Belle Saison (Danstar)

[bradmccoy]

Anyone have any experience with Danstar Belle Saison yeast? Thinking of giving it a whirl. Comes dried in a packet, which gets extra points for convenience.

 

[bradmccoy]

Here are the specs: http://www.danstaryeast.com/products/belle-saison-yeast

 

[manticle]

There's a thread somewhere - a few have used it. Generally positive from memory.
Will link if I can find it.

 

[doon]

http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/68478-belle-saison-dry-yeast/

 

[HBHB]

The Belle Saison is a solid performer. Nice spiced fruit esters with peppery notes up in the 20 degrees + but IMHO a bit subdued at lower temps.

Vigorous fermenter and chews through those high gravity brews pretty quickly.

Martin

 

[mabrungard]

Just finished a brew with Belle Saison yeast. Good performer. Started at 72F and let it go until the air-lock activity waned, then boosted the temperature to 78F and got a bit more activity. After another week, that activity waned but there was still a very low gas production. I finally decided to boost the temp to 85F and got another burst of activity. The final gravity was 0.998 due to 10% cane sugar in the recipe.

Overall, the aroma was very nice during the ferment. I'm pretty sure I significantly underpitched this 20L batch with only 1 sachet of yeast. This was a 1.069 OG. I should have pitched 2 packets. I probably overstressed the yeast. I do get an alcohol note from the young beer. It is still not fully carbonated since its in the keg a week now. There were some solvent notes earlier, but I just tasted a sample and they are dissipating nicely. Maybe I didn't overstress the yeast too much. Modest fruity esters noted with a low belgian yeast character, earthy and not very phenolic.

Do conduct most of the ferment at a modest temperature in the low 70F range. It does appear that allowing the temp to rise significantly at the end of the fermentation cycle may be needed to help the beer finish dryly.

Its a winner.

 

[mje1980]

Bit odd but i brewed a dry stout with it. Best stout ive ever made. Smooth, roasty, with a slightly tart finish. Ill absolutely use it again

 

[bradmccoy]

Thanks guys. Did try to find an old thread but couldn't find anything. The two old threads are helpful but one thing I was wondering -

The Danstar info says not to hydrate the yeast or mix with malt before pitching. But I don't want to have to pitch two packs. Surely there is no harm in making a starter to increase the yeast, right? From the other threads it seems some guys have done this.

 

[Ross]

Thanks guys. Did try to find an old thread but couldn't find anything. The two old threads are helpful but one thing I was wondering -

The Danstar info says not to hydrate the yeast or mix with malt before pitching. But I don't want to have to pitch two packs. Surely there is no harm in making a starter to increase the yeast, right? From the other threads it seems some guys have done this.

Correct - None whatsoever....

 

[RelaxedBrewer]

Correct - None whatsoever....

Really? I would have thought you are not going to get any cell reproduction by making any normal sized started with dry yeast.

The Belle Saison data sheet says to hydrate in 30-35C water.

 

[bradmccoy]

Hey Ross do you use this in any of your Bacchus brews?

 

[slcmorro]

Americans, and their stubborn-ness to use sensible measurement scales...

 

[DUANNE]

What would you be saving by doing a starter?at 4.50 a pack its probably going to cost more in malt to get any meaningful growth than buying another pack anyway. Just rehydrate and youre good to go.

 

[MartinOC]

Americans, and their stubborn-ness to use sensible measurement scales...

Easy, Tiger - they have guns!

 

[jeremy]

I have never used a liquid Saison yeast so cant make a comparison, but the Danstar is a cracker. I have a Saison on tap now brewed with this one. Started 1.058 and finished in 2 weeks right down to 1.004 without simple sugars.

My batch was around 23 litres and I pitched the single packet direct into the wort without rehydrating at around 21 degrees, krausen arrived around 12 hours later.

Over the 2 weeks I raised the temp gradually using a heat pad and finished it up at 29 degrees at the end of 2 weeks.

The yeast definitely carries through the Belgian character, and I chucked in a bit of lemon peel and citric acid to sharpen it up a bit which I think worked well.

Here it is in all its glory....

 

[bradmccoy]

What would you be saving by doing a starter?at 4.50 a pack its probably going to cost more in malt to get any meaningful growth than buying another pack anyway. Just rehydrate and youre good to go.

Yeah true. Hadn't thought about that.

 

[kevo]

I've used this yeast a couple of times and had enjoyable results.

I know saison should be quite light and thin, but mine are thinner than I'd like.

How many people are using simple sugars in their saisons? in what percentage?

I have seen some 'commercial' recipes recently and few are using sugar -maybe it's just us homebrewers...

 

[mje1980]

I have never used a liquid Saison yeast so cant make a comparison, but the Danstar is a cracker. I have a Saison on tap now brewed with this one. Started 1.058 and finished in 2 weeks right down to 1.004 without simple sugars.

My batch was around 23 litres and I pitched the single packet direct into the wort without rehydrating at around 21 degrees, krausen arrived around 12 hours later.

Over the 2 weeks I raised the temp gradually using a heat pad and finished it up at 29 degrees at the end of 2 weeks.

The yeast definitely carries through the Belgian character, and I chucked in a bit of lemon peel and citric acid to sharpen it up a bit which I think worked well.

Here it is in all its glory....

Nice mate.

 

[tazman1967]

I brew a lot of Saison's and IMHO there are two ways to do it..
First is I'll just do a single infusion at 63d and add 100g of sugar or Dex to dry it out...
Second ( the best way ) is to use a step mash with some Acid Malt..
Manticle's Saison step mash makes a awesome Saison's... Kudo's mate.
The other step mash is De Clerk's Belgian step mash regime.. also a awesome result. Im still playing around with both..
I use about 5 different Saisons strains, but the Belle Saison works well for me.
Cheers

 

[bconnery]

Bit odd but i brewed a dry stout with it. Best stout ive ever made. Smooth, roasty, with a slightly tart finish. Ill absolutely use it again

Not that odd. There's a few on here who've made stouts with saison yeasts, most particularly with WY3711, works very nicely in my book.
I got a fantastic silky mouthfeel to the beer that went really nicely with the roastiness. I used it in a foreign extra stout.

I'm looking forward to trying this yeast, I'll definitely give it a run at a stout in the future...