I remember a few people being interested in Saison yeasts, so I thought I'd share my preliminary results (while I'll update once the beers are bottled and conditioned) in a comparison between two popular Belgian Saison yeasts.



I've been brewing Saisons with Wyeast 3724, which is supposed to be the Belgian Saison yeast used by Saison Dupont... or, at least, was what the strain was when Wyeast got the sample. This is the mutant yeast, possibly (according to Jeff Sparrow) a mutated wine yeast or something. It's famous for stalling out if it's not warm enough, and warm for this brew is a range of 25-35 degrees Celsius (ie. 77-95F). In fact, if you have the temp too low, the yeast stalls out (at spots like 1.035 or something like that, or somewhere in the 1.020s, until you warm it up, and even then, sometimes, it takes a while. Apparently Saison Dupont runs the fermentation in their brewery at the very top end of the temp range: 3 days flat at 35C (95F).



I should note, I haven't had this problem with this yeast; I first used it on a hot ondol floor in winter, in a cupboard that was about 32C or so. I'm on the 4th generation now, and as I've read, by that point it's a beast and chews through anything quickly.



When I got a sample of French Saison yeast, Wyeast 3711, from Kunkemonster, I figured I would like to try a side-by-side. Well, not literally side-by-side, since the top end temperature on the French Saison yeast is right at the bottom end of the Belgian Saison.



So I brewed up something like 45 gallons of wort. The recipe (hops and grain bill) are here. (It's a bit kitchen-sinky, but artisanal Saisons sometimes do use a more complex grist, while the commercial ones use a much simpler grist, sometimes even just Pilsner malt. I threw in the rye for the spiciness, the special B for a touch of raisin, and the blue agave for a touch of flavor.)



Then I put approximately half of the wort in one bucket, and the other half in the other, pitched the yeasts, and then put the French Saison bucket in my living room, under the air conditioner, and the Belgian one out in the hot common room (average temp is about 32C during the first few days of fermentation), and left them for a couple of weeks. The Belgian, while fermenting, gave off a fruity aroma, but the French Saison was striking in that the aroma it gave off while fermenting at the top of its range was pure bubblegum for a few days.



(We were quite excited by that, hoping a slight touch of that "off-flavor" might survive in a small, small amount. I've had one beer that had some bubblegum aroma and a tiny touch of it in the flavor -- I think it was a properly aged bottle of Orval, and it was remarkable. (Because not-overwhelming... too much bubblegum WOULD be an off flavor, but a touch is just interesting.)



Anyhow, the preliminary results -- objective and subjective -- are as follows:



OG: 1.052 (undershot target by 1.002 points only...)



FG:

1.003 for the French Saison yeast (3711) -- 6.5%

1.004 for the Belgian Saison yeast (3724) -- 6.4%



(Those might creep lower: I have consistently gotten 1.002 or lower in the Belgian Saisons -- with adjunct of 10% or more -- and I will probably leave them in the bucket a bit longer. Then again, I've kegged all the Saisons I've done to date, and will be bottle-conditioning these, so I've no idea how the yeast will perform for bottle-carbonation and how low the final gravity will end up. As before, I'll have them at the same temperatures as primary fermentation until carbonation is complete.)



As for subjective results, both Jihyun and I find the French Saison zingier and fruitier, and the Belgian a little less fruity but relatively the same for spiciness. I'm surprised, as I expected the Belgian to outperform the French given the higher temp and so on. Both are likely going to be very good-tasting beers, but despite my good experience with the Belgian, I'm considering the French carefully and, all things being equal, I might well be inclined to prefer the French for Saisons from now on.



(Though when brewing in summer -- or the winter with an ondol flooring system turned on -- the Belgian has the advantage of dealing with higher temps better... and experienced brewers of Saison claim the Belgian flavor profile is unparalleled when the temp control is just right.)



I'd love to throw some lambic blend into some of each at bottling time, to see how some Brett funk would complexify such an already-dry beer. (I figure, like Orval, one could add the yeast at bottling time without fear of bottle bombs -- there's so little sugar left in the beer, after all.) However, that would make harvesting the yeast harder, unless I do a secondary, and I'm not planning on it. I guess I could do a starter for the lambic blend and then inoculate half the bottles instead, but likely I just won't bother -- use the Lambic blend packs to inoculate other things, like the two old ales (Jihyun's and mine) that we already have going.