I've been thinking about using what's leftover in my fridge (hops/yeast) to throw together and make a brew. Not really planning on purchasing anything outside of these ingredients. Has anyone else ever just thrown together a recipe, not really caring if it goes with a certain style or not? I've got an 8 oz ball jar of Wyeast 3711 slurry that I'm thinking I can use to make a dry belgian pale ale. 5.5 gal batch 10 lb Belgian 2-row 1 lb Caramunich Mash at 152 ºF Boil .75 oz Magnum at 60 min .5 oz Chinook at 30 1 lb sugar at flameout An undetermined amount of dried homegrown Centennial and Cascade hops at flameout/whirlpool. Anyone else ever use 3711, or any kind of saison yeast, to make a belgian pale ale?
Among the Belgian beer styles, Belgian Pale has very restrained esters. Even if you ferment this at a cool temperature, 3711 is going to throw off lots of fun esters. My guess is that this recipe might resemble a Belgian Blond more so than a Pale when all is said and done. That said, this sounds like a really fun experiment. French yeast, Belgian malts, homegrown American hops... the marketing possibilities are endless. Cheers!
Cool, thanks. Yea I figure since 3711 doesn't lend a whole lot of the funky belgian yeasty esters (more peppery, fruity), then it could just end up being a nice dry hoppy beer. I really like dry pale ales, so I'm fine with that. I'm thinking it'll definitely be palatable, and cheap to make!
Absolutely, results have been mixed but would not hesitate to try it again. FWIW, I think the 3711 will drop your FG so low this won't resemble a BPA. My suggestion: don't "declare" what style you are brewing . . . wait until it's finished before proclaiming the results. If it doesn't match any style that is still no problem (secretly I think you will end up with a Saison).
Fine by me! Thanks for the advice. It's kind of fun to make a 'leftovers' beer, and see how it turns out. Yea... the last saison I made with that yeast dropped my FG below 1.000. I've never seen that happen before. The 3711 still retains a good mouthfeel though and doesn't feel 'dry'. If it tastes like a hoppy saison, I'm cool with that.
