WLP566 Questions

[Leviathan]

Anyone use this yeast? I'm going to brew a saison with it and had a few questions. First off, would it be wise to use sugar with this strain? I've heard that a few saison yeasts have no need for additional simple sugars and would dry the beer out too much if added. I was potentially thinking about adding 1 pound for a 5 gallon batch

Secondly, what temperature range does this yeast like? Would it work in the upper 70's?

I'm pretty excited to brew my first saison !

 

[WhamFish]

Hi, I use this yeast to brew my saisons. Although I cultured mine directly from a bottle of Dupont, but according to Mrmalty.com that is the same yeast. I get great results pitching at 66-68, I keep it in 66 degree ambient temp so it tends to stay at that temp for the first 18 hours. Then I let it free rise with no added heat for the first 2 days of active fermentation. That normally takes it to ~70-72. Then I turn on the heater and take it up to 78-80 for the remainder of the fermentation.

I find that it does benefit from the sugar. You could probably do all malt and get it pretty dry but I think the addition of sugar in a recipe really gives the right mouthfeel for the style.