I actually split my batch and only spiced half of it with the basil and mugwort. Well yesterday I finally got around to tasting the first bottle of non-spiced saison with this yeast. Man oh man, turned out so nice. Big pilsner malt aroma and flavor, along with “that Belgian character” caused by distinctive Belgian esters, also a good bit of peppery spice, a distinctive tartness and slight lemony type citrus flavor, and the aftertaste is of honey, which, I know from experience, definitely comes from the pilsner malt. Again, I repeat, this version was NOT spiced in any way, so these characters are predominantly from the Belle Saison yeast. Very nice saison, very good example of the style. It is indeed quite a bit hazy, not like a hefeweizen but enough to notice, although some of the haze also seems to dissipate as the beer warms. The most surprising thing to me was that tartness – it’s as if I’d added a little citric acid or something like that, which I did NOT. And I fermented in all new glass equipment so I know there ain’t a Lacto infection in there. I haven’t put this beer into competition yet but I will – as a Recognized BJCP judge, I am guessing this beer would score right around a 40, or okay let’s say I’m a little biased but at least 38. I’ve not tasted a saison that nails the style a lot better than this. FG was 1.002 but it doesn’t taste that low, tastes like 1.008 or something like that – there’s still plenty of body to prevent it from tasting thin or watery at all. Bottom line is: Do not fear this yeast!
Well I made the wort yesterday. going to pitch 5 gallons with a rehydrated packet of the belle saison that was terribly mistreated and spent a week in unrefrigerated heck in my suitcase. The other 5 gallons will get my house yeast blend.
^Stress test. Sweet.
I’m rebrewing my initial experiment - this time with about 1/2 the IBUs and cooling in around 72F.
If its not super-solventy, I’ll be bottling it to test some nifty new brett strains in secondary!
I just transferred a saison to secondary ( for adding some toasted pecan chips ) in which I used this yeast. The OG was 1.044 and FG was 1.000. I have never had a beer ferment that low. The next lowest FG was a berliner weisse at 1.002. I wasn’t expecting that low of a FG but it tastes good and has a med-low body. So much for a low alcohol session beer. ABV is 5.8% as calculated by Beersmith. I didn’t have any troubles with it fermenting out but I did bring it to a warm room toward the end of fermentation to be sure it would finish. The last saison I brewed stopped at 1.030. I didn’t realize it until it was too late. I had already added the priming sugar and started bottling. Oh well, live & learn.
Cheers,
Brandon
My homebrew club had a Saison Clone War competition last Thursday, where we faced off after all having brewed the same basic recipe but we were allowed to tweak it slightly in one small way. One guy added raisins, another added a little black pepper, etc. But most of us used the Danstar Belle Saison yeast. My saison using Belle plus toasted oats scored the silver medal out of 9 entries. Not too shabby. And the gold medalist’s secret ingredient? An extra pound of cane sugar. Doesn’t get any simpler than that. Anyway… just proving once again that this yeast is capable of great things. And, simplicity is often not such a terrible thing.
That’s great! This is why homebrewing is such a fun hobby. You can take some basic ingredients and make minor changes to get a different beer. I’m sure I will use this yeast many more times to see what it / I can do with it.
Cheers,
Brandon
I just brewed a table-strength saison with it. Fermentation was at a steady 68F so we’ll see how that affects things. Regardless of constant temp without ramping fermentation has proceeded swiftly.
Look forward to seeing how low it goes for you without the ramp up. I hear it’s a pretty voracious eater. I’ve done a couple saisons in a row to experiment with strain/temp combos, but haven’t used the Belle yet.
I have got a brew made with Belle in secondary rotation waiting for a spot in the fridge.
I liked the way it fermented and attenuation was good. more info forthcoming soon
I finally got around to brewing my saison and pitched two bricks of this yeast just yesterday. Thanks for all the feedback here. Y’all gave me courage to try it without a test batch. Otoh if it turns out for cheap I’m banning you all! Lol, just kidding. Denny would break my spleen if I did that.
Keith I read on this strain and they said the favorable UPPER temperature range has not been located.
I let mine ramp well into the 80s.
Cool. I’ll ramp mine up some tomorrow. Thanks for the tip.
Quote from some anomoulous retailer…
“Lallemand Belle Saison Ale Yeast - For the first time in brewing history, the complexity of Saison beer meets the simplicity and reliability of brewing with dry yeast. Belle Saison is the classic Belgian Saison strain, giving brewers the ability to create Saison and “Farmhouse” style ales that offer a host of complex characteristics associated with these intriguing styles. Belle Saison is meant to be fermented at warm temperatures (around 90ºF/32ºC) toward developing a unique combination of esters and aromatic characteristics that typify the best of these styles. As with Lallemand’s other dry yeast varieties, Belle Saison offers unequaled fermentation performance, allowing you to create award-winning beers time and time again.”
Wow, didn’t know that one was recommended to ferment so warm. I just fermented a saison with WY3724 @ 90, as Wyeast recommends now to prevent the stall with that strain. It’s a really weird feeling to pitch that warm after 2 decades of pitching ~ 64. Even for Belgians that’s warm. But the hydrometer sample was really good, so those strains evidently operate on their own set of rules.
Some speculation that those strains originated from a red wine yeast which ferment really warm. But I get great results from my Saison strains pitching in the 60s, ramping into the 70s. Had great results with wlp565 way into the 90s though.
Yep, I had heard that about the possible connection to red wine strains. Would make sense. I know that red wine ferments very warm, very vigorously(my brother-in-law is a helluva home winemaker). Sounds familiar. I always used 3711 ~ 68F, then ramped up. But I’m kegging this 90F saison tomorrow, and can’t wait to compare and contrast to the prior ones.
I just kegged by batch made with this. It started at 1.038 but I added 1 lb of honey after a couple days so all told it took this beer from 1.045 to 1.000 in about 2 weeks. I started at 65ish per my usuall and ramped up to 74ish after a couple days. It stayed there the rest of the time and it had no problem finishing.
The flavour is hard to pin point right now because It is not fully carbed but it has a distinct lemony tartness and is otherwise pretty clean so far. I withold judgement.
Bottled mine on monday keeping some reserved in a couple of liter PET bottles. This I cold-crashed and transferred off the yeast to different bottles and force carbed this morning with my carbonator caps.
I’ve been up since 0430 so a beer @0800 is like one with lunch- no?
Very smooth, with some light phenolic and ester notes. Lemony. But Sorachi Ace are the only hops I used so not sure how much they are contributing to the citrus character. Color is pale orange. Could have a tad more carbonation. Needs to condition at least a couple weeks in a warm room. This beer is not ready.
The initial impression is a big thumbs up for the Belle Saison.
I just tried a rosemary beer and honestly, I thought the rosemary came across very vegetal in a way that reminded me of gourmet soap - not good. And the rosemary was not over the top either.
Impressed by this yeast. Pitched @ 64 on Saturday and ramped it up to 68 on Monday and ramped up temp to 78 today but its already close to being done. Nice and spicy and some nice citrus notes. It was a 1.058 OG beer. Didn’t rehydrate, either.