Question About Glycerol, Mouthfeel And Flavour

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brewtas

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I brewed a saison the other day. It started out at 1.040 and finished at 1.003, fermented at 28C.

Pilsner (82%), rye (11%) and wheat malt (7%) along with Aramis (60min), Saaz (20min) and Styrian Goldings (0min) to 30 IBU. I used a 1000ml starter of Wyeast 3725 built up from a slant in a couple of steps on a stir plate and pitched into 21L of wort.

I'd expect it to be really dry but it has a light but obvious sweetness to it and fantastic mouthfeel for something that finished so low. The flavour is really pleasant, the malts stand out in a nice way although the hops are less obvious than I was expecting in both bitterness and flavour.

I'm quite happy with the beer but I'd like to understand what's going on here. I've had a hunt for info and I suspect that glycerol is giving it the sweetness and enhancing the flavours. Does that sound likely? Could it also be putting the hops into the background? Is there something else at work? Is this a normal thing for 3725?
 
Have you brewed much with rye before?

Also you can get full bodied, dextrinous beers that attenuate well if you step mash.
 
First up you need to retake the FG because youre reporting 92.5% apparent attenuation you wouldnt expect much over 80% and 92.5% that sounds a trifle excessive.
If in fact you are down to 1.003 I strongly suspect that you have something else other than just yeast in there, most home brew is infected in some way or another, most infections are benign and occasionally one comes along that is beneficial, mind you the odds of winning lotto are better.
Mark

Wyeast 3725-PC Biere de Garde Yeast
 
Thanks for the thoughts guys.

@MHB
Maybe I should buy myself a ticket. ;)

I realised that I hadn't corrected the hydrometer reading for temperature (taken @ 28C) so that makes it 1.005 and 87% apparent attenuation. Why would the attenuation be surprising? From what I've read about this strain the numbers are pretty typical of the experiences of others using it. The Wyeast numbers seem to be off for all their saison strains.

@manticle
This was just a single infusion mash. I've done a few beers with rye (flaked in a couple, malt in a couple) but I'm pretty new to it so maybe it's just that. I was under the impression that rye malt didn't contribute body in the same way as flaked rye. Is that true? Even if it could explain the body, the sweetness is what really made me suspect something else.
 
I'm not super familiar with rye having not used it myself.

I've drunk beers made with it thoiugh and am familiar with the almost oily slickness it can give in larger amounts along with what might be described as sweetness.

I have also used 3725 a couple of times and didn't get any kind of oiliness or noticeable sweetness (and probably around 1008 from 1080 from memory) so I would be looking at rye before looking at the yeast.

That said - I don't know exactly what it is you are experiencing so I'm merely taking a stab.

There's a few Vic brewers recently who will have fermented the same rye-free wort using that yeast - maybe if any of them can relate their experiences with the yeast and see if it tallies up with yours.
 
I never get the mouthfeel you describe from BdG (get a weird, almost funky spiciness), but certainly do get a type of slickness from Belgian Saison which is weird because it's a nutso attenuator, but has a great "body".

Sure you don't mean 3724?
 
It's definitely 3725. I used it early in the year before I got temperature control sorted. That was 1.048 down to 1.004 at about 21-22C. It finished fairly clean and a little tart so I thought the temperature (28C) might have had something to do with the way it turned out this time but it could be the rye.

The sweetness combines with esters so that it comes across almost like apricot.
 
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