New Danstar Belle Saison Dry Yeast?

[m3n00b]

Just cracked a Saison with this yeast.
(FYI)
Grain bill: 9 lbs pilsner
1 lb white wheat
8 oz Vienna

1 oz Styrian Goldings (Bittering)
1 oz Tettnanger (Aroma)

Belle Saison yeast

Tasting notes:

Smells like apricot, peach and lemon. Tastes of citrus, summer fruit. Very peppery and spicy. Very funky beer. I like it.

How do you all think this would work in a dubbel?

What temps did you ferment at?

 

[brewhaha_rva]

That's a good question. I decided to give the yeast hell. Pitched it at 85 and it fermented between 77 and 83. Left it in a room without A/C.

 

[sweetcell]

How do you all think this would work in a dubbel?

might work but i don't think it's the best yeast for a dubbel. i'd be concerned about it being too spicy, and too attenuated. you can try managing these (ferment cool, mash a little higher, maybe throw in a few extra crystals and cut down on sugar)... but at some point it's just better to get the right yeast for the job instead of trying to shoe-horn a yeast into a style.

but i've never tried so i'm talking off the top of my head (or out my rear). if you have a go at it, please let us know how it works out!

 

[m3n00b]

Just tasted my saison after 2 weeks fermenting at 86f+. Wow. Some really complex flavors. Very tart and spicy. Going to cold crash this week and bottle next week.

 

[EmeraldTab]

What is the proper rehydration/starter method for this yeast? The instructions seem a bit vague...

Thanks

 

[mcspanner]

What is the proper rehydration/starter method for this yeast? The instructions seem a bit vague...

Thanks

I believe there are some specific instructions a few posts back in this thread but I just rehydrated in 30°c water about 35 minutes before pitching and made sure that I didn't shock the yeast by pitching at as close a temp to the wort as I could manage.

 

[m3n00b]

It put it in 87f water for 15min....stirred and left for 10 min. I didn't temper it and just dumped it right into my 85f wort and left it in my hot ass garage to ferment.

 

[te-wa]

im gonna use this yeast after reading about 6 pages on this thread i made up my mind.. LOL!
so, i take it should go something like this: pitch into saison at 75, let it sit at 75 for 36 hours, then slowly ramp up to around 82-83 until it finishes? (maybe a week)

also, i plan to make an extract using about 3oz of freeze dried acai berry, and a cinnamon stick (in 1c vodka). thoughts?

 

[samwhois]

whoa tiger! I would maybe not do the cinnamon stick. One cinnamon stick probably won't ass much but might not be too bad. Saison yeasts typically have enough going on with them to not add too much. I have brewed plain saisons and people thought I added too much ginger, and I added no ginger at all. I would maybe just stick with the acai and then add some more appropriate saison spices like ginger, corriander, and pepper. Or just do a plain one to get a feel for the yeast. I ferment mine at mid 90s temps and thos always have great aromatics and plenty of spice like flavors.

 

[bd2xu]

I'd agree on the cinnamon. I don't think it has a place in saison but in a fall/winter pumpkin ale or porter yes. If you want to get more creative with saison I'd look to citrus fruits, I zested a grapefruit rind into my last batch and it was great. Maybe some other spices but cinnamon is pretty forward.

 

[g-star]

I made a 1.048 lambic wort that never took off after using what was apparently a bum batch of ECY-01 (zero, and I mean zero activity after 72hrs). I ended up using a pack of this yeast I got at NHC, and the beer took off in a few hours after re-hydrating.

What am I going to end up with? Who knows. Could be interesting, could be terrible. Have to believe there is some Brett/bacteria in the bucket along with this yeast, so I will let it ride for 6 months and see what happens.

 

[te-wa]

ok then! so no cinnamon, just let the yeast ride.. still, i wanna test some acai and see what i think. maybe a split 3/3 gal. batches.

 

[samwhois]

g-star - that could actually be a really interesting saison! back in the day saison brewers shared yeast cultures and after a while they would acquire "bugs" like brett and lacto. I think you could advertise or call that brew an old world saison. I would bottle condition it and keep it around for a bit. depending on you IBUs you could have a nice mix of funk. was it originally going to be a lambic beer? keep me posted on this brew. if you have a minute post the recipe on my local home brew clubs website on the forum section under "recipe exchange" see www.gonzobrewers.com I also have a section on the forum section on a oresentation I did on saisons with some good recipes and and exert from Farmhouse Ales

 

[m3n00b]

Bottled my saison today. It was cold crashed and really tasty cold. Definitely spicy and a little cidery. Tasted like fruit juice but in a good way. Slightly tart and delicious. Fermented in mid high 80s for 2 weeks and cold crashed for one.

