Pitching w combo of White Wine Yeast + Saison Yeast for Grisette

[MarcoEsquandolas]

Anyone have any insight pitching with a combination of ale yeast and wine yeast? (and not utilizing any wild yeast or bacteria)

I'm planning to brew a simple recipe Grisette this Sunday, make a starter with WLP3711 and WLP735 (French White Wine Yeast)...pitch at 65* and allow to free-rise.

Thanks!

 

[orangehero]

Most wine yeast doesn't ferment maltose. Not sure what you're looking for by pitching wine yeast in addition to Wyeast 3711.

 

[MarcoEsquandolas]

I wanted a more complex fermentation character than simply 3711, and local store didn't have any Biere de Garde or any other French strains.

Furthermore, I'm under the impression that Saison yeasts originated in French wine strains, and I'm curious to see what character a French wine yeast can add (I also really like French wine). I recall several years ago Prairie listing wine yeast in some of their farmhouse ales that I used to really like, and more recently, Hill Farmstead using wine yeast as well.

The goal is to create something unique and French-inspired, dry and complex, but still with some body...also, to start a sort of house yeast culture for farmhouse ales that is a blend of different commercial strains but that can be pitched at once; something relatively quick and easy to achieve aforementioned results without the use of wild yeast and bacteria.

 

[FatDragon]

Intriguing idea. Make sure you don't use a killer wine strain - some strains like champagne yeast will kill off other yeasts when pitched. Also be aware that even without a killer strain, multi-yeast pitches can lose balance as one strain or the other takes over. That's why many buggy blends like Roselare are meant to be pitched from a fresh vial every time you ferment - by the end of fermentation they no longer contain the proper balance of microorganisms to ferment as they do out of the vial, since organisms get outcompeted in the beer.

 

[MarcoEsquandolas]

Thinking further thanks to your comments, I should either build separate starters (so as to not have them compete initially on malt extract), or just buy more of the wine yeast (so as to not mess up a wine yeast starter or add the non-wine yeast contains of the starter to the beer). Btw, looking to end up with 11-12 gallons of wort after the boil.