Author: Marshall Schott

Believed by many to be the single most badass organism on the planet, yeast is the magic that turns wort into beer. I often find myself pondering how blown away the brewers of yore would be by our modern knowledge of yeast and the huge impact it has on beer character. Consider the fact centuries ago, sugary liquid was left out for the gods to turn into something slightly fizzy that when consumed left the drinker feeling real nice. And here we are today with myriad pure strains isolated from classic styles to produce an entire range of flavors and aromas. Yeast is the shit!

The vast array of available strains these days is great for those of us who brew large batches but get bored easily, as it allows for the production of different beers from the same batch by splitting wort into separate fermentors and pitching different yeasts. Some of us take things a step further.

Danstar released the first dry Saison yeast back in 2012. Purported to produce classic farmhouse character in a relatively short amount of time, Belle Saison piqued the interest of many, including yours truly. For the last few months, this strain has been my go-to for simple hard cider due to its quick fermentation and simplicity of use, but I’d never used it in an actual Saison. Pining for a crisp, dry, and characterful beer for the hot days of summer, I decided the time had come to ferment a beer with this bad boy. I’ve a rather obvious obsession and considered ways I might turn this into an xBmt. Since I wasn’t sure what to expect from the Belle Saison, a yeast comparison seemed like a fine idea.

I recalled snagging a sachet of Safbrew T-58 at NHC, a yeast described as imparting “somewhat peppery and spicy flavor,” which sounded a lot like Saison to me. It wasn’t until the wort for this xBmt was chilled and sitting in carboys that I realized the yeast given to me by the fine Fermentis folks was actually Safbrew Abbaye, a trappist ale strain similar to the kind used by Belgian monks to make Dubbel, Tripel, and Quad. Not Saison.

As I thought about my mistake, I realized this would be a great way to compare 2 yeasts with subtly similar characteristics though presumably different enough for people to notice. Plus, I didn’t really have any other options. With glass half full, this xBmt was a go!

| PURPOSE |

To evaluate the differences between 2 beers produced from a split batch of the same wort and fermented with different yeasts, Danstar Belle Saison and Safbrew Abbaye.

| METHOD |

About a week prior to brewing, I used BeerSmith to design a fairly simple Saison recipe. Then a few days later, after drinking a few beers, I opened the file and completely revamped the hop schedule.

Hoppy Saison Recipe

Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM OG FG ABV 11 gal 60 min 38 4.5 1.053 SG 1.008 SG 5.9%

Fermentables

Name Amount % German Pils Malt 7 lbs 4 oz 38 Domestic 2-Row 6 lbs 12 oz 36 White Wheat Malt 2 lbs 12 oz 15 Gambrinus Munich 10 2 lbs 10 Crystal/Caramel 15 4 oz 1

Hops

Name Amt/IBU Time Use Form Alpha % Mosaic 18 IBU FWH Boil Pellet 12.0 Simcoe 64 g/13 IBU 10 min Boil Pellet 13.7 Nelson Sauvin 50 g/7 IBU 10 min steep Flameout w/ Steep Pellet 12.6 Mosaic 60 g (30 g each) 4 days Dry Hop Pellet 12 Nelson Sauvin 50 g (25 g each) 4 days Dry Hop Pellet 12.6 Galaxy 42 g (21 g each) 4 days Dry Hop Pellet 15

Yeast

Name Lab Attenuation Ferm Temp Belle Saison Lallemand/Danstar 85% 66°F Safbrew Abbaye Fermentis 85% 66°F

I was really in the mood for something hoppy and figured the yeasts would create enough of a difference to tell them apart. Honestly, the paucity of significant xBmt results was wearing on my soul and I thought this would be a slam dunk.

As much as I appreciate the variety and quality of liquid yeasts, I really like the fact dry yeasts don’t require the making of a starter. My brew day began by waking up a little later than usual (the sun was up), hitting the flame under my kettle full of strike water, then returning with a hot cup of coffee a few minutes later and mashing in.

I targeted a mash temp of 148˚F to increase beta amylase activity in hopes of producing a dry, crisp, and super quaffable beer.

After an hourlong rest, I collected the pale, sweet first runnings, no vorlauf necessary!

With the full volume of wort collected and in my kettle, I proceeded to boil for an hour, adding hops along the way, then quickly chilled to a few degrees above my target fermentation temp.

Two 6 gallon PET carboys were filled with equal amounts of wort, which was stirred gently to ensure equal distribution of kettle trub. The full carboys were placed in my cool fermentation chamber to chill the last few degrees. I returned about 3 hours later to discover the worts had stabilized at my target temperature of 66˚F. I rehydrated both sachets of yeast in 90˚F sterile water for 15 minutes then pitched.

As often seems to be the case when I use dry yeasts, it took awhile for signs of activity, both beers were krausen-less at 24 hours. The following morning, 32 hours after pitching, things were looking mighty fine.

