Belgian Yeasts & Cider

Anyone using any belgian yeast strains with cider. I was wondering if using a Saison yeast would be a good idea?

Schemy said:

Anyone using any belgian yeast strains with cider. I was wondering if using a Saison yeast would be a good idea?

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Here we are almost 10 years later but as im sure youve seen in some other threads, yes!! It is my favorite thing to use in cider

I often use Belle Saison. And had results with T-58 as well. More clove in the T-58.

I've used WLP 530 in cider quite a bit, and it's killer. Fruity, but not overbearing, and not too acidic. BE-256 is a close dry substitute, but the Belgian strains seem to express well with simple sugars.
@Coookies58 Super cool that you got more clove from T-58! You'd think that it would be the opposite and you'd get more clove out of Belle Saison! That's something I'll have to play with!

Yeah. It wasn’t overwhelming but more prominent than with Belle Saison. Belle saison doesn’t produce a ton of eaters in cider in my experience. It just makes a tasty cider. The T-58 definitely had a stronger character.

This year I’ve fermented 26 gallons so far. I’m only using two yeast varieties- Imperial Bubbles and Imperial Napoleon ( a Belgian saison).
I love how my ciders have been turning out with it. They drop clear very quickly taste ready after a few months in carboy. They add a complexity and depth that’s hard to explain. It’s not very “saisony”, if you’re expecting the strong phenolic character that it produces from beer wort.

It is a diastaticus positive yeast so I ferment in dedicated buckets to keep it away from my normal beer equipment.

I've had good results with Belle Saison. It is known to produce a lot of glycerol, which fills out your palate and improves mouthfeel. This helps on a dry cider when there's no complex long-chain sugars like there is in beer wort

Has anyone used 1388 yeast before in a cider?

Ok, I went ahead and started up 2X 6.5 gallon batches. One with SO-4 which is what I've been using lately and the other with Wyeast 1388 yeast. Fermenting the SO-4 at 60F and the 1388 at 67F which I think should be right at their preferred temps. No other differences.

I also have some D47 and Cote des Blancs yeast packets on the way so I will get 2 more batches going when those show up. Should give me a good head to head comparison between a few different yeast strains to see what differences I might notice. With 26 or so gallons I'll have enough bottled that I can see if any changes over time as well. I'm curious to see just how much a difference yeast choice makes and if I have a clear favorite although I'm sure they'll all be pretty good.

I haven't tried a Belgian yet, but I just had good results in a cider (and a mead) using Imperial Darkness.