726 strain bubbling quite vigorously less than 12 hours after I pitched a 2l starter, wrapped in a blanket and some towels by a radiator and a hot water pipe, it already reading 82ºF. I pitched it around 70ish, I didn't measure. The ambient temp in that corner is usually ~76, so I figure it'll be doing the bulk of its work around ~86. The problem is I had to leave it behind to visit my folks for thanksgiving! I'll report back again to let you all know how it went.

I mashed for quite a long time, nearly 2 hours, at pretty low temps, around 148, so I'm hoping that it gets down below 1.010. my SG was 1.075.

Saison yeast likes heat...Quit being a wuss and give the Saison a proper 80-90 degrees....

Fermenting Saison yeast at conservative temperatures will result in a lackluster flavor...Give the Saison yeast hell for temps and it will give you good beer.

Too many brewers I know are fearful of treating Saison yeast differently...The higher the better. Saison is my favorite yeast...but without temperature control I reserve this style for the heat of summer...

Ain't nothing better than than two week saison primary...then bottle it up...two weeks later...carbed and ready. Oh lord I love Saison!

OldWorld said:

Saison yeast likes heat...Quit being a wuss and give the Saison a proper 80-90 degrees....

Fermenting Saison yeast at conservative temperatures will result in a lackluster flavor...Give the Saison yeast hell for temps and it will give you good beer.

Too many brewers I know are fearful of treating Saison yeast differently...The higher the better. Saison is my favorite yeast...but without temperature control I reserve this style for the heat of summer...

Ain't nothing better than than two week saison primary...then bottle it up...two weeks later...carbed and ready. Oh lord I love Saison!

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This ^

I pitched a starter built up from Dupont dregs into a batch of Saison last Sunday evening. At 87 degrees it has gone from 1.051 to 1.002 in 5 days. I'll drop it to 68 for another week and then bottle it. The hydro sample I took today tasted awesome!

I got mine down from 1.075 to 1.016 in five day with the 3726, and it's settled at 1.014, which I'm happy with, it being a darker beer. I'll be bottling it this weekend and I'll let you all know how it comes out!

Bumping this up for a beer review from chass3.

I brewed the same recipe from Northern Brewer, fermented at 85 degrees F and brought it from 1.071 to 1.004 in just over two weeks! It's my wife's favorite beer in the three years I've been brewing! Very spicy yeast flavor, but not the least bit of Fusels or off flavors. Yum!

cee3 said:

How do you keep a fermentation at 90 for days, unless you're in the tropics?

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I guess this guy has never been in the southern half of the country.

I could set a fermenter in my garage during the summer, and need a swamp cooler to keep it down to ninety.

MDVDuber said:

Bumping this up for a beer review from chass3.

I brewed the same recipe from Northern Brewer, fermented at 85 degrees F and brought it from 1.071 to 1.004 in just over two weeks! It's my wife's favorite beer in the three years I've been brewing! Very spicy yeast flavor, but not the least bit of Fusels or off flavors. Yum!

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I think my malt profile, which was decently complex- pilsner, aromatic, caramel wheat, carafa III, wheat DME, dark candi, and light LME, got in the way of the yeast shining through- I also could only get it down to like 1.012 from 1.075. I don't think I got my temps high enough, and I added an oz of Willamette at flameout so that's pretty present still, even now three months later. and an oz of 13.5 Magnum is a bit too bitter- at 50ish IBUs is too high, I'd shoot for 30ish next time. But I'll tell you what, once you've got a couple months on these, stick them in the fridge for a month or longer: long cold storage really seems to make a big difference.

my brew was also a partial-mash brew and so I can taste the extract in there. But I really like it and I may tweak it and brew it again for christmas with a simpler malt bill, probably just pilsner, wheat, and a ton of dark candi, and use some noble hops and saaz instead of the magnum and willamette I did use.

and invest in a space heater!

chass, I brewed the all grain kit from Northern Brewer - which looks like the basis of your recipe and it was awesome - I say was - since the keg kicked this past weekend. You are correct that a little cold storage rounded it out nicely - but I never found the grain bill getting in the way of the yeast - in fact I think it was a really well designed beer - with some nice choclately, caramely notes that were a real treat. I think SWMBO has already decreed that it will be brewed at least once each year.....

Yes definitely some sort of temperature control is needed. I actually used my keezer - before it was officially a keezer with a lizard tank heater and a fan controlled by a Johnson Temp controller. I was amazed that the little tank heater could keep the 15 cu ft freezer so nice and warm. It was this beer that convinced me that I needed a Fermentation Chamber.

Anyhow - This yeast is definitely a leap of faith for an Ale brewer - I agonized over running the ferment this hot - but boy did it ever pay off.

Thanks for the feedback on your brew.

yeah, I did use the NB kit as a basis. I think moving to all-grain next year and fermenting super hot will make the difference for me.

I brewed the Saison De Noel from Northern Brewer...Lucky for me, I got it with the 3726 before it was gone. If you buy the kit now, it comes with 3711.

Sept 28: made yeast starter and kept it around 75 or 80
Oct 1: brewed, pitched yeast around 70, put fermenter in my back room with a space heater on low (room temp was around 75 or 80)
Oct 2: VERY ACTIVE FERMENTATION! in less than 12 hours the lid blew off my fermenter. luckily I was in the next room and heard it happen.
Oct 7: ramped up the space heater and kept the room temp around 85 or 90 for the next 3 weeks (my wife was convinced I was going to burn the house down)
Oct 29: took a gravity reading, sitting at 1.006...didn't really have anything to base my overall abv on since I was 3 sheets to the wind when I got done brewing this guy and took my OG before aerating (dumb). racked to secondary...I'm not sure how long I'm going to let it sit there, I might just bottle it in a few days.

This is my first Saison, and this yeast has made it pretty fun! I'll come back to this thread once it's bottled and I can enjoy one.

I think some bulk aging at a cooler temperature really helps this beer. I racked to secondary and bulk aged at cellar temps for about a month before I put it in the Keezer to carb up for Thanksgiving. I've got to say this beer was even better when the keg kicked in March than when it was freshly carbed.

Enjoy!

Sorry to bump this thread from the dead! The good news is this yeast seems to be in year round production now! Wahooo!

My question is about the temp. It seems as though Wyeast has lowered the top range of recommended ferm temp. (70-84 F) The recipe I'm currently fermenting recommends ramping it up to 90 F and I am currently at 85 F. Just wondering if I should keep going?

Was given a pitch of this by my local brewery, told to pitch at 80-85, and let it run as high as 90. Grain bill was all pilsner with a small percentage of acid malt. Absolutely fantastic, this has become a staple brew for me. Such an easy brew day, and ferment is basically done in a few days.

I get light spice, light tartness, bubblegum/fruit from it. Love it.

JeffLacoy said:

Was given a pitch of this by my local brewery, told to pitch at 80-85, and let it run as high as 90. Grain bill was all pilsner with a small percentage of acid malt. Absolutely fantastic, this has become a staple brew for me. Such an easy brew day, and ferment is basically done in a few days.

I get light spice, light tartness, bubblegum/fruit from it. Love it.

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Sounds awesome. I think I'll be using the farmhouse strain tomorrow.

Just made a spelt saison with the de Blaugies strain and it turned out AMAZING. Pitched into 65F wort, allowed it to free rise and ramped to 83F over 5-7 days. Held it there for another 2 weeks until all observable fermentation signs had abated, then cold crashed and transferred.

Tons of lemon zest and clove character and a small amount of bubblegum coming through. Way easier to use than the DuPont strain and I prefer the ester bouquet more. Think this might have to be my house saison strain.