New Danstar Belle Saison Dry Yeast?

[zoonose]

Belle Saison makes a nice mead, too.

 

[pwortiz]

Belle Saison makes a nice mead, too.

Tell me more.....recipe? Sweetness level? Any particular type? So far, I have only made 2 successful meads. The other ones I am just pushing through.

 

[zoonose]

I used 2 lbs honey in a one gallon test batch; dry, nice flavor. Settled out crystal clear. Will probably use 3 lbs/gallon next time.

 

[Tcl1999]

I just brewed my first saison today with my dad. Went pretty well, but came out a little weaker than planned. Brewhouse efficiency was roughly 58%. First time ever using dry yeast too. Hope everything turns out ok! Here is what I did:

10 lbs. 2 row
2 lbs. wheat
.5 lbs. Munich

1.5 oz. Hallertau at 60 min
1.0 oz. Saaz at 30
0.5 oz. Hallertau at 30
1.0 oz Saaz at 5 min

37 calculated IBUs. Was shooting for 1.066 OG but only hit 1.055. The problem was I didn't boil off enough to get down to 5.5 gallons, so I ended up a little watery. Oh well, I fought the good fight and live to brew another day!

Do you guys typically use Irish moss in your saisons? I haven't seen it mentioned much. I thought about it and then decided against it out of pure laziness.

The Danstar yeast was pretty slick, even with rehydrating. I hope I like the results because it ferments at a good temp range for my needs.

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[GCPHomebrew]

Tcl1999 you have probably made a very pleasant mistake. Your saison should be a perfect example of the style IMO. I personally don't like bigger is better beers. Saisons were designed for quenching thirst during the workday. 1.055 will go down to 1.005 or less with that yeast. Plenty of alcohol. It has a perfect saison yeast taste. I use Irish moss half the time on this yeast. It doesn't hurt or help flavor it changes it though. More trub different flavor. Try it next time.


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[ChocolateMaltyBalls]

I agree, and I wouldn't worry about it seeming watery, this yeast leaves a nice body.


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[Jogurt]

I just cracked open the first bottle of my 3rd saison batch made with this yeast.

I found out, that it performs quite consistently for me, even though I do not have any control over fermentation temperature yet.

This time I departed form 100% pilsner malt and substituted 16% Munich. I am pleasantly surprised, that the overall character really feels about the same and I got just the little added malt complexity I was looking for.

Another thing I changed this last time - I added a 52°C step to the former 64°C single-step infusion.
I observed that this time the gravity went down even further than the previous times - F.G. 0.998 (S.G. was 1.052)

 

[Tcl1999]

Yeah, truthfully "watery" is probably not the right word. I was kind of hoping to come out a little less than the calculated value anyway because I don't need a 7.1% saison. I suspect the LHBS is a little coarse on the crush, too.


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[Tcl1999]

By the way I am 24 hours in and bubbling at about 90 bubbles per minute. It is burning right now at 75 degrees!


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[fearwig]

But man it does finish fast. I gave it a quart of leftover cider on Saturday and it finished up in a hurry, smells pretty nice already. I'm crashing that too.

I don't do a lot of ciders, but I think I might start using this as my main cider yeast. It finishes dry but the esters and funk really bring out the musty notes in the apple, so you get a dry cider that really tastes like ripe fruit. This wasn't even amazing good juice, it was a 64oz grocery store juice sitting in the back of the fridge my daughter never finished so I pasteurized it and pitched and left it out on the counter for a couple of days. If I used the fancy organic stuff in the jug, I could probably make something pretty bitchin' with this. Or maybe a graf with biscuit and aromatic malt.

 

[m1batt1]

So I've only done one saison myself but I really like the taste of them so I happened to have an extra packet of this yeast due to a mishap on brew day. Using the belle and after talking with my LHBS I went with a basic honey cream ale extract kit. In addition to the basic kit I tossed some coriander and seeds of paradise into the boil with about ~10 minutes left.

Then since I had a couple smaller fermenters I split it up and decided I'd play with the temperature ranges a bit. I started both out for 2 days at ~68 degrees. Then I sat one of the fermenters out in the garage where the temps fluctuate with the weather to see what the difference is. I know it'll be hard to recreate and may be a terrible end result with such temperature swings but I figured I'd give it a shot since I wouldn't be ruining a full batch.

Anyone else do anything potentially "stupid" like this in regards to temperature? If so how did it turn out? I'm hoping to check gravities tomorrow and get a taste so we'll see.

 

[pwortiz]

I would call this research, sir. Not a mistake at all.

 

[Sheldon]

I used 1 packet in a White recipe. Started at 1.053 (est 1.049) and finished at 1.010 (est 1.011) in just under 2 weeks in my pretty cool basement. Love this yeast, so far used it a couple times with great results.

Sheldon

 

[hotspurdotus]

I brewed 15 gallons of saison 2 weeks ago, and pitched 3 different yeasts. I fermented in my attic, where temps are 765-85.

I checked gravity yesterday; here are the results.

Wyeast 3724 - 1.011
ECY14 - 1.003
Belle Saison - 1.000

The moral of this story? Belle Saison is a beast!

 

[Legume]

I just used this in a cider...
great results, fermented at summer "room temp" (daily swings from 65 to 78).