 

[EmeraldTab]

This yeast is a beast only a few short hours after pitching and it was on its way to the point a blow off tube was attached!

 

[m3n00b]

Yeah it was crazy to see how fast it started fermenting. After 2 hours I had bubbles. I'm sure the 85f temp helped.

 

[m3n00b]

Update: one week in the bottle. Pretty tasty. My clearest beer yet. Fruity, spicy and tart

 

[te-wa]

nice, m3n00b!
i just kegged my saison today. yesterday i tasted it and got a great lemon zest zing with a slight, barely noticable white pepper. not a huge belgian/dirty sock yeast taste. just smooth, light, citrusy hit. i added a dried and chopped orange peel, and 1tsp coriander, and a tablespoon of peppercorn blend. today, tasted again and it was ready. kegged it tonight. i had reservations about using this yeast since i have used t-58 and like it... but this one is slightly less 'peppery' i guess (so the reason for the added pepper). fermented at a steady 81 for ~three weeks. your brew looks nicely carbed and has a great color!

 

[m3n00b]

Thanks tewa! I've gone through almost a whole case already. Such a refreshing brew! Glad yours same out well.

 

[troy2000]

I finally got to use the Belle Saison yeast that came in the NHC bag.

Adapted a found Saison recipe and besides the 8 lbs of 2-row and 1.5 lbs of various cara malts, I included 2 pounds of Red Wheat Malt (17%). After careful re-hydration I pitched the Belle Saison at 80°F on Tuesday 8/13 @ 4:00 a.m., and let it naturally rise to 86.5°F during the first day and night. It cooled off to 75° by the end of today, the 3rd day.

Belle Saison yeast in a Belgian Saison after 18 hours. Fermentation Temp is 85.6°F. Krausen has already fallen.

Starting with an OG of 1.062, I just took a sample and it's down to 1.010 already in less than 72 hours! The gravity sample tastes amazing, and very witbeer like. Definitely bananas, some cloves, perhaps some phenolics, not sure what to taste for with those, and some complex esters (fruitiness). It is still active so I'll let it ride a few more days. I might split it up and sour half of it. Any suggestions?

This is a very promising yeast. The re-hydration procedure seems picky but important. There is only a narrow temperature range and the yeast can't be re-hydrated in wort, only water. The instructions provided, even on DanStar's website are incomplete. I extrapolated it with the one given for Notty. First you hydrate without stirring for half an hour. Then you must stir it to dissolve all the yeast, and let it sit another 10 minutes, before you pitch. Pitching directly into wort may kill it.

After I rack this off I'll start another one with some of the harvested yeast.

Thanks for this post; it reassures me about my attempt. I made two gallons of wort using 2 lbs pilsner malt, 1 lb wheat malt, and 1 lb unmalted red winter wheat, and mixed it with two gallons from a Mr. Beer seasonal offering saison HME, that came with a packet of the Belle Saison. I have no idea what hops were in the HME. In the AG portion I added 1 oz Mt. Hood to the boil for an hour, and another oz for ten minutes.

Unfortunately I had misplaced my brand new hydrometer, so I have no idea what the OG was. I rehydrated and pitched the Belle Saison and set my fermenter temp at 68*F (20*C), and this is what it looked like 24 hours later:





It had me seriously wondering whether I should rig a blow-off before leaving for work. But by the next day, the krausen had already fallen. It's stayed pretty skimpy ever since (this is day 5), but the airlock is still bubbling steadily away.

I've been stepping up the temperature slowly; it's at 79*F (26*C) now. Anyone have any friendly advice on temps from here on out?

 

[m3n00b]

Temps don't really matter at this point. Just keep it warm til it finishes out. I fermented at 85-88f and a local judge just gave me a 38 on it. not bad.

