Wyeast 3726 Farmhouse Yeast

[Westco]

So it's time for cheers for Belgian Beers! in Portland Oregon and this years selected strain is the Wyeast 3726 Farmhouse. Everyone has to use this yeast. I have never used this yeast and I plan of brewing a Belgian Blonde with it. Could anyone give me any tips with this yeast along with the style? Like what fermenting temps would work best with this style. I don't want to go overboard on certain flavors for this style of beer. This competition will be judged by BJCP standards.

[Chupa LaHomebrew]

Hey what's up Westco. I'm in Portland so I'm looking forward to getting that yeast too and competing. So the style is open to any Belgian style in the Belgian/French or Belgian Strong categories. But it's a saison yeast. So if you do a blonde, I don't think you are going to get a typical ester profile for a blond. You may get a great beer though. My advice is primarily to be open to entering it into whatever style the beer tastes like when it's finished. It' might be a better saison or Belgian specialty ale than a blond. Or maybe it will be a blond, I can't really say.

I have brewed with that yeast one time and I'll just say one thing: you can take it up way above the recommended top fermentation temp of 75 degrees. Think about pitching low, below 70, and then ramping it up to at least 80 by the end of fermentation to get it to finish out properly. You could go even higher, but starting low will keep the alcohols low. Good luck!

[Westco]

It sounds like a interesting competition to enter so i am looking forward to it. This is what I am worried about. A belgian Blonde is sorta like a pilsner in that there isn't a lot going on so flavors can stand out easily. What I don't want is that overly banana clove Belgian over the top taste. This would be more subtle in lets say a belgian dark strong.

If I were to pitch at 68º and over the course of a week ramp it up to 80º do you think that would provide a decent balance to flavors?

[Chupa LaHomebrew]

You could try keeping it cooler, under 75 if you want to keep the esters down. When I did my saison it had a bit more of the banana ester than I would want for a saison, but not as much as a belgian blond like Leffe. It's just a different yeast, and I don't know how it performs at lower temps. It may power through the fermentation or have trouble finishing. I think you will like it though and I wouldn't worry to much.

I talked to Ben Love at Hopworks yesterday. They were the guys that picked the yeast. He said they did a trial of about 5 different Belgian yeasts in a blond wort side by side. They all picked the 3726 as being the most interesting. Those were probably all fermented at ambient temp so no higher than mid 70's most likely.