Mango Jack's Saison yeast

[Bubba Wade]

@Bubba Wade , have you ever open fermented your Saisons through the primary stages of fermentation? Maybe a little foil over the opening? Then airlock after a few days. I've read that some Saison yeasts (notably WLP565) can be pressure sensitive and could stall. I've never seen that with WY3711 but next weekend I'll be using Belle Saison for the first time.

No, not with who knows what floating around in the air here in Louisiana!

Actually, I mostly use Danstar Belle Saison. This yeast attenuates very high and never seems to stall.

 

[Bubba Wade]

I get the feeling that the history of Saison has been cleaned up to make it an easier narrative. There's evidence that makes things a bit more complicated with stronger industrial Saisons in northern Belgium cropping up at the same time as the earliest documented examples of farmhouse versions. This isn't to say the things we've seen are wrong, just the evidence is more complicated than is often portrayed.

Even with the farmhouse versions Saison was made stronger to enable it to last the 3-4 months and to minimise the chance of lactobacillus changing the flavour. So more hops and more alcohol than the table beer that would have been regularly brewed at farmhouses. So I can see some justification for the high ABVs of today.

And there's a fair bit of evidence of really strong beers coming out of farmhouse brewing in northern Europe at the same time as the earliest saison records. It feels like the ABV range of historical saison has been taken from a small amount of evidence like Lacambre and applied a bit more generally than is reasonable.

Personally I like both the low and relatively high ABV versions, though the real top end ones tend to lose me.

I suspect you’re right on the muddled history. I have also seen some conflicting histories.

 

[Mark Farrall]

I've done a few ferments with foil over the fermenter in my ferm fridge. Not sure if I'll keep doing it as the yeasts I use haven't really suffered stalling before. Some have been slower than others, but they all keep munching away at reasonably consistent pace.

The fairly new evidence that the diastaticus variant of Sacch likes (if not needs) oxygen during fermentation does sound pretty compelling though. Those diastaticus strains sound more and more like Brett everytime someone finds an extra nugget of information.

 

[The Green Man]

Two weeks + after bottling and this beer is evolving. At first it really tasted like a Belgian Blonde ale. Now, it is definitely different. I can definitely taste a peppery and spicy element more in the foreground now. Still a bit fruity with lots of phenols.
I have to say I absolutely love it.
I think I might try this again, or perhaps a Belgian Blonde...
Anyway, I think this yeast is a keeper.

 

[GFHomebrew]

Two weeks + after bottling and this beer is evolving. At first it really tasted like a Belgian Blonde ale. Now, it is definitely different. I can definitely taste a peppery and spicy element more in the foreground now. Still a bit fruity with lots of phenols.
I have to say I absolutely love it.
I think I might try this again, or perhaps a Belgian Blonde...
Anyway, I think this yeast is a keeper.

That does sound tasty got a lot of complex flavours going on would be an interesting drink.