 

[pwortiz]

Gentledudes, I am blown away by the science by which you made your beers there. Blown. Away. I made an all grain batch with crap efficiency hitting only 1.060 instead of my hoped for 1.075. Popped open the yeast packet, threw it in @ 80* Let it do it's thing between there and 85ish for ~4 weeks. Did a transfer and a dry addition for an additional 10 days. FG was .998 giving me an ~8.4%

I'm sorta wanting to trade you for a beer because I would love to see the differences!

 

[PaulB83]

I brewed with this around August and kept it in a closet that stayed at about 75 degrees. Fermentation was super fast and bottled after about a month. I did an extract with steeping grains brew as this was only my 2nd batch. Came out great but I think I might have added too much yeast. I added half a packet to one gallon of wort. The result beer had a some funk, tart, spice, and slight melon flavor. There was a big breadiness to it that I think might have been from adding too much of the yeast. Overall though a great yeast and will definitely be trying other Danstar yeasts in future brews.

 

[Jogurt]

Seconding all that have been said here.

Simple pilsner+saaz recipe, O.G. 1052. Within 7 days at roughly 70-75°F the S.G. is 1.000. Might even drop a point or two further eventually. Nice flavour so far, light banana, light funk.

My question here is - How long to keep it in the primary before bottling?

 

[brewhaha_rva]

Pitched this in a holiday ale to give it some spiciness/fruitiness and nailed it. It's delicious after conditioning for two weeks, great fruit and spice with some dark fruit and roast notes. Starts out with the fruit and drys out at the back end with coffee and dark chocolate. Here's the 5 gallon recipe:

Mashed at 150

5 lbs Pilsner & 5 lbs 2-row
.5 lbs Crystal 60
.5 lbs Special B
.25 lbs Chocolate
.25 lbs Roast B
.13 lbs Black Malt
.5 lbs Flaked Barley

.5 oz Northern Brewer (10.3 AA) First Wort Hop
1 oz Tettnanger

1 pack Belle Saison, pitched at 75

OG 1.050 (horrible efficiency 58 percent)
FG 1.006

5.7 ABV

 

[pwortiz]

What temps did you ferm at? Stuck at 75? Or did you cool it down for the spiciness? Also, how long?

And, what time for the tettnanger?

 

[brewhaha_rva]

I pitched at 75 and it shot up to 80 at high krausen. I pitched it high A: Because I could. And B: Because I was hoping to get some nice esters and some fruit qualities because I think that the belle saison will offer spicy notes even at those high temps. And the Tettnanger hops went in at 10 mins. I really loved the floral notes on these hops. It was in the primary for three weeks and skipped the secondary. The yeast and the tettnangers were chosen for the fruity and spicy qualities. Not saying its a perfect brew, I think its going to become more roasty with time and the fruit will likely drop out. But right now, it's exactly what I wanted.

 

[tennesseean_87]

Roasted qualities often blend and mellow with age, so I wouldn't necessarily count on that.

 

[hopbrad]

i am planning to use this yeast on my next saison. should i:
1. not add any table sugar
2. add it after it chomps thru the DME and Fermentation starts to slow
3. keep as is

Here is the recipe:

4 gallons:
5 lbs of Golden DME (SRM 10)
1 lb of table sugar

.75 oz Pride of Ringwood - 60
.25 oz Styrian Goldings - 30
.25 oz Pride of Ringwood - 15
.75 oz Styrian Goldings - 5
and some sort of spice addition at 5 (citrus zest, coriander or if i can find Grains of Paradise)

or might go all Styrian Goldings for bittering and flavor.

Keep at 70 for the first 3 days. then bring up to room temp...which hovers between 77-82 depending on the time of day

 

[peterj]

i am planning to use this yeast on my next saison. should i:
1. not add any table sugar
2. add it after it chomps thru the DME and Fermentation starts to slow
3. keep as is

Here is the recipe:

4 gallons:
5 lbs of Golden DME (SRM 10)
1 lb of table sugar

.75 oz Pride of Ringwood - 60
.25 oz Styrian Goldings - 30
.25 oz Pride of Ringwood - 15
.75 oz Styrian Goldings - 5
and some sort of spice addition at 5 (citrus zest, coriander or if i can find Grains of Paradise)

or might go all Styrian Goldings for bittering and flavor.

Keep at 70 for the first 3 days. then bring up to room temp...which hovers between 77-82 depending on the time of day

1 lb of sugar should be fine to add at the beginning.