Fermentation progressed at about the same rate for each beer, they looked very similar by 3 days in, though the Belle Saison batch did produce a larger krausen, almost requiring a blowoff setup.

I ramped the temp in the chamber to 74˚F on day 5 to encourage complete attenuation and reabsorption of unpleasant fermentation byproducts. An initial hydrometer reading 11 days after brewing, which I took once the krausen on both beers had all but disappeared, revealed they shared a similar FG of 1.008. I allowed them to sit 2 more days before taking a confirmatory second FG reading, they were the same as before, so I cold crashed, fined with gelatin, and kegged.

I placed the filled kegs in my keezer and hit them with 40 psi of CO2 for 24 hours, after which I purged and reduced to serving pressure. While perfectly carbonated, I didn’t start collecting data for another 5 days, allowing the beers time to clear up and condition a bit. Differences in clarity were rather obvious, confirming the decision to serve participants samples in opaque cups.

| RESULTS |

Over the course of 6 days, a pool of 22 people consisting of BJCP judges, Cicerone Certified Beer Servers, experienced homebrewers, and dedicated craft beer geeks participated in this xBmt. At this sample size, 11 (p<0.05) would be required to accurately select the odd-beer-out to reach statistical significance. Each taster was blindly served 1 sample of the Belle Saison beer and 2 of the Abbaye beer then asked to identify the one that was different. In all, 12 (p=0.017) participants made the correct selection, suggesting a statistically significant difference– the beer fermented with Belle Saison was reliably distinguishable from the same beer fermented with Abbaye.

Following completion of the triangle test, those who made the correct selection were asked to complete an evaluation comparing the different beers, though the nature of the xBmt remained a secret.

AROMA

Six of the 12 tasters perceived the aromatic qualities of the beers to be not at all similar and the others believed they were somewhat similar; none thought they smelled exactly the same. In terms of preference, 8 liked the aroma of the Abbaye fermented beer and 4 preferred the aroma of the Belle Saison batch.

FLAVOR

Seven tasters thought the Belle Saison and Abbaye beers tasted somewhat similar while 5 perceived them as being not at all similar. The Abbaye beer won the preference of 9 tasters with only 3 saying they preferred the Belle Saison beer. One participant who preferred the Belle Saison beer eloquently commmented that both were “fucking delicious,” while another person perceived the Abbaye beer as being “a lot sharper.”

MOUTHFEEL

Three tasters perceived the mouthfeel of the beers to be exactly the same, 8 thought they were somewhat similar, and only 1 felt they were not at all the same. Of the 9 who experienced some similarities, 8 thought the beer fermented with Abbaye had better mouthfeel while only 1 person preferred Belle Saison.

Overall, the Abbaye beer was preferred by a shocking majority of 10 tasters, with only 2 enjoying the Belle Saison beer more. Interestingly, following revelation of the nature of the xBmt, 8 tasters accurately selected the beer fermented with Belle Saison yeast.

My Impressions: There wasn’t a point where I ever experienced these beers as not being obviously different from each other. I was accurate in multiple quasi-blind triangle tests. In fact, at one point, a couple guys attempted to test my confidence by secretly serving me 3 samples of the same beer (Abbaye), it caught me off-guard, but I eventually realized their ploy and called them out. The Belle Saison beer, to me, had a much more identifiable Saison character with a stronger hop aroma, while the Abbaye beer had noticeably less phenols, muted hop aroma, and was balanced more toward a bready malt character. Sure, I was biased by my awareness of the nature of the difference, but this is the first time in awhile I feel fairly certain I’d be able to tell these beers apart as a fully blind participant. Just typing that felt arrogant…

| DISCUSSION |

The fact 2 yeasts intended for different styles produced beers that were reliably distinguishable from each other isn’t all that surprising and confirms what most of us believe– yeast is a huge player in the beer character game. What did surprise me a bit is the number of folks who were unable to tell the beers apart, which included some very experienced craft beer drinkers. Like I mentioned earlier, I was expecting this xBmt to be a slam dunk with a huge majority of tasters accurately selecting the odd-beer-out, which wasn’t the case, significance was reached due to a single response. Still, I feel comfortable saying Belle Saison produces a beer with different character than Safbrew Abbaye.

As for the beers, I thought they were pretty damn good. I was a bit surprised to discover most people preferred the Abbaye beer, as I rather strongly preferred the batch fermented with Belle Saison. Either way, I’m stoked to use Fermentis Abbaye in a more traditional Belgian style soon, probably a Tripel I’ve got to make for a competition, as it seems to have some fantastic qualities for a super easy-to-use dry yeast. I also look forward to playing around with Belle Saison in more than just cider, I’m particularly interested to ferment it at more common Saison temps in an attempt to coax more character out of it.

If you’ve used either of these yeasts, please share your experience in the comments section below.

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| Read More |

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