I plan on bottling my Saison tonight and using the yeast cake to brew a Tripel. I have a number of questions in regards to reusing the yeast 1. Can you make a Tripel from 3711? 2. If the OG of the Saison was 1.6 will the yeast be overworked? 3. What OG would you recommend for the Tripel to be minimum? 4. I can just pour the wort right on top with cleaning the bucket? 5. How many times can the same yeast be reused?
I'll give you my take on your questions based on my personal experience alone. 1. No, IMO, it'll be a Saison. The grain bills are so similar, I think you'd make a Saison if you pitch this strain only. I use 3711 in conjunction with 3787 on my Tripels, but pitch it 4-5 days later than the 3787 2. I think you're fine. 1.060 isnt too big to repitch your slurry 3. 1.075 - 1080 4. You can scoop out a portion and pitch it into your Tripel or you can rack the whole thing on top of the cake. I've used both methods many times and both work well. I'd go with the former if it was me. 5. Depending on the health of the yeast initially, I wouldnt be afraid of using the same yeast 5 - 10 times. If heard of people using the same yeast way more than that, but in my experience, I havent reused it that much. I brew so many different styles, it's hard for me to keep one going for more than 5 generations.
Saison yeasts produce such distinctive flavor profiles that anything you make from them will taste very saison-like, and less like the style you were trying to make. A Tripel from 3711 would really just be a big saison.
Absolutely...you can make a tripel. 3711 is my go to "Belgian" strain. Brasserie Thiriez (believed to be the origin of 3711) makes several varieties of beer with this strain. I have brewed tripels, dubbels, wits and Belgian Pales with this strain. For saisons I ferment in the low to mid 60's for the pepper and citrusy characters, for the other styles I brew at about 70-72 to get fruity character reminiscent of other more traditional Belgian strains. I like my tripels to finish a bit higher than my saisons, so you could not use any sugar in the tripel or mash a bit higher. Most of my tripels are around 1.080 OG. I would pull a portion of the yeast cake to use for the tripel, but you will be fine with the entire cake, just watch your fermentation temps.
Can you make a Triple with 3711? I think that you can as long you the peppery flavors are muted. And how much of a you want to pigeon-hole beers to styles. I was at Moeder Lambic (a bar in Brussels) and I order a Brouwerij Kerkom -Adelardus Tripel. To me the nose was very Sasion'ish and it had some spice notes. I commented on how I thought it reminded me of a Saison. I was told that a Saison would be dry. Which as I thought about it the server was of course correct. After that beer I has some Saison's that I don't think that we can get here is the USA, and they were of course dry with a thinner mouthtfeel. Frankly while Saison DuPont is great beer it's not (to me at least) typical of the bulk of Saison's that I've tried in Belgium. So did Brouwerij Kerkom use a Saison yeast? Who knows, but there can be common traits. Maybe that poster from Soy, Belgium could comment. http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/3313/25128
