Re: More Saison

Paul, The Wyeast Saison is a terribly finicky yeast. It may have been cultured from DuPont as Wyeast was working with them at some point but only they know for sure. Whereas I am hesitant to let my Belgian fermentations get above 74F, in the case of this yeast it is OK. The peppery phenols may not kick in at the lower end. The same is true of Whitelabs Saison yeast. Another contributor to the final ester production is the refermentation temperature. Adding a new yeast at bottling and putting the bottles in a warm place is a common practice. Saison is a rather muddled style. (To clear things up, the AOB will have a book on the subject toward the end of the year.) DuPont produces what is likely the most "classic" example of a style which around 15 years ago some folk accused Michael Jackson of making up. Fantome is quite unusual in itself. By the time it gets to America it can have a predominantly lactic character present and that is a "house taste" which develops more from the brewery environment as opposed to anything the brewer does on purpose. Get a fresh bottle and you don't always get it. If you want to mimic it, try some Lactobacillus. Be aware, though, that Lactobacillus is not terribly easy to grow, is not very tolerant of hops and enjoys temperatures approaching 100F; far more than any Saccharomyces. You can pitch it and have little evidence or lactic acid can be the dominant character. ~jcs Paul Zelenski wrote: > Thanks for all the good advice. > This was the first batch in which I could actually > control the temp of my fermenting wort, so I probably > was a bit eager in keeping my WYeast Saison fermenting > at 74. It smelled great and esthery while it was > fermenting, but wasn't as pronounced as I would've > liked in the finished beer. Next try I'll definitely > warm it up, but probably also add some subtle spice. > > Another question for those interested in keeping this > discussion going. I've had very good Saisons that seem > to fall into to distinct categories. Dupont Saison is > a good example of the yeasty almost French Country Ale > style (which is what I was going for with my first > batch.) I don't know the brewery, but Fantome is a > good example of the other. It is very sour. I was > thinking of making a batch of something like that as > well. What would be a good yeast for something like > that? Should I use the belgian lambic blend? Should I > ferment with a Saison yeast, and than maybe at some > lacto-bacteria late for conditioning. Any suggestions, > or should I just experiment and let everyone taste > what I get at Goose Island? > > Thanks for all the good advice! > Paul Z > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around > http://mail.yahoo.com > > >