difference is, different people have different perceptions. 
“All the world old is queer save thee and me, and even thou art a little queer.” That’s one of my mom’s favorite sayings. My mom is pretty weird. I wonder where I get it from?
Sure. Hop bitterness would affect dryness in a Saison. Also, alcohol can have a sweet flavor that can detract from your perception of dryness.
FWIW Nateo, I think you are 100% correct and I think it is mostly yeast driven. Some beers ferment out super dry but the yeast flavor makes them taste “fuller” than they are according to our methods of measuring. I really don’t know what the chemistry is behind it but I do find it interesting.
Glycerol production during fermentation will vary according to yeast strain and fermentation conditions. The more there is the fuller the mouthfeel. It may be something else, but this could be the reason for the difference.
I like WY 3711 for dryness and slight pepper flavor and I like WLP 565 for general funky flavor so I have starting using both together.
I figured some smart person would chime in with at least part of the answer. now, how does one control glycerol formation, or is it totally dependent on yeast strain?
If glycerol is responsible for mouthfeel, that would start explaining the studies I’ve heard about where light lagers were dosed with large amounts of dextrin with no discernible difference in mouthfeel.
Also, some wine yeast are known to provide more “structure” during fermentation than others. I suspect 3711 is related to one of those wine yeasts.
There are things that will affect it, but I need to do a lot more reading to come up with a definitive answer for how to do it in an actual beer fermentation. Pitching rate, aeration rates, fermentation temp and pH will all have effects. It is strain dependent, but that’s not the only factor.
Well, it affects mouthfeel but I doubt it’s the only thing. Those studies make no sense to me, because I’ve used dextrin to increase mouthfeel and it’s worked. :-\
I always get a “silky” mouthfeel and noticable dryness with 3711 using no sugar in my 1.050s saisons. I mash in the low 150Fs for 75-90min and aim for an FG of 1.006.
For my light saisons, if the FG is any lower, the dryness overwhelms the other yeast characteristics.
I spent a few brews trying to tame WLP565 but it always ran out of gas in the mid teens. I always had to pitch another yeast to bring it to final grav but it was always too sweet despite the mash temp being lower to encourage dryness.
I have just started using 566 and it’s an improvement. The last Saison came in at 1.009 after a 25C fermentation.
I have a slap-pack of the Wyeast 3726 Farmhouse (Blaugies strain?) - I’m going to try that soon…anybody got a heads-up on this strain?
At the moment - the 566 is drying the beer out nicely.
F