I've been on a bit of a saison bender for the past :my entire brewing career: and one of my favorite things has been to blend yeasts. I feel like yeast is the heart of a saison, much like hops to an IPA. Single hop IPAs are great and can be very complex given the right hop, but isn't blending hops where its at? I say the same goes for saison yeasts.
Tooling around with various mixes, Im trying to find the perfect mix for my tastes. I havent gotten too scientific with it. Just been doing 50/50 with 2 yeasts usually (unless Im adding Brett to the mix), maybe ill fine tune it from there once I get a combo nailed. So here's what ive got so far with my tasting notes. I'm leaving out Brett'd blends for now since it just completely changes the entire yeast profile. I always taste the starter wort when decanting to try and get an idea of what the yeast will bring to the table. Ill try to add new ones as I go and hope that others will add their experiences:
WLP565/WY3724 & WY3711:
The classic combo intended to get Duponts signature peppery earthy lemon character with Frenchy's absurd attenuation. I do like this combo, the 3711 also tends it more toward fruit and gives what I would consider a "brighter" yeast character. Unfortunately, I actually cant do this blend anymore without buying new yeasts since I combined it a while ago with WY3726, which brings me to:
WLP565/WY3724 & WY3711 & WY3726:
This was my "house" saison blend for a while until I returned to brewing. Nicely well rounded character that doesnt jump too far in any direction but is definitely a trademark saison zip. I think the 3726 adds some more earthy spice character and maybe a hint of clove which seems to tame the very bright flavors of the 3711
WY3711 & WLP566:
This is my current favorite (although this remains to be seen once I taste the 3 others I have going). The 566 gives me a bit of bubblegum and banana which goes well with the lemony 3711 to round out the flavor. I dont get any spicy flavors from 566 so the 3711 gives a bit of that (more at lower temps than I ferment at though)
YB Wallonian Farmhouse & WY3711:
My idea here was to make the dryest. beer. ever. Both strains are known for their high attenuation (even among saison strains). Wallonian definitely brings some funk that is absent in 3711. This also seems to tame the bright lemon character of 3711 too and keeps the spice at a nice mid range. Very nice combo for a hop forward saison
YB Wallonian Farmhouse & WLP566
I thought this was going to be comparable to the earlier combo with 3711, wrong. The zippy bright lemon flavor from the 3711 is replaced by a more muted earth/spice which combined with 566, maybe even gets a hint of anise? The end result seemed sweeter than I usually expect from a saison (especially finishing at 1.003). Overall a very nice combo if you find some saisons to tangy and offensive.
YB Wallonian Farmhouse & WLP585:
This ones still finishing up but from the sample it may be my new favorite.
I havent used Saison III that much, but I really like it. It is just very different in how it behaves. The starter has little specks everywhere glued to the glass and its more tart than my sour starters are for the first month or so. My idea here was to have each play off each other where the 585 tartness will go with the Wallonian funk. In turn the Wallonian prevents it from being too fruity with its earthy spice.
RVA-263 (Ghost Ale) & WLP585:
Admittedly, this ones on the docket but Im excited and want to talk about it. I made a saison with the supposed fantome strain a while back and it turned out well, but didnt taste at all like fantome. To my tastes, it was one of the spiciest saison yeasts Ive tried. I thought this may have been due to my constant use of rye in my saisons, but from my recipe notes this was only pils/flaked wheat/honey malt so it had to have come from the yeast. Given its spicy flavors, I liked the idea of pairing with the bright, slightly funky, tartness of 585. Hopefully, this will get a bit closer to the actual blend that they use (without bugs obviously)
Danstar Belle Saison & WLP565/WY3724:
This was the first blend I tried so I'm having to go off just my notes. It should be pretty similar to the combo with WY3711 given the similarity to Belle Saison. I dont remember this one having the very bright fruity character I associate with 3711, says "definitely spicy, noteable lemon flavor" in my crinkled beer stained recipe notes.
