I finally got to use the Belle Saison yeast that came in the NHC bag.
Adapted a found Saison recipe and besides the 8 lbs of 2-row and 1.5 lbs of various cara malts, I included 2 pounds of Red Wheat Malt (17%). After careful re-hydration I pitched the Belle Saison at 80°F on Tuesday 8/13 @ 4:00 a.m., and let it naturally rise to 86.5°F during the first day and night. It cooled off to 75° by the end of today, the 3rd day.
Belle Saison yeast in a Belgian Saison after 18 hours. Fermentation Temp is 85.6°F. Krausen has already fallen.
Starting with an OG of 1.062, I just took a sample and it's down to 1.010 already in less than 72 hours! The gravity sample tastes amazing, and very witbeer like. Definitely bananas, some cloves, perhaps some phenolics, not sure what to taste for with those, and some complex esters (fruitiness). It is still active so I'll let it ride a few more days. I might split it up and sour half of it. Any suggestions?
This is a very promising yeast. The re-hydration procedure seems picky but important. There is only a narrow temperature range and the yeast can't be re-hydrated in wort, only water. The instructions provided, even on DanStar's website are incomplete. I extrapolated it with the one given for Notty. First you hydrate
without stirring for half an hour. Then you
must stir it to dissolve all the yeast, and let it sit another 10 minutes, before you pitch. Pitching directly into wort may kill it.
After I rack this off I'll start another one with some of the harvested yeast.