Last Sunday I brewed a saison borrowed from Jamil's recipe. I listened to the Jamil show podcast... maybe 10 times and took notes, used the wyeast 3711 and didn't mess with the grain or hop bills at all. I had the point driven home that you need to get this beer as dry as possible, so I thought I would mash @ 147 for 2 hours. I have been having issues holding mash temps in my converted keggle mash tun, so I decided to use the tried and true "Gott Cooler" mash tun I had used for about 7-8 years. Doughed in perfect 147 on the dot. After a flawless brew session, I cooled the carboy down to 66 and pitched 2 Litre starter. About 10 hours later it was rockin, removed from ice bath and for the next several days the carboy gained elevation in my hose until it made it upstairs on top of the refrigerator and held @ 78. It chugged and chugged along until the mark of six days and slowed. I was bottling another beer and decided to check the gravity. I was astounded to see it was down to 1.000 @ 78 (Temp corrected to 1.002). I haven't brewed this style before, nor have I brewed anything that needed to be dried out so much. When I tasted it, it tasted just as I would have expected, spicy with an underlying lemon note. This is going to be a great beer! I may even counter pressure fill this from the keg and enter my first comp.


Jamil.... You kick ass!

Good on ya brotha. As primarily a hophead, I too am finding the subtle complexities of saisons fascinating. I think the key is experimenting with different yeast strains and ferm temp ranges before jumping into spices and other flavor additives. I raise a glass to your success. Brew on!

I have made a lot of saisons with both WY 3724 and 3711. I have found that you don't even need to add simple sugars or increase fermentation temps too much for the 3711 to dry out nicely. 3724 on the other hand is a bit trickier and does require patience but I like the flavor/aroma profile better.

I tried a local saison awhile back from Epic brewing, it must have been the perfect time to try a saison for me because I enjoyed the hell out of it. I love hopy beers, but lately I have been enjoying the belgian esters and some sours. Taste seems seasonal to me.

I thought about the 3724 but I didn't want it to stall, not knowing how well I could control temps with elevation increase in my house this time of year. I will definetly try it next time. I understand it throws some more pepper and spicey notes.

hey brewinhard! did the 3724 flocculate better?

3711 would probably ferment your goddam head if you stuck it in the bucket, that stuff is just a monster attenuator. I love those rare (for me ) brew days where everything goes perfectly, glad your story ended well. Rock on.

Edit: I wasn't thrilled with the flavor I got out of 3711, though. If I could afford it I might do like the guy from Trinity Brewing described on the Session a few weeks back. Buy the regular DuPont strain and then blend in a portion of 3711 to help get over that hump where DuPont always stalls out for weeks on end. Maybe I'll go on a saison binge next spring and try that.

The beers do clear up nicely given time in the fridge, but both the 3711 and 3724 are not the quickest to drop out. Probably why they are both known for devouring the majority of sugars in the wort. Within a few weeks the 3724 will produce a very clear beer though.