I am opening the doors to my nano in one month and have been doing some finishing touches on my process. I do half American and half Belgian ales, with the occasional English ale thrown in. Formerly, 3787/530 was my house Belgian strain but I am ditching it in favor of 3711--French saison. Why?
First, these two yeasts are very similar flavor-wise. I think a common misconception, though, is that saisons need to be fermented at high temperature. That might be true for the Dupont strain, but it is definitely not true for 3711. At temperatures of 80 degrees or more, 3711 puts out an overwhelming amount of fruity esters. It is similar to 3787, but even more dark plum dominates the flavor profile, eclipsing the malt flavor of your beer in anything but the darkest of ales. I believe 65-70 is a great fermentation temperature for Belgian pale ales, saisons, and tripels. 75 is preferable for dubbels and quads, where a greater level of fruit plays nicely with darker malt/candi syrup.
So why 3711? It is a fool-proof yeast. It will chew through any beer and leave it bone dry. Unlike 3787, though, it is not nearly as sensitive about temperature. In order to fully attenuate my stronger Belgian ales made with 3787, I would have to carefully increase temperature. Any drop in temp can send it crashing before the beer is done. If you have ever had this happen with a tripel or quad, it will absolutely ruin your beer. I still have some bottles of 1.020 FG quad and tripel that I use for cooking and nothing else. I totally believe that a dry finish is integral to all abbey ales and saisons, where a delicate BU:GU ratio can be thrown off horrendously by a couple gravity points.
Also, 3711 leaves an extremely smooth mouthfeel. I am not sure why this is, but it is definitely noticeable. My saisons finish close to zero but there is nothing thin about them. Yet they are always crisp and dry.
The drawback--speed and flocculation. 3711 is a bit slower to the finish than 3787, and its flocculation is supposedly lower. However, all Belgian strains have rather poor flocculation. Three days of cold crashing produces a reasonably brite beer.
Anyways, just wanted to let others know how great this yeast is if you like to make a lot of Belgian ales.
First, these two yeasts are very similar flavor-wise. I think a common misconception, though, is that saisons need to be fermented at high temperature. That might be true for the Dupont strain, but it is definitely not true for 3711. At temperatures of 80 degrees or more, 3711 puts out an overwhelming amount of fruity esters. It is similar to 3787, but even more dark plum dominates the flavor profile, eclipsing the malt flavor of your beer in anything but the darkest of ales. I believe 65-70 is a great fermentation temperature for Belgian pale ales, saisons, and tripels. 75 is preferable for dubbels and quads, where a greater level of fruit plays nicely with darker malt/candi syrup.
So why 3711? It is a fool-proof yeast. It will chew through any beer and leave it bone dry. Unlike 3787, though, it is not nearly as sensitive about temperature. In order to fully attenuate my stronger Belgian ales made with 3787, I would have to carefully increase temperature. Any drop in temp can send it crashing before the beer is done. If you have ever had this happen with a tripel or quad, it will absolutely ruin your beer. I still have some bottles of 1.020 FG quad and tripel that I use for cooking and nothing else. I totally believe that a dry finish is integral to all abbey ales and saisons, where a delicate BU:GU ratio can be thrown off horrendously by a couple gravity points.
Also, 3711 leaves an extremely smooth mouthfeel. I am not sure why this is, but it is definitely noticeable. My saisons finish close to zero but there is nothing thin about them. Yet they are always crisp and dry.
The drawback--speed and flocculation. 3711 is a bit slower to the finish than 3787, and its flocculation is supposedly lower. However, all Belgian strains have rather poor flocculation. Three days of cold crashing produces a reasonably brite beer.
Anyways, just wanted to let others know how great this yeast is if you like to make a lot of Belgian ales.
