wyeast 3031

[Firestorm159]

Well I brewed my yearly saison a couple days ago but decided to try Wyeast 3031 saison-brett blend instead of French saison I normally use. Well a little while ago I was reading about it and didn't catch it before but I read that it was not recommended that you make a yeast starter because it could change the character of the yeast so I wonder if any of you guys have any experience with this? Hopefully i didn't mess up my beer.

 

[giraffe]

Not with that particular strain, but with blends in general one strain will reproduce at a higher rate than the other and the ratio will be a bit off. My assumption (which may be wrong) is that the beer may be a little more bretty than wyeast intended. You are very likely just fine.

 

[secondbase]

Don't worry about it. I've used this blend to make a ton of beers over the past year. I think I'm on the 6th generation of it and it's definitely leaning towards the brett side now. Not a bad thing, the brett in this blend is super tropical. This has become my favorite saison blend.

 

[tagz]

Anyone know the origin of the Brett strain?

Edit: Nevermind. Just read that it's Brett C. Surprised that it goes tropical. Never got that from C.

 

[secondbase]

I get a lot of guava, passion fruit, lychee. Especially after 3, 4, 5 generations of it. I'm not saying it isn't Brett C but it doesn't behave like any brett C I've used.

 

[specharka]

Don't worry about it. I've used this blend to make a ton of beers over the past year. I think I'm on the 6th generation of it and it's definitely leaning towards the brett side now. Not a bad thing, the brett in this blend is super tropical. This has become my favorite saison blend.

Hmm, I also did not notice this. My experience has been lots of barnyard funk, maybe a little lemon from the lactic tartness.
Did you ramp up the temperature in your batches? Maybe that's the missing variable I don't have.

 

[Firestorm159]

Did you use a starter with any of them?

 

[jmyers04]

I just used 3031 to make a saison. First bottle I tried was great. We used fresh yeast cake to make our latest two beers. One will be another saison and the other a hoppy saison. Very curious how this will be on its second generation. Any idea what we can expect? So we syphoned off the cake from the first one and split the yeast cake in half in two separate mason jars. Will we be able to reuse the pitch from just one of these second generation beers? We planned a bottle and brew on the same day as to use it as fresh as possible.

 

[secondbase]

Hmm, I also did not notice this. My experience has been lots of barnyard funk, maybe a little lemon from the lactic tartness.
Did you ramp up the temperature in your batches? Maybe that's the missing variable I don't have.

I did not ramp up any of the batches I've made with this blend.

Did you use a starter with any of them?

nope. I have never made a starter using this blend.

I just used 3031 to make a saison. First bottle I tried was great. We used fresh yeast cake to make our latest two beers. One will be another saison and the other a hoppy saison. Very curious how this will be on its second generation. Any idea what we can expect? So we syphoned off the cake from the first one and split the yeast cake in half in two separate mason jars. Will we be able to reuse the pitch from just one of these second generation beers? We planned a bottle and brew on the same day as to use it as fresh as possible.

I got a little THP in bottles on subsequent pitches. Not as much on second generation, but third and fourth definitely. If you're using the fresh cake and don't leave the beer on it for more than a month or so you'll likely be fine. I think I experienced THP in bottles on the second generation for about two or three weeks before it went away.

 

[bassmang4]

What's the sac strain in 3031? I just did one with 3711 primary. Pils and a little rye malt and golden naked oats. Loral hops. Brett C at kegging. Pressurized and left warm. Two weeks from kegging I'm pushing a pint a day off the warm keg and quick carbing for sampling. It's getting some secondary fermentation as I haven't had to add co2. It's amazing. Balance saison yeast pepper, rye spiciness, Brett funk and tropical notes as well as fruit and floral hops. Nothing overpowers anything else. It's very prairie artisan ales standard. The Brett c works nicely in this. Loral is a nice hop too.

 

[jmyers04]

So our second generation with 3031 and it has been 11 days since we pitched on a 5 gallon batch of a hoppy saison. It was fresh yeast slurry right out of the carboy. Prior beer had been on it for a little over a month. In 11 days it has already dropped to about 1.004. Is that normal? I figured with the Brett it would take a little bit. First generation didn't even drop that low. We bottles maybe a hair under 1.010. I tasted the hydro sample. Little hops coming thru (we haven't dry hopped yet) and lots of Brett flavor. More than first generation. Fermented this hoppy saison at ambient

 

[jmyers04]

I did not ramp up any of the batches I've made with this blend.



nope. I have never made a starter using this blend.




I got a little THP in bottles on subsequent pitches. Not as much on second generation, but third and fourth definitely. If you're using the fresh cake and don't leave the beer on it for more than a month or so you'll likely be fine. I think I experienced THP in bottles on the second generation for about two or three weeks before it went away.

It seems super fast. Just confused.

 

[SouthPhillyBr3w3r]

So our second generation with 3031 and it has been 11 days since we pitched on a 5 gallon batch of a hoppy saison. It was fresh yeast slurry right out of the carboy. Prior beer had been on it for a little over a month. In 11 days it has already dropped to about 1.004. Is that normal? I figured with the Brett it would take a little bit. First generation didn't even drop that low. We bottles maybe a hair under 1.010. I tasted the hydro sample. Little hops coming thru (we haven't dry hopped yet) and lots of Brett flavor. More than first generation. Fermented this hoppy saison at ambient

I am curious if you figured this out? I have several vials that I propagated and froze in glycol after making a 3-generation starter. The final starter smelled amazing after a week and I am really curious to know this yeast's properties before I brew with it.