WY French Saison 3711

[brewinhard]

anybody brew with this yeast? if so, is it as finicky as WY Saison 3724 in terms of needing to be given lots of time and high temps (80 degrees) to finish dry enough or does it ferment well with minimal fuss?

[ElectricLandlord]

It is definitely less finicky than the 3724. I brewed a Saison last year with the 3711 and it went really smoothly. I gradually ramped up the temp to 28 Centigrade and it finished out at about 1.006 (using JZ's recipe).

This year I used the same recipe but with 3724 and it was a nightmare. Fermentation took off like a rocket, went hard for about 3 days then stopped. I ramped the temperature up to 30 degrees C, agitated the fermenter, still nothing. Left it for a week at 30 degrees, still nothing. So eventually a pitched a sachet of US-05 and it cranked down to about 1.006. The beer tastes OK but it low on Saison character.

I've since bought another pack of 3711PC and will go with that again next time. A brewer friend of mine reckons he needs to get 3724 up to about 35 Centigrade to get it to finish out!

[JSKC]

Just my experience:

I made a 2.75L starter in a gallon jug, crashed, decanted and pitched into about 1L of fresh starter wort the morning I brewed. Pitched this into six gallons of 1.060 wort at 65F. Let ferment about four days before I began ramping it up to 78F over the course of a week. In all, my Saison fermented to 1.006 in 16 days. No problems here.

[Millhaus]

A few months back I did a split batch Saison, one with the 3724 and one with the 3711, OG 1.075. I started them both at 68 for two days and then let them run up to 80 for 10 days. The 3724 went to 1.040 and the 3711 went to 1.008. I set the 3711 aside and ramped the temp on the 3724 up to 85, in a week it dropped to 1.030 and the 3711 went to 1.002. So when I kegged the 3711, I threw the entire yeast cake on the 3724 and it kicked it right off and went down to 1.000.

Mash temp was 145, I really wanted to try and dry this out.

[brewinhard]

Anyone know if they plan on making this one year round availability? I am definitely buying up a pack for a couple of winter saisons, maybe even mash one with some squash or yams...

[ElectricLandlord]

I did hear a rumour about this one going year-round, but I can't vouch for its authenticity.

[Millhaus]

That would be great, I really like how it chewed through the wort.

[thatguy314]

Anyone know if they plan on making this one year round availability? I am definitely buying up a pack for a couple of winter saisons, maybe even mash one with some squash or yams...

I heard that rumor too. A friend of mine says they spoke to wyeast, but I'm not sure. Either way, I bought an extra package of it that I plan to streak out onto a slant. I'll subculture it for anyone who wants to pay postage.