Multiple yeast strains

If you want a saison, I would stick with the only the saison yeast. If you are ok with something that may not fall under that category, experiment away. Maybe brew 2 batches and blend. there for you can get a sense of how they are on their own and together.

 

I mix yeast occasionally and am a big fan of 3724 and 3522. However, I've never mixed these two. The 3724 is pretty much the standard for saisons . . . I would tend to take advantage of this. Your biggest obstacle is what temp you would want to ferment the combo. I've never taken 3522 over mid 70's and usually start 3724 in the upper 70's . . . so one of the yeasts will be out of optimum range. My guess is the ending yeast profile will reflect which yeast had the better temp and the out-of-range yeast will contribute very little . . . but that's just a guess.

My experience with 3522 is that it finishes almost as low as the 3724 and the aroma is more associated with strong blonde ales, but no reason this would be interpreted as a flaw in a saison. With your other additions it may be difficult to identify the source of the aromas (but that's not bad either).

 

I was also thinking this might be an issue. I like to take 3724 into the low to mid 80s. When I steadily rise it, I dont have a stall.

 

I've done 3724 + 3711, 3724 + 3726 (great combo!), 3724 + Dupont dregs (great combo!) but not 3724 + 3522. I'm not sure how it would work out because you usually want to go hot with 3724, but I would not go any higher than mid 70s with 3522. I've let 3522 ferment too hot on one occasion (high 70s for 12 or so hours until I brought the temp down a bit) and it was heavy on the fusels and not so pleasant. I would recommend mid to high 60s for 3522.

Also, if you're going to combine yeast strains, that is going to make for a complex, yeast-forward saison. Why the mandarin and rose hips? It's overkill, in my opinion.

 

How did 3724 + 3711 turn out for you? I've got a batch that got a smack pack of each fermenting right now.

 

I just want to springboard off of the @od_sf post: One of the ‘benefits’ of most Saison yeast strains is that they tend to not produce high levels of higher alcohols (fusel oils) if you ferment them warm/hot (I am sure that there are some exceptions to this ‘rule’: maybe 3711?).

Non-Saison yeast strains should not be fermented warm/hot since they will tend to produce excess levels of higher alcohols. A number of years ago (before commercially produced Saison yeast strains were readily available) I tried making a Saison with 3787 (which has a recommended upper limit of 78°F). I pitched the yeast in the lower 70’s and over 3-4 days I permitted that batch to free rise to 78°F; that batch had elevated levels of higher alcohols. After many months (6+ months) of conditioning in the bottle the levels of higher alcohols diminished.

Cheers!

 

Dry!

It was nice, definitely nicer than 3711 on its own, but not as nice as some of the other combos.

Also, it finished at 1.000. So ya, dry!