3711 French Saison

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Schlenkerla

Supporting Member
HBT Supporter
Joined
Apr 18, 2006
Messages
16,779
Reaction score
5,895
I'm fermenting Jamil's Saison Recipe with 3711 French Saison.

I bumped the temp up to 80-82F using my brew belt. I later realized JZ was using 3724 Belgian strain which can go up to 85F.

Has anybody used this strain above 77F?

This is an excerpt from wyeast website.
[FONT=&quot]Produces saison or farmhouse style biers that are highly aromatic with clean, citrus-esters, peppery and spicy with no earthiness and low phenols. This strain enhances the use of spices and aroma hops, and is extremely attenuative but leaves an unexpected silky and rich mouthfeel in a very dry finished beer.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] Attenuation 77-83% [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] Alc. Tolerance 12%[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] Flocculation low[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] Temperature Range 65-77°F (18-25°C)[/FONT]
http://www.wyeastlab.com/vssprogram.cfm?website=2


Thanks!!!
 
WTF -- Is this a frenchy-french boycot????

Forgive the "Cheese Eating Surrender Monkeys who think they are too good to bathe on a regular basis."
 
I'm moderately interested in trying a Saison eventually. I wish I could help you with your yeast question, but honestly I don't know a thing about it.
 
I had a Saison at the local micro, and at the Belgian bar. All I can say is what a treat. The two where completely different. The DuPonte was really hazey. The micro was like clear like a wit but nothing like a wit. It was dry, peppery, spicy and crisp. Good in its own way.:rockin:
 
I was planning a saison, and was going to use this yeast. Somewhere along the line, my recipe turned into a Biere de Garde....probaly when I started adding lots more extract (ecipe a few threads down ("first attempt at my own recipe..."). The yeasts seem similarish IIRC. I plan on keeping it at 75-82%, mostly because I don't really have a choice on temps ATM. I might wrap some blankets around it to keep the heat in.
 
Saisons are brewed traditionally higher. I just don't know about 3711.

I don't think its an issue, but I always worry about fusels when you hit higher than the ideal yeast temps.
 
Personally, I'd try to keep it in the range Wyeast recommends just in case. Why the limit is 77, I have no idea. Their other Belgian strains are quite a bit higher.

I would've chosen the 3724 because like I said, I don't have too much temp control, and with it being in the 90s here still, I doubt I'd be able to afford cooling my apt down past 70.

I doubt you'll have too many problems though. Everything I've fermented too hot by a few degrees always got better with age.
 
I had it at the max of 82F for about 12 hours. From then on it was at 75F.

It will/should be dry at 1.008 it will be at about 7.4% abv.

It's been gonin' full bore about 8 days now. I'm guessing it will dry out since the sugar content is about 14% ~ 2 lbs/5gal. 20% is the suggested max.

This is well within range abv so I'm curious if anybody has done the same.

Its like I'm the only HB'r so far...

I have 2 packs of champagne yeast at the ready provided its not dry!!
 
Is there any commercial Saison brews out there? I really do not think I have ever had one. Really, this to me is surprising, but I would like to taste one before I brewed one.
 
I recently brew a Saison with 3726 Farmhouse yeast. That yeast calls for high fermentation temps. I started it at 68 and after 2 days slowly ramped it up. Right now, it's in the garage at 85. I'm not sure about your strain, but like others said, I would follow Wyeast directions. I would let it go a little longer so it can clean itself up, just in case the fusels are too strong, though you want some of that for a Saison.

As far as commercial examples....Had Smuttynose's Saison and Southern Tier's Cherry Saison. My favorite is Iron Hill, if you are on the east coast. All pretty good examples.
 
I absolutely love 3711 French Saison! I have brewed 20 gallons now using repropagations from one smack pack and have had excellent results. The first 10 gallons had an original gravity of 1.065 and 3711 took it down to 1.008. I fermented it at about 75F with some fluctuating temps and it came out with no detectable fusels. It hid the alcohol well and had a silky mouthfeel that was totally tasty.

This yeast is not as spicy or upfront as the Dupont strain but who wants to mess around with all the temperature gymanstics you have to perform to get that yeast to work. I am hoping that I can keep my culture of 3711 going until Wyeast makes it available again.
 
I made the same error in assuming this yeast was a hot fermenter like the other Saison strains. I had a ~10 gallon batch in a demijohn in the house where it was between 80-90 degrees ambient for the first week of the ferment. It was an active ferment and went on for a solid 2 weeks. I kegged the beer after 3 weeks and it's carbed now at about 4. It finished at 1.006 from up in the 1.060's.

It is a young beer so it is difficult to judge the flavor. There was an alcohol component, but it was not solventy or over powering. The esters are strong and have a peppery, fruity presence but it is not unpleasant. There is a slight yeasty flavor. A definate bitterness dwells in the finish. The recipe was heavy on the AAU's however so this could be a factor. There is a mild sweetness that is hard to place through out the sip as well, it belies the low FG of the beer.

