Danstar Belle Saison

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I think mine is down to 1004 or less from 1043. That's great :) 67c single mash temp, 12% raw wheat in the mash. Taste is good, maybe didn't expect it to be so dry but once its carbed up and cold it should be what I want for summer
 
I did a couple of saisons with this one last summer. The gravity dropped like buggery - went down to about 1.008 in one, 1.003 in another - and it absolutely loved the insane summer temperatures. The second and third saison I did with this one were a revelation - in both cases I omitted hops entirely, and used some gentle herbs (raspberry leaf, in one of the brews, by my recollection), and the taste was amazing. It really taught me what flavours in terms of esters, etc, a yeast can do. I definitely want to use this yeast again.
 
O/T, did you just pick raspberry leafs from the garden? How did you treat and use it?
 
Chucked them in at the end of the boil, from memory, to get a tea-like effect.
 
I have a Sorachi Saison in the fermenter at the moment using Danstar Belle Saison. I pitched at 10pm on Friday night & took a gravity reading today (Monday) at 2pm. It's already down to 1004!! Belle Saison is a greedy fat *******! :)
 
Have my Maiden Saison fermenting at the moment with this yeast. Haven't tasted it or got a gravity sample yet but it smells awesome!!
 
Try running a cool fermentation with BS. Does not work, can let it free rise but don't try and keep it sub 21-22. Just grinds to a halt.
 
Can anyone comment on their experience with using this yeast at ambient QLD temps? I've just tapped a keg of a Saison I brewed back in September, where I just left the FV in the laundry with no temp control, with ambient temp fluctuating between ~20 deg at night to ~30 deg during the day. OG of about 1050, down to 1002.

The end result has a bit of an odd flavour, which, although I don't have that refined a palate, I'm pretty sure is a hint of fusels - having limited experience with commercial Saisons however, some of the odd flavour may be expected.

My guess is the fluctuations probably stressed the yeasties a bit, wondering if next time I should wrap it in a blanket from the get go, even if this means potentially getting too hot, or should I just give in and do things properly (chucking it in the fermenting fridge , which only holds one FV currently, and possibly buying a heat belt).
 
I made one about a month and a half ago, it was bottled after about 2 weeks, fermented at ambient whatever temps it was here in SEQ (20-30C same as yours).
The flavour is great, slight banana, hint of cloves and super, super dry!
 
Scratch that, just managed to get a hold of some Saison Dupont today, and I think the issue is moreso that I'm not so accustomed to the more funky yeast flavours prevalent in the style. Mine doesn't too far off the Dupont, to the point where the girlfriend picked my version as the commercial one in a blind tasting!

Main difference I'm finding is the banana and pear (I think it's best described as pear...) is a bit more prevalent in mine, whereas in the dupont, the clove spiciness is a little more center stage. I've read in German beers this balance is affected somewhat by pitching rates, anyone have any ideas if there's any way to push the Belle Saison more towards the clove/spicy end of the balance?
 
I'm not sure this is the right thread for this but I need some general advice (Belle Saison related).
I've painted myself into a bit of a corner with some poor planning over the silly season. I have grain and hops for two planned saisons (one mid-strength and one full-strength). I only have the one sachet of Belle Saison and originally planned to brew them back-to-back and re-use yeast from the first in the second
.
Complicating everything is some travel coming up in January (from 10 Jan to 24 Jan). Given the time of year and the volume of beer I seem to be going through I'd really like at least one FV in action while we're away.

I have two FVs currently in use but soon ready to bottle. Two questions regarding my issue:

- If I get the first brew underway in a day or so I could keg it on the 9th and re-pitch the yeast into the second batch which would be cubed and ready to go. That would mean only 7-8 days in the FV. Will a saison suffer from a short period like this in the FV? My concern is that it won't finish dry enough. It is planned with an OG of 1.032, and I was planning to pitch at 20C and then raise the temp gradually to 27-28 or so.

- If that is too short a period in the FV I could make a starter with my one sachet of Belle Saison and then split the starter and get both brews going concurrently (either in the ferm fridge or ambient). I know a starter for dry yeast isn't usually the done thing but in this instance it would mean getting both beers going at the one time.

Any thoughts?

Will a saison suffer for only 8 days fermenting?

 
I've only done one brew with this, but it fermented from 1.050 to 1.002 in 9 days (may have been less, only took a sample at day 9). Hope this helps.

I'd never tasted a Saison, let alone brewed one, so not didn't really have anything to compare with. I got a sort of malty sweetness coming through initially, even with an FG of 1.002, but later on came the dryness and lemony citrus I was kind of expecting. Also had a slight 'funk' to it, which I had expected also. All in all, a pretty nice beer.
 
Thanks mosto.

I've only ever used it once myself on a beer that went from 1040 to 1000 (on my hydrometer anyway) in 21 days last year in Nov/Dec at ambient in the garage. I didn't take any intermediate readings so have no idea how quickly it dropped. My preference would be to do the beers back to back but I just wonder what the down-side might be, and the main thing I can think of is that it might not be dry enough. As a saison it obviously doesn't need to be 'clean' with the extra time in the FV. I'll keg it (or most of it) so there won't be bottle bombs.

Since I don't have much experience with this style I'd just be interested in hearing from those with more experience as to whether it need the additional time in the FV, to dry right out.
 
With a small original gravity and warmish ferment it should be ready by the 9th. Most normal yeast strains would do that on a 1.032 beer.
 
mje1980 said:
With a small original gravity and warmish ferment it should be ready by the 9th. Most normal yeast strains would do that on a 1.032 beer.
Click to expand...
Thanks mje1980. I think I'll go option one. If it turns out terribly I'll just blame Liam_Snorkel, whose recipe I have ripped off.
 
Wow, first time using this yeast... It's very aggressive, I had krausen in about 5 hours with no rehydration... just pitched the dry yeast on top. 24 hours later and it's going ballistic. Can't wait to try
 
i made the mistake of trying to make a table saison with this yeast. Overshot my OG so started at 1.039 instead of .035. Mashed high and short to hopefully keep a *little* body and not let it attenuate too low....

Ended up at an FG of 1.001 with an ABV of almost 5%! Beware this yeast's hunger!
 
Ok got my shovel and decided to dig this thread up again. Brewing my first ever saison this weekend and planning to use belle saison. After reading this thread I was wondering if anyone had settled on a good temperature range for this yeast? Seems people had very different results fermenting in mid 20s compared to getting up into the 30s. Now the BS strain has been out for a few years what does everyone think?
Cheers
 

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