Wyeast 3711 -- I'm officially impressed

I think saison yeast should be fine at 80. I'm no pro, but I've heard several interviews with big brewers who let saisons and other Belgians race up near 90! In fact the saison I brewed last night is in the basement with ambient temps around 70. I plan on taking it to the attic in a few days to really let it race. I've been keeping the temps too low for BIG ester and phenol development in my Belgians lately. I'm not making that mistake this time.

I have also used 3711 and loved it. Anyone have any feedback comparing 3711 to WLP566?

WLP 530 took my quad from 1.094 to 1.010 in five days at 82 degrees. It tastes great, too.

Suck it, 3711! :rockin:

I fermented 3711 at 72 degrees (beer temp) for the entire fermentation. Flavor is very mild... too much so. I'd ferment warmer to get more pepper/spice next time. Disappointing.

rexbanner said:

WLP 530 took my quad from 1.094 to 1.010 in five days at 82 degrees. It tastes great, too.

Suck it, 3711! :rockin:

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3711 wouldn't have stopped at 1.010.

I just did a 3711/3724 blend into a 1060 beer and 3 days later its at 1.003. Can't wait to see where it finishes.

ChshreCat said:

3711 wouldn't have stopped at 1.010.

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Neither did the 530, unfortunately

rexbanner said:

Neither did the 530, unfortunately

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3711 would have also crawled out of the fermenter, ate everything in your fridge, stole your car and knocked up your sister.

I had to post a response to that last thing by ChshreCat. I read what you wrote, laughed while drinking water at my work desk and just covered my keyboard in said water which traveled out my nose.

Well done sir. Well done.

That being said- I have a rye saison I brewed (~30% rye) and pitched 3711 into at about 69, ramping up to 84 by day 3 and holding it there for about 8 days total. Beer isn in secondary now

I'm hoping the warmer temp will result in more spicy/funky notes and not bubble gum/banana notes.

What are your thoughts?

xxHelderxx said:

I had to post a response to that last thing by ChshreCat. I read what you wrote, laughed while drinking water at my work desk and just covered my keyboard in said water which traveled out my nose.

Well done sir. Well done.

That being said- I have a rye saison I brewed (~30% rye) and pitched 3711 into at about 69, ramping up to 84 by day 3 and holding it there for about 8 days total. Beer isn in secondary now

I'm hoping the warmer temp will result in more spicy/funky notes and not bubble gum/banana notes.

What are your thoughts?

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Good thing you used rye. I don't think this yeast provides the right profile for a spicy or funky saison. Best bet is to do as described numerous places: 3724 ferment for flavor, then add 3711 to get the attenuation.

I get a lot of pepper from it and a little funk, but more citrus than funk.

I was already impressed but now I'm officially more impressed.

I washed this yeast back in July and it's been sitting in my fridge ever since. I pitched the slurry from one of the jars into a 1L starter and 36 hours later it has a full on krausen, something I haven't had with any other starters, even with fresh yeast.

Maybe that's not impressive but I was under the impression that it might take a couple of steps to wake up yeast that's been sitting around for months. I'll probably step it up to 2L anyway but I'm not sure I even need to at this point.

You could have pitched the wash yeast directly into your wort.

Works with almost any yeast but this one truly does not care.

So stepping up to 2L would be pretty much overkill right? Even for an imperial stout that will probably be 1.080+?

29thfloor said:

So stepping up to 2L would be pretty much overkill right? Even for an imperial stout that will probably be 1.080+?

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It's hard to make a case for not pitching the most yeast you can -- especially with washed yeast. The washing/canning process, even with meticulous aseptic technique, will inevitably add unwanted microbes to the slurry. Cold stored, previously "worked" yeast are not ideal candidates for a direct pitch. Given the high gravity wort you plan to ferment with the yeast, I would step up to two liters. My 0.02.

Thanks. I'm not brewing until this weekend and the starter has been going since Sat so I'll probably step it up just to see what happens. I suspect I could get away without it though. The last time I used this yeast it fermented down to 1.000 without even making a starter.

Thinking of doing a 3711 combo with the limited release farmhouse strain. Thoughts?

DannPM said:

Thinking of doing a 3711 combo with the limited release farmhouse strain. Thoughts?

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I personally would not but I say that not yet having had the chance to use the PC Farmhouse strain (picked it up today). I would use 3711 if the Farmhouse needed a kickstart (the way 3724 can at times) but I would want to try the Farmhouse yeast out on its own initially to see where it fits in terms of ease of use and flavor profile compared to 3724 and 3711.

I just made a citrus spelt saison from 3711, checked the final gravity, 1.000, exactly as planned! I love this yeast!

Nugent said:

For those that have used this strain, is using sugar as an adjunct necessary to get this beer to an appropriate level of dryness? I know that using sugar in Belgian style ales is very common, but is it necessary with this strain?

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Just recently brewed with this. OG 1.055, FG 1.004. All grain with no added sugars. It is crisp but still has a nice mouthfeel (esp for 1.004). I haven't tried it with added sugars though.

Edit: pitched the smack pack, fermented at ~76 F. It was basically done in 2-3 days but I let it sit for 14.

This is my Rye Saison, 14 hours after pitching 3711. I did use a starter. Wort temp is 68. I'll be interested in how it finishes, but yes, so far this yeast is awesome.

It took a bit (at 2 weeks it was only at 1.010) but I took a sample tonight, and it's down to 1.002. I think higher than expected mash temps might be to blame for the long fermentation, but even with that, it still ate everything it could touch. Very tasty and clear as hell.