I found that fermenting at 70F to 72F for the early stage of fermentation does work well and the aroma was nice. However, this yeast apparently needs more temperature in the later stage of fermentation to finish well. I ultimately had to raise the temperature to 85F in the very late stage of the fermentation to get a nice low gravity of 0.998 (the recipe did have 10% cane sugar).
How’s it taste?
It is very nice, as a matter of fact it is one of two beers I am pouring at the California Beer Festival here in Ventura this Saturday. Our homebrew club is the only club serving, all other servers are professional breweries.
I like it too. I made a strong saison with sugar fermented warm and it finished dry, spicy, and a bit tart. I find the flavor profile of this beer to be similar to what I get with the WY 3711 French Saison strain.
I tapped a saison last night that I brewed back June. It was NB’s Synchronicity Wheaten Saison. Turned out great. This was the first dry yeast I’d used in years and am very pleased.
The Northern Brewer saison started at 1.06 and finished at 1.006. At about 3 weeks bottled, it’s tasting fairly bland at the moment.
s2y, What were your fermentation temps?
I got a lot of spice out of my first Belle Saison in a Patersbier. Started at 63 F, bumped up to 70, and ended up at about 75. Fermented from 1.047 down to 1.002. It might have gone lower if I’d had the patience to wait it out.
s2y, I just reviewed the notes from my Patersbier and saw that I did a ferulic acid mash step at 111 F. That may account for some of the complexity I got. Saison yeast is apparently related to Bavarian Weizen yeasts that convert ferulic acid to phenols - clove and related spicy flavors. Also, the Patersbier uses only pils malt; the crystal malt in your Saison may be masking some of the complexity that comes out in the less assertive malt in a Patersbier. Please note that I only have one data point for these comments, so don’t treat them as authoritative.
[quote=“Old_Dawg”]s2y, What were your fermentation temps?
I got a lot of spice out of my first Belle Saison in a Patersbier. Started at 63 F, bumped up to 70, and ended up at about 75. Fermented from 1.047 down to 1.002. It might have gone lower if I’d had the patience to wait it out.[/quote]
I was mostly at about 75 degrees. It has only been bottled for 3 weeks and I’m still recovering from a stomach bug. I’ll check back in a few weeks since my taste buds could be a little off kilter.
Very well could be. Mine was just an extract kit.