 

[m1batt1]

So I've only done one saison myself but I really like the taste of them so I happened to have an extra packet of this yeast due to a mishap on brew day. Using the belle and after talking with my LHBS I went with a basic honey cream ale extract kit. In addition to the basic kit I tossed some coriander and seeds of paradise into the boil with about ~10 minutes left.

Then since I had a couple smaller fermenters I split it up and decided I'd play with the temperature ranges a bit. I started both out for 2 days at ~68 degrees. Then I sat one of the fermenters out in the garage where the temps fluctuate with the weather to see what the difference is. I know it'll be hard to recreate and may be a terrible end result with such temperature swings but I figured I'd give it a shot since I wouldn't be ruining a full batch.

Anyone else do anything potentially "stupid" like this in regards to temperature? If so how did it turn out? I'm hoping to check gravities tomorrow and get a taste so we'll see.

So I was finally able to taste them today. The one at room temp is down to 1.003 and still has some yeast in suspension. It also has a definite banana flavor to it but over all very clean and light. Nothing besides the banana stands out to me but that may be the yeast still in suspension giving me that heavy flavor.

The one from the garage has dropped to 1.000 and is crystal clear. None of the banana taste like the other but surprisingly clean tasting. For something that was completely unregulated and may have hit as high as 95-100 degrees it has no bad flavor notes that I could taste. I would say maybe a bit more of the citrus came through on this one from the coriander and seeds of paradise.

 

[Pilgarlic]

I pitched this yeast yesterday into five gallons of a ten gallon batch of a very tasty Witbier that had fermented from 1.058 to 1.016. We'll see how much lower the Belle takes it, and what character it adds. I'll have the two to compare and I'm betting I'll prefer the "Farmhouse Wit".

 

[Tcl1999]

I just brewed my first saison today with my dad. Went pretty well, but came out a little weaker than planned. Brewhouse efficiency was roughly 58%. First time ever using dry yeast too. Hope everything turns out ok! Here is what I did:

10 lbs. 2 row
2 lbs. wheat
.5 lbs. Munich

1.5 oz. Hallertau at 60 min
1.0 oz. Saaz at 30
0.5 oz. Hallertau at 30
1.0 oz Saaz at 5 min

37 calculated IBUs. Was shooting for 1.066 OG but only hit 1.055. The problem was I didn't boil off enough to get down to 5.5 gallons, so I ended up a little watery. Oh well, I fought the good fight and live to brew another day!

The Danstar yeast was pretty slick, even with rehydrating. I hope I like the results because it ferments at a good temp range for my needs.

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So it has been 9 days or so and all is well. Primary is done, haven't checked FG yet. How long would you recommend for conditioning before kegging this thing? I am not particularly patient. I like knocking out an IPA and having it ready to drink in three weeks. Not familiar enough with the style here




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[Tcl1999]

Oh, and who votes for a nice 4 oz Saaz dry hop?


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[Osedax]

Oh, and who votes for a nice 4 oz Saaz dry hop?


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Vote. 4oz is a lot. Especially for a saison but, I like voting.

 

[Talgrath]

I'm actually starting a saison with this yeast tomorrow, I'll give you guys a heads-up in a month or so.

 

[atoughram]

I'm actually starting a saison with this yeast tomorrow, I'll give you guys a heads-up in a month or so.

You will like it!

I did a ten gallon batch with this yeast - I kegged half and bottled half...

I finished the keg a few months ago

The bottled half has slowly been loosing it's saison funkiness (It's the cottage house recipe).

Expect to be at final gravity in a week. :rockin:

 

[Tcl1999]

How long did you leave it in primary/secondary til you kegged?

 

[Tcl1999]

Aww crap. I went to keg tonight and this is what I find...



The beer smells fine, tastes fine, attenuated down to 1.005, but that sure doesn't look normal. Infection? What should I do other than wait it out and see what happens after I drink a glass or two?


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[dmarc85]

Bro, that's good beer. It will literally smell like poop if it's infected. Bottle or keg immediately. Enjoy soon after!


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[hotspurdotus]

Aww crap. I went to keg tonight and this is what I find...

View attachment 211210

The beer smells fine, tastes fine, attenuated down to 1.005, but that sure doesn't look normal. Infection? What should I do other than wait it out and see what happens after I drink a glass or two?


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Dmarc is right. Those look like yeast rafts, push up to the surface by escaping co2. Totally harmless. Enjoy your beer!

 

[m1batt1]

I've got that exact look in one of my fermenters with this yeast. Like said above you've just got some yeast rafts.

 

[dmarc85]

Yeast rafts for sure. My IPA looked just like that before I kegged it. Now I'm drinking some good brew, clear as a bell.


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[Tcl1999]

Thanks for the confirmation. After i posted the picture i went and looked through a lot of pages of the infection thread and those were consistently different.

I havent used this yeast before, and i have not seen anything like it, but on my brew day i had a couple potential contamination concerns. I guess it planted the seed of doubt in my head.

Thanks for talking me off the cliff.

 

[mb82]

Has anyone brewed any larger beers with this yeast. Like 9-10% abv? So far all I have brewed are more sessionable beers and was wondering how it acted. Contemplating a bigger winter saison for this year.