Saison Yeast - Help me decide which one.

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TAK

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I'm planning on brewing a saison soon, and I'd like to choose a saison yeast that doesn't come from the big two. Fruit esters are great, but I'd like to avoid much of a banana ester profile. The last couple saisons I did where too much banana for my taste. Also in the last two, I didn't get much of a spicy, phenolic profile. I got a false bottom for my kettle, so I'm hoping that if I do a ferulic acid rest with this one (which will be easier now mashing in the kettle) that may help.

I've listed below the three yeasts/blends that I've found to be currently available. There are some others that I'm interested in, which unfortunately are not available at the moment.

From these three, please let me know your experiences, opinions, recommendations (methodology, temp, etc.), and overall impressions if you've used 'em.

• ECY08 - Saison Brasserie Blend
Source Description: “A combination of several Saison yeasts for both fruity and spicy characteristics accompanied by dryness.”
Attenuation: up to 80%.
Temp: 75 - 85°F

• TYB – Saison Blend
Source Description: “A blend of two unique yeast strains isolated from beers that embody the saison style, this blend is a balance of the many characteristic saison flavors and aromas. One yeast strain is a good attenuator that produces a spicy and mildly tart and tangy beer with a full mouthfeel. The other yeast strain is also a good attenuator that produces a delightful ester profile of grapefruit and orange zest and imparts a long, dry and earthy finish to the beer. Together, they produce a dry but balanced beer with a unique flavor and aroma profile.”
Attenuation: 76 - 82%.
Temp: 68 - 80°F

• GY018 - Saison Yeast #1
Source Description: “Traditional Saison yeast from a French craft brewery. Produces fragrant beer with pepper and fruit notes. Warmer fermentations create more intense flavors. Perfect for accentuating citrus and fruit flavors. High attenuation rates make a dryer beer than Saison #2.”
Attenuation: 81 - 83%.
Temp: 64 - 80°F


Thanks, & cheers.
:mug:
 
I make a lot of saisons, but out of your list, the gigayeast is the only one I've tried. Good old wlp565 is one of my favorites but you have to have a bit of patience and make sure you warm it up as it goes along (mid 80's to mid 90's). If I had to pick from those three choices it would be the ecy, pitch about 70 and let it rise. Ecy has some really cool stuff in my experience. The gigayeast reminded me a lot of wyeast 3711, easy to work with and not too picky on temps but overall just not quite what I was looking for. Good luck...
 
ECY08 makes a really great, slightly dry saison IMO. One of my go to favorites. I had some pretty snobby Belgian beer drinkers pay my last attempt some pretty high praise. Ferment at lower end of suggested range, 75-80F, to keep banana qualities down.
 
I was surprised that the quoted temp range on the ECY08 starts at 75°F. I'd be inclined to pitch lower, 70'ish like Dr says above, or maybe in the upper 60's, then begin to ramp up after 24-36 hours.
 
I haven't used any of them, but generally when it comes to Saisons blended cultures reliably produce better results with less maintenance than pure cultures. I've used other ECY products with fantastic results, so that would be my leaning. For my Saisons, I always end up with Wyeast 3724, and I start in the high 60s, and slowly ramp it to 101. If it has any problem fully attenuating, then I add in 3711.

GY018 sounds very much like Thiriez yeast, aka 3711. Which means it's likely a super-attenuator (good) but on the bland side (bad). I like that profile as a secondary workhorse in conjunction with a different primary Saison yeast, as indicated above.
 
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