I picked up a Belgian IPA kit that included Danstar Belle Saison. I had a White Labs (Abbey II equiv, forgetting the name at the moment) from another beer that I didn’t end up needing and was going to use that on the Belgian IPA.
Anyway, the shop owner and I were surprised to see a dry saison yeast. Has anyone used this yet? Very curious. I just ordered a NB Saison and suppose I could try using it on that.
It’s new. Come on, be the guinea pig! Let us know how well (or not) it works.
:cheers:
I’m such a sucker for dry yeast that I had to pick some up. I’ve got a pack in the fridge and will be brewing my first saison in the next few weeks. My plan is to start ferm temp at 68F and let it free rise into the mid-70’s until it’s done.
[quote=“mvsawyer”]It’s new. Come on, be the guinea pig! Let us know how well (or not) it works.
:cheers: [/quote]
I might on a saison. Not using it on the Belgian IPA since I have other yeast I need to use up.
Bump. Has anyone tried this strain yet? Planning on making a saison and another Belgian IPA in a month or so. I was gonna maybe ferment mid 70’s to test this one.
I’ve got a batch chugging with this yeast right now. What I’ve found it that it starts out fast for a couple days, then slows way way down but keeps on going like the Energizer bunny. Mine has been in primary for almost 4 weeks now and it is STILL actively fermenting. Still cloudy, with tiny almost microscopic bubbles. Based on research, it will ferment out very dry, like 1.002. I think mine might even go down to 0.999 or something like that, since I am giving it all the time it wants – just a guess. It gets very good reviews. Supposed to be virtually indistinguishible from Wyeast 3711.
Good to know. Thanks! I’ll factor in a nice long fermentation.
What was your OG? I just brewed a saison with an OG of 1.054 and it ended (after a month) at 1.006. I did only use one pack where I seem to recall Danstar recommending 2 packs for a 5 gallon batch.
OG=1.052. I used 1/3 pack for 2.2 gallons. So yeah, maybe 2 packs for 5 gallons truly is necessary for this yeast. I haven’t checked gravity yet, maybe I will tonight just so I know where I’m at. By the way… I also mashed at 149 F for 90 minutes, to ensure the beer would be nice and dry. It will be very dry, no doubt.
That sounds tasty.
I’m going to use it this weekend - 2 packs (rehydrated) in a 5 gal. batch of strong saison of approx 7.5-8%. Will check in in a month or so with results.
Following are the notes from my very first tasting of my saison made with the Danstar dry saison yeast. Took about 3.5 weeks to ferment to completion, i.e., zero bubbling and yeast FINALLY beginning to settle out.
“Well I’ve been right about this beer finishing very low, very dry. FG=1.001. Even so it does not taste insanely dry. Dry, but not to the bone. Smells and tastes very Belgian. Has a sort of peppery flavor. Also some yeasty flavor yet that will drop out. Also very Wonder bread-like. I really kind of like it. Except you can indeed taste the high octane and I don’t necessarily care for that even though it was kind of expected. Still, it is not at all turpy in character, just plain-jane ethyl alcohol like a high end vodka. Very much like Wonder bread though, with a little Belgian fruit and very low pepper. Good beer. Bitterness is very firm, I would even say a little too much for my own taste – BU:GU must be 0.65 or thereabouts – am I right?? No, it’s only 0.45. Must be the dryness and salt additions that did that then, but mostly the dryness / low gravity. No real hop flavors to speak of. Honey-ish pilsner malt character comes out to play in the aftertaste. I’d like to age this beer for a couple months to knock down the alcohol flavor. Perhaps it will mellow into something even more complex with age. Overall good effort. I think it would score low to mid 30s in competition. No real flaws, but lacking that certain something to make it very special. Probably needs a tiny bit of spices added.”
Dave - thanks for the tasting notes and previous posts on this yeast.
Can you tell my what you OG was? I am mashing my saison right now and am trying to decide whether to use one or 2 packs of the yeast. Much appreciated.
I will be trying this yeast tomorrow with a 1.062 target gravity Saison with Grains Of Paradise.
Looking forward to it.
I used it on a Belgian. Open the first 1st yesterday. It was great I would recommend giving a try.
I finished brewing at 1 O’clock. It is 6 and I am already getting a pretty good start at bubbles in the Airlock.
Racked 5 gallons of my Saison with this yeast yesterday. The Beer was still pretty cloudy even though it sat for 5 weeks. The flavor is really nice. It went from 1.062 to 1.002! :shock:
This yeast is a beast! I had a Belgian dark strong ale go from 1.077 to 1.003 (9.68%)
I’ve used this yeast in. Belgian strong and a Saison and enjoy both brews. The Strong Dark recipe was patterned after the Local 2 clone recipe I read in BYO and brewed it with liquid yeast and all the spices the first time and it was damn good. My second brew was with the Belle Saison and omitted the spices. I like the Belle Saison version much better.
I finally got around to brewing again. The wife and newborn have been interrupting me a little.
Finished brewing around 11pm or so. By 8am, it was bubbling a lot. Hopefully it tolerates higher temps.
