Anyone used RVA-263 (Fantome strain) yeast yet?

[m00ps]

http://www.rvayeastlabs.com/ale-strains.html

Has anyone had any experience with this strain? I'm planning on doing a ~7% saison with a simple grain bill to check it out. Any recommendations on fermentation temperatures? I was planning on just doing my normal free rise for 2-3 days then crank it past 80.

 

[tagz]

I'm interested. Please drop some tasting notes if you can.

 

[idjeffp]

Sounds interesting to me too! Would love to hear your feedback when available....
Jeff P

 

[v01gt]

I've used it for 3 brews so far and I've been happy with it. Granted, the only other saison yeast I've used was 3711 (which I didn't really care for) and the 3 times I've used RVA 263 it wasn't your standard saison recipe (hibiscus saison, dark saison with brett brux in secondary, and a hoppy mosaic saison I'll be bottling today).

I don't have temp control other than a swamp cooler but I have kept the temps around 66-68 at start and let it rise up to ~72 after a couple days. Attenuation has been +80% but it hasn't been completely drying out like 3711... Going off memory but I think the hibiscus finished around 1.006-.008 from 1.056, and the mosaic saison was 1.058 and is sitting around 1.009-.010. RVA's description "fruity esters with an earthy finish" is how I'd describe it as well.

Honestly the biggest thing with this one is the price tag, but if you are looking to trying something other than 3711 or the Dupont strain it might be worth checking out. Let me know if you guys have any other questions.

 

[m00ps]

I've used it for 3 brews so far and I've been happy with it. Granted, the only other saison yeast I've used was 3711 (which I didn't really care for) and the 3 times I've used RVA 263 it wasn't your standard saison recipe (hibiscus saison, dark saison with brett brux in secondary, and a hoppy mosaic saison I'll be bottling today).

I don't have temp control other than a swamp cooler but I have kept the temps around 66-68 at start and let it rise up to ~72 after a couple days. Attenuation has been +80% but it hasn't been completely drying out like 3711... Going off memory but I think the hibiscus finished around 1.006-.008 from 1.056, and the mosaic saison was 1.058 and is sitting around 1.009-.010. RVA's description "fruity esters with an earthy finish" is how I'd describe it as well.

Honestly the biggest thing with this one is the price tag, but if you are looking to trying something other than 3711 or the Dupont strain it might be worth checking out. Let me know if you guys have any other questions.

Hey thanks that's really helpful. I'm a saison freak and have tried just about every yeast available except this one. I'll be running it considerably hotter than you but its good to know itll produce that funky earthy character that fantome has. I'm going to be brewing my simple 3 malt saison on Friday and I'll update with how the yeast does.

 

[v01gt]

Hey thanks that's really helpful. I'm a saison freak and have tried just about every yeast available except this one. I'll be running it considerably hotter than you but its good to know itll produce that funky earthy character that fantome has. I'm going to be brewing my simple 3 malt saison on Friday and I'll update with how the yeast does.

No problem! I haven't had fantome before, but I pretty positive their funk comes from brett/wild stuff. This yeast leans more on the fruity side with a nice earthy finish, so plan accordingly if you want the funk. Good luck with the brew! On a side note, I bottled the mosaic saison last night and the sample tasted really nice. Looking forward to this one getting carbed up. cheers!

 

[Gus_13]

Just got a vial of this in with the orchard brett. I'll try to remember to post my findings when it's done.

 

[m00ps]

So my simple saison with the fantome strain turned out well, but not nearly as much character as fantom beers are known for. I dont doubt this is their strain, but I dont think its their only strain that goes into their beers. As far as saison yeasts it was more earthy and peppery rather than fruity. Dry as youd expect. But less clean than 3711. I fermented it at around 92F for 3 weeks

 

[Gus_13]

So my simple saison with the fantome strain turned out well, but not nearly as much character as fantom beers are known for. I dont doubt this is their strain, but I dont think its their only strain that goes into their beers. As far as saison yeasts it was more earthy and peppery rather than fruity. Dry as youd expect. But less clean than 3711. I fermented it at around 92F for 3 weeks

I would almost guarantee that it's not the only strain in their culture. Not to mention Brett and wild bacteria they probably have.

 

[Austin_]

If memory serves me, the Wyeast Biere de Garde strain is supposed to be the primary Fantome strain too. Who knows what else goes in the beer, but it's definitely not a single species in there when it's all said and done. ECY03 is supposed to be a brett isolate from Fantome.

 

[Gus_13]

If memory serves me, the Wyeast Biere de Garde strain is supposed to be the primary Fantome strain too. Who knows what else goes in the beer, but it's definitely not a single species in there when it's all said and done. ECY03 is supposed to be a brett isolate from Fantome.

ECY03 actually turned out to be wild Sacc like White Labs Brett Trois. But that just goes to show you there are soooo many things out there that can go into a beer.

 

[Schmoltsbeer]

I used this for a saison and I was underwhelmed. I felt it had too much banana, and not enough of anything else. If I remember correctly, I ramped the temp into the lower 80's to finish the beer. I only fermented for two weeks, however it was done right around 1.010 from a 1.055-ish wort. It wasn't bad, but I'm not into banana beer, or hefeweizen, or any of that of which this beer reminded me. My grist was about equal parts MO, and Pils, with about 10% rye just for fun. The beer wasn't overly hopped at about 25-30 ibu's of American Hops (I don't remember which kind, centennial and cascade probably). I hope this helps.

 

[Leipzig]

I will be brewing a saison this weekend with RVA 263. Calypso & Jarrylo hops. The plan is to ferment at 85 degrees. Looking forward to seeing how it turns out.

I've had great success with other yeast strains from RVA yeast lab. Brewed an absolutely killer dry stout hybrid with their RVA 807 Dunnottar Castle Ale yeast last year.