Saison Dry Yeast Clash! BE-134 X Belle Saison X M29 French Saison

[Alan Reginato]

Hi everyone! I was researching some time ago about saison dry yeasts and many homebrewers swear that M29 is Belle Saison or BE-134 repackaged. So I give it a try, bought one package of each and put to test.

A lot of discussion about it here:

Dry yeasts identified - your opinions please!

The recipe was pretty simple and straightforward.

Pale Ale malt.
OG 1.031
Estimated FG 1.005
Estimated ABV 3.5% (including priming)
Magnum hops @30 min (40 IBU)
BU:GU 1.3 (I like it bitter)

4 Separated fermentors. One should use my "house" yeast to compare, but it got infected . So I just mixed some of the 3 above...

Fermentation started at 28C (82F), (let them shine!) And since the beginning I can tell them apart, easily.

BE-134 was normally phenolic aroma, spicy, clove, cinnamon...

M29 was fruit, with strong banana.

Belle Saison was a subtle spicy aroma, but perceptively weaker than the others.

And the mixed one, well, a mix of them.

I should took pictures, my bad, my bad...

I may update it as it goes.

Cheers!

 

[Alan Reginato]

Bottled it on Monday, finished very dry, all of them. FG 1.000. calculated ABV 4.1%.



Fermentation temp starts in 28 C and dropped to 25 C, after high krausen.



Tasting it, was bitter (as I expected) and the differences in aroma remains in the flavours.



BE 134, phenolic (clove, cinnamon) and spicy. Not over the top, but really showed up.



Belle Saison, spicy, peppery, phenolic, smooth. Milder than BE 134.



M29, fruit, banana, spicy. To me, a crossover between Abbey (made only one beer with this yeast, a lot of banana in the beginning and raisin after matured) and S-33 (if fermented really high, like 33 C. Yep, I did it once. My house smelled like bobble gum for a week)



The mixed, was a subtle mix of all three yeasts. Very interesting.



Now, I will wait a month to enjoy this beers and update this post.



Wish me luck!

 

[Zambezi Special]

Thanks!
I like comparison threads

 

[Alan Reginato]

To update!

It's been a while, but I've waited until I've had a full experience with these beers. It usually changes over time and anything with saison yeast improves a lot.

On the first day of April, I tasted the four beers with my family. My wife and mother said everything tasted the same. Hehehe. Interestingly, I was only able to easily differentiate Be-134, due to the taste of cloves in it, for the others, there was a difference, but it was sublet. My brother had the same impression.

The interesting thing about all this is that last Sunday (14/05/23), I tasted everything again and the differences can be easily noticed again. Even my wife thought so.

BE 134, phenolic (clove, cinnamon) and spicy. Classic Be-134, for those familiar with that.

Belle Saison, spicy, with hints of pepper. Smoother than the others.

M29, ripe banana, raisin, a little spicy. If it's repackaged yeast, I'd choose Belle Saison and Abbey.

The mix was a subtle mix of all three yeasts. I can't find cloves here.

If an experienced judge proves it, perhaps he could write a better review, but my senses are limited. Sometimes there's something more subtle there, but I just can't discern it, I only get the big tones. My bad. But it is only an overview on these yeasts. Hope you found it useful!

 

[CascadesBrewer]

Hope you found it useful!

Thanks! Did you have a preference?

Do people think that Mangrove Jack's M41 - Belgian Ale is the same or a very similar strain to Fermentis BE-134? I used M41 last year in some trail 1 gallon batches, and the beers were definitely heavy on the phenolics. It really accentuated the bitterness of those beers. I was not sure how much I might like that character in a Saison. With some age it has toned down a bit.

 

[Alan Reginato]

Thanks! Did you have a preference?

Do people think that Mangrove Jack's M41 - Belgian Ale is the same or a very similar strain to Fermentis BE-134? I used M41 last year in some trail 1 gallon batches, and the beers were definitely heavy on the phenolics. It really accentuated the bitterness of those beers. I was not sure how much I might like that character in a Saison. With some age it has toned down a bit.

Yes, I prefer the one with BE-134. I really enjoy that clove taste in the background. Specially in a low ABV beer like that. But when it's high, might decrease drinkability. Thankfully, it fades over time and saison usually improve as days goes by.

I have yet to try M41, maybe in the future. If it has phenolics and diastatic attenuation level, could be. Or maybe a mix. Who knows?