Pitching 2 yeast strains question(s)

[dexterrorist]

So I'm going to be brewing a blueberry blonde again this week, but i wanted to make some changes to the recipe.
first change is making it a blackberry blonde, because that's what it was supposed to be the first time around, but i just couldn't find them.

the next change i'm going to make is pitching 2 yeasts.

i originally brewed the beer using coopers dry yeast, and fermented it a little warmer (~72*) to try and pull a little bit of esters out of it. so what i'm planning on doing this time is pitching the coopers first, and then pitching some wyeast 3711 that i washed from my saison.

so the question is, when is the best time to pitch the 3711?

i have read if i pitch them both at the same time, that the 3711 flavour profiles will take over, which i'm not looking for. i'd rather just a "hint" of them... so would it be best to pitch the coopers, then pitch the 3711 after the krausen starts to fall?
or would it be better to pitch the 3711 to the secondary when i rack it onto the fruit since fermentation will kick off again anyways? it's supposed to come in at about 6% ABV, so it would probably be close to that at the 2 week mark when i transfer... is that too high for 3711 to start working?

any tips or advice would be great. i'm more interested in the experiment aspect of this brew, and just want to try and generate the best result i can.

 

[Chris1272]

personally I would pitch the 3711 when you rack. keep in mind that It is aggressive and will ferment you beer very dry.

 

[dexterrorist]

i wouldn't necessarily mind if it dried right out, but if i mashed at a higher temperature could i keep it from drying out as much by making the wort less fermentable?
i was planning on mashing at 150* (as per the recipe)...

 

[dexterrorist]

any other input/ideas?

 

[kingwood-kid]

Mash lower and pitch the Cooper's first. Mashing higher will create more sugars that are unfermentable for the Cooper's but fermentable for the 3711. Let the Cooper's eat the blackberries before you add the 3711. You might consider bottling half of the batch without the 3711 and half with it to see which version you like better.