I was concerned about fusels because I once had a Hefeweizen that felt like a mule had kicked you between the eyes after a dram or two. I have consumed two pints of the Saison in succession and was in no position to complain. Thus far my conclusions regarding this particular strain point to Wyeast being conservative with the temp range. Another 3-4 weeks should improve the drinkability, I can post updates.
 
Well, my Saison is still in the 2ndary. I took a FG about two weeks ago and to my shock it was at 1.000!!!! 1.064 down to 1.000.

Its dry and a whopping 8.5% ABV. At the time I measured it was crystal clear but tasting a bit on the hot side. Ironically it was about the same color as Edworts AW.

I'm itching to bottle this sucker in bombers. I still need to clean them though. They've been soaking in oxy-clean for nearly two weeks so it should be easy work.
 
Wish I had any experience with this yeast strain. LOVE Saisons but haven't started brewing them yet. Soon, oh yes, very soon.
 
Ga dang - I am drinking my French Saison. It frinkin' good. I'm drinking it out of a cervoise glass. It looks like a bud lite. No haze to speak of at all. Its about 4 months old right now its about 8.5ABV no taste of alcohol that I can tell. Belgian/French esters are very minute.

:mug:
 
Sorry to post so late in the thread, perhaps you won't even notice.

I've made 2 batches with 3711 (2nd was washed yeast) and both were outstanding. This is without question my favorite yeast. I bought another pack of it and am now planning a 3rd recipe and will likely wash the yeast after primary to retain it.

First batch was a simple recipe: Pils/wheat/Vienna/sugar with Styrian Goldings and Saaz. Spiced it with pepper and coriander. OG 1.069, FG 1.004.

2nd batch was very different. I wanted to play up the citrus flavors of this strain, so I made a IIPA with it. Pale/caramel/biscuit/aromatic/sugar and a bunch of amarillo, centenniel, and homegrown cascade hops. OG 1.074, FG 1.002. Nickname was "grapefruit juice" because of it's extreme citrus flavors.

On this next batch (no spices, lots of wheat) I'll start it lower that my previous attempts (probably about 68), but finish it even higher (85). I want to let the yeast dominate w/o any higher alcohols.

Let me know if you had any further experience with this strain...it's awesome.
 
Thanks for the ideas.

I kept a sample of my strain for culturing. I will have just about an endless supply of this yeast. I think this will be a yearly brew.

Its not something I will guzzle down. I'm planning to try and save it for the spring.

I like the grapefruit idea and the thought of black pepper & corriander.
 
I was just looking at Wyeast site, and noticed that they have the temp range for this yeast MUCH lower than the Belgian Saison (3724?).

65-77 is what they list. 3724 is listed as 70-95.


It sounds like you guys are still fermenting in the 80s. Any issues?
 
Here's how mine fared:

OG: 1.065
~10 days @ 72F - Gravity @ 1.010
3 days @ 82F+ (back room, temp fluctuates a bit)
~10 days @ 72F - Gravity @ 1.002

Haven't bottled yet but the taste is delicious, body is nice and doesn't feel too light at all considering how dry the beer is, and has a great fruity aroma and taste.
 
I did this. I used 3711 in a saison when I first moved to my new apt and had absolutely no temp control, so it fermented at about 80-85 in my kitchen (2nd floor walkup in NYC, the ambient temp is always about 80, lovely). This has to be one of my best beers to date, these saison strains like it hot.
 
Search Hopville for "Dog of the Rapture;" it's a well hopped Saison / American farmhouse ale I brewed in May using 3711. I set my fermentation chamber (freezer with Johnson Controls controller) to 75 but at the peak of fermentation temps were around 79/80 F.
It's dry as it typical with earthy notes but alot of spice. The Willamette dry hopping may have contributed. My recommendation: ferment until you think it's done, then go another 2 weeks. I bottled at a gravity of 1009 after 4 weeks, bottled with 5 oz sugar in a 5 gal batch and ended up with gushers after 3 weeks in the bottle. It's foamy but darn tasty. I have read notes about going warmer with spicier results. Because it's a really funky yeast at normal temps I harvested the cake, isolated and froze some to experiment more with it!
 
I used it on a beer that was fermented at ambient temps. The first couple days it was around 75 degrees, then it got up to the high 80s... I'm hoping the majority of fermentation was over by then. I'll be trying the beer soon, I'll report back the results.
 
I really love this yeast. Sipping on a petite saison made with it. Starting OG was 1.041 and it finished at 1.002. For a beer that dry it still has a nice light body and is incredibly easy to drink. Doesn't have as much funk or spice characters as other saison yeasts I've used, but makes for some incredibly drinkable beers with wonderful subtle background characters.
 
Back
Top