I typically do not see much of a pellicle, and if your fermenter is relatively oxygen-free you are less likely to see one form. If you leave it longer you might see what looks like a gritty or dusty krausen. As long as the aroma and flavor develop over the course of a couple months I would not...
That's not just harsh. That makes me wonder if you drank a weird bottle once and wrote it off forever. I brew a lot of sours, drink as many as I can afford, and I still like coming back to revisit Duchesse.
I typically do 2-3 months and bottle once the gravity levels off.
Huh. I rarely see krausen after adding brett to secondary. I guess I usually use fermcap in primary, though, so maybe that doesn't drop out (or is roused back up again). I'd just leave it on the cake, personally. My "house...
Props for doing your own research and changing your mind after seeing the evidence. Hopefully your experience encourages more people to drop the 5.2 habit!
3711 will also ferment hot. My house saison is 6.5% ABV, fermented with an equal blend of 3711/3724 at 82. Never had any issues.
I have never gotten fusels from brett (which isn't to say it can't happen). You're probably just getting some sort of fermentation off-flavor that will clean up in time.
If I paid the keg deposit, then it's my choice to cut it up into scrap rather than return the keg and get my $30 back. No amount of nanny nagging from internet busybodies is going to change that.
Get yourself some FermCap. It's a food-safe additive that kills foam, so it's good both in the boil and in the fermentor. It'll drop out after the ferment is done, so you don't have to worry about it getting into your beer, and it'll save you many, many headaches.
If you're pitching onto a cake, I would add Brett at the same time rather than later. That 3711 is a super aggressive strain. You can still get brett character without a change in gravity, but I feel that you retain more of the saison character if you give the brett a little more feeding...
Sounds like Arsenal is lining up some big names for transfers this summer.
Yeah, Manuel Marouan da Costa Trindade Senoussi is reportedly interested in Premier League return, and Henrique Hilário Meireles Alves Sampaio wants out at Chelsea.