Double IPA Yeast Choice

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ArkotRamathorn

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so I have a DIPA planned for this weekend and I have everything ready... Except for a good American/Englsh yeast.

It's going to be around 10 SRM with all Citra hops, I have 3 yeasts on hand. 3068 Hefeweizen (would be interesting... If I wasn't planning this beer for competition). 1007 German ale, and Belle Saison. I probably won't be able to find a HBS that's open this weekend and I need to send in the entry at the star of January.

The 1007 I know will work well for my basement temps and should give a nice clean beer, but I don't think it will give me the nice low FG. The belle saison will give me the really nice low finishing gravity, but will probably have a pronounced yeast character that might get me knocked in the DIPA category.

One other option I have is a brown ale on a Windsor ale yeast cake in my fermentor. I could pull some of the cake and have a really giant pitch of Windsor, but I don't have a ton of experience with Windsor to be able to predict its behavior.

So which option would you pick in my situation?
 
Windsor is not a high attenuating yeast. I prefer it for that reason, but it's not going to get the character you are looking for.
 
I have no experience in this, BUT I have heard of people here on this site using a regular yeast for primary fermentation on their IPAs/DIPAs, then throwing in some saison yeast to drop the FG as low as it will go, and the late-addition helps with the esters not being a huge part of the taste.

I'd try this approach, with either the Windsor re-pitch or the 1007.
 
I have no experience in this, BUT I have heard of people here on this site using a regular yeast for primary fermentation on their IPAs/DIPAs, then throwing in some saison yeast to drop the FG as low as it will go, and the late-addition helps with the esters not being a huge part of the taste.

I'd try this approach, with either the Windsor re-pitch or the 1007.


I think this is a good idea! In my experience Belle Saison is a monster that almost attenuates too well, so depending on your recipe you might want to mash a bit higher to counteract that.
 
I have no experience in this, BUT I have heard of people here on this site using a regular yeast for primary fermentation on their IPAs/DIPAs, then throwing in some saison yeast to drop the FG as low as it will go, and the late-addition helps with the esters not being a huge part of the taste.
I'd try this approach, with either the Windsor re-pitch or the 1007.


Awesome plan!

I happen to have medium sized pitch handy of the Belle Saison since my last starter of it I over built by 1 liter.


I think this is a good idea! In my experience Belle Saison is a monster that almost attenuates too well, so depending on your recipe you might want to mash a bit higher to counteract that.


Yeah I've had the belle saison dominate huge gravity beers. Dropped a 1.092 BDSA to 1.006-7 in 3 days. I'm thinking I'm gonna go ahead and shoot for a mash temp of 157-8 since the BS doesn't care what you throw at it (worst case I mash really high and FG is around 1.012).
 
If this is for a competition, I think you may get dinged for using any yeast that gives a strong character like a saison. The Windsor is not attenuative enough. Probably the closest would be the 1007, which is fairly clean and pretty high attenuation. If there is any way you can wait to get some US-05 it would be worth your while, especially for a competition.
 
Wlp090 is killer, and I've had great success with wlp007 its an English strain but attenuated like crazy I use it on my stouts, but I'd prob go with 090 for a dipa or a huge starter of wlp001.
 
It's important to get the FG down on a IIPA. I'd use table sugar in the recipe for this reason.

If you don't want to use sugar, I'd consider doing as slym said and use the yeast that is a beast, 3711. Though, it can go too far. Regarding flavor, these days it's "gloves off" with IPAs. Everything is OK. If you use 3711, back off on the bittering hops since the body won't support too much bittering.

A big helping of S-05 should be great too, but if it's over 1.070 and sugar wasn't involved, it will be a pretty heavy beer in the end.
 
If this is for a competition, I think you may get dinged for using any yeast that gives a strong character like a saison. The Windsor is not attenuative enough. Probably the closest would be the 1007, which is fairly clean and pretty high attenuation. If there is any way you can wait to get some US-05 it would be worth your while, especially for a competition.

You don't use the saison yeast for primary fermentation, you pitch it only after your primary yeast has stopped working. That way, you don't get those flavours & characters. I am assuming you don't pitch the same amount of saison yeast as your primary yeast, but again, that is me assuming something.
 
You don't use the saison yeast for primary fermentation, you pitch it only after your primary yeast has stopped working. That way, you don't get those flavours & characters. I am assuming you don't pitch the same amount of saison yeast as your primary yeast, but again, that is me assuming something.

I agree about using it after primary but the OP was talking about Belle Saison as a possibility for primary.

Regarding flavor, these days it's "gloves off" with IPAs. Everything is OK.

I don't necessarily agree with this. I think it depends on the judges. I got dinged in one competition for using a yeast that was too "estery" for an IPA. A friend got dinged for using a hefeweizen yeast. I love 3711 for stuck fermentations and my regular Belgians where its character really shines through. But unless you enter it in a specialty category, I think it would be risky to use for competition as an IPA.

I still think the best bet is to wait a few days and get a couple of packets on US-05.
 
I agree about using it after primary but the OP was talking about Belle Saison as a possibility for primary.

I looked back through the posts & can't see one iota of evidence to back your claim up. He says, referring to my suggestion to pitch some saison yeast after primary fermentation, "it's a good idea" and has a starter of the yeast built up, but nowhere does he say he plans in using it as his primary.
 
Awesome plan!

I happen to have medium sized pitch handy of the Belle Saison since my last starter of it I over built by 1 liter.





Yeah I've had the belle saison dominate huge gravity beers. Dropped a 1.092 BDSA to 1.006-7 in 3 days. I'm thinking I'm gonna go ahead and shoot for a mash temp of 157-8 since the BS doesn't care what you throw at it (worst case I mash really high and FG is around 1.012).

This is his only post since I made that suggestion. Again, I can't find anything he said that makes me think he plans on using his saison starter as his primary.
 
Sorry to confuse on my original posts. I was presenting the Belle Saison as a potential option for primary but I was pretty sure it would throw the beer out of category guidelines.

Turns out the LHBS that I frequent hadnt updated their website for Black Friday, made it sound like they would be closed then. When I called they were open so I stopped over and managed to get my hands on a packet of US05. Brewed on Sunday and its happily bubbling away (1.080 OG, measured last night and I'm sitting on 1.025 a couple hours after the fermenter addition of sugar).

I'm gonna check again later tonight to see what the hydrometer is showing and see if I need to use a small portion of my BS pitch to help drive the gravity down (I am hoping the US05 keeps trucking to 80% attenuation and I should be ok at that point).
 
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