other combos I want to try:
WLP565 & WLP566 (both supposedly from Dupont)
WLP565 & WLP585 (and maybe 566 to for a I, II, III saison)
RVA263 & Wallonian Farmhouse (should the spiciest one yet)
WY3711 & WLP585 (should be the most tart/citrusy)
Tooling around with various mixes, Im trying to find the perfect mix for my tastes. I havent gotten too scientific with it. Just been doing 50/50 with 2 yeasts usually (unless Im adding Brett to the mix), maybe ill fine tune it from there once I get a combo nailed. So here's what ive got so far with my tasting notes. I'm leaving out Brett'd blends for now since it just completely changes the entire yeast profile. I always taste the starter wort when decanting to try and get an idea of what the yeast will bring to the table. Ill try to add new ones as I go and hope that others will add their experiences:
WLP565/WY3724 & WY3711:
The classic combo intended to get Duponts signature peppery earthy lemon character with Frenchy's absurd attenuation. I do like this combo, the 3711 also tends it more toward fruit and gives what I would consider a "brighter" yeast character. Unfortunately, I actually cant do this blend anymore without buying new yeasts since I combined it a while ago with WY3726, which brings me to:
WLP565/WY3724 & WY3711 & WY3726:
This was my "house" saison blend for a while until I returned to brewing. Nicely well rounded character that doesnt jump too far in any direction but is definitely a trademark saison zip. I think the 3726 adds some more earthy spice character and maybe a hint of clove which seems to tame the very bright flavors of the 3711
WY3711 & WLP566:
This is my current favorite (although this remains to be seen once I taste the 3 others I have going). The 566 gives me a bit of bubblegum and banana which goes well with the lemony 3711 to round out the flavor. I dont get any spicy flavors from 566 so the 3711 gives a bit of that (more at lower temps than I ferment at though)
YB Wallonian Farmhouse & WY3711:
My idea here was to make the dryest. beer. ever. Both strains are known for their high attenuation (even among saison strains). Wallonian definitely brings some funk that is absent in 3711. This also seems to tame the bright lemon character of 3711 too and keeps the spice at a nice mid range. Very nice combo for a hop forward saison
YB Wallonian Farmhouse & WLP566
I thought this was going to be comparable to the earlier combo with 3711, wrong. The zippy bright lemon flavor from the 3711 is replaced by a more muted earth/spice which combined with 566, maybe even gets a hint of anise? The end result seemed sweeter than I usually expect from a saison (especially finishing at 1.003). Overall a very nice combo if you find some saisons to tangy and offensive.
YB Wallonian Farmhouse & WLP585:
This ones still finishing up but from the sample it may be my new favorite.
I havent used Saison III that much, but I really like it. It is just very different in how it behaves. The starter has little specks everywhere glued to the glass and its more tart than my sour starters are for the first month or so. My idea here was to have each play off each other where the 585 tartness will go with the Wallonian funk. In turn the Wallonian prevents it from being too fruity with its earthy spice.
RVA-263 (Ghost Ale) & WLP585:
Admittedly, this ones on the docket but Im excited and want to talk about it. I made a saison with the supposed fantome strain a while back and it turned out well, but didnt taste at all like fantome. To my tastes, it was one of the spiciest saison yeasts Ive tried. I thought this may have been due to my constant use of rye in my saisons, but from my recipe notes this was only pils/flaked wheat/honey malt so it had to have come from the yeast. Given its spicy flavors, I liked the idea of pairing with the bright, slightly funky, tartness of 585. Hopefully, this will get a bit closer to the actual blend that they use (without bugs obviously)
Danstar Belle Saison & WLP565/WY3724:
This was the first blend I tried so I'm having to go off just my notes. It should be pretty similar to the combo with WY3711 given the similarity to Belle Saison. I dont remember this one having the very bright fruity character I associate with 3711, says "definitely spicy, noteable lemon flavor" in my crinkled beer stained recipe notes.
other combos I want to try:
WLP565 & WLP566 (both supposedly from Dupont)
WLP565 & WLP585 (and maybe 566 to for a I, II, III saison)
RVA263 & Wallonian Farmhouse (should the spiciest one yet)
WY3711 & WLP585 (should be the most tart/citrusy)