Thanks Steve, will do. And I will also postpone teaching anyone else until I have my system down pat or can at least pay attention
Never had it stall at that temp - I’ve pitched and fermented at 90F 3 times, all first pitch. I agree to give it time, it’ll get there. Or you could always pitch some 3711 to help it finish quicker, if you’re in more of a hurry. I used to do that after a week or so , before I learned to pitch it warmer.
EDIT - Also, did you aerate thoroughly, use nutrient, and pitch enough healthy yeast ? I just ask because it will normally ferment down pretty quickly at that temp.
Pure O2, pitched enough according to beersmith, mr malty, and yeast calc, and yes to nutrient. I started with a blow off tube, never saw any activity in first week. After 1 week I switched to air lock. Saw plenty of action in airlock for 3-4 days then checked at 12 days. I will check again this weekend
any chance that 1.026 was from an uncorrected refractometer reading?
No, it was from a hydro sample from the 90 degree fermenter that sat out cooling for over 30 minutes before testing. I did not temp it, but I’m sure it was still at least 70, as the room it was in was at least that warm. The only other concern I had was that when I pitched, I pitched 80 degree yeast starter into 90 degree wort. Any issues with that, I would have thought it could handle that. Also, I thought I read elsewhere well after pitching that no blowoff tube should be used with this strain, and I did do that for a week at first. As stated earlier, I saw no visible signs of fermentation while blow off tube was in place, but did see airlock activity once that was in place.
One thing I did with mine was to swirl the bucket a bit each morning to rouse the yeast. It made me feel good at the time but the beer is cloudy enough that I now doubt that having the yeast fall out of suspension was a real danger. My activity slowed dramatically at about a week and a half but I stayed the course at it kept going. This one batch is the total of my experience with this yeast, but for whatever it’s worth that’s how it went for me.
Can anyone provide any anecdotal evidence that pitching WL 565 into 90F wort and fermenting immediately at that temp will also speed up the primary fermentation time as with WY 3724 without any fusel alcohol notes or other off flavors?
I didn’t crash in my primary because I’m not set up for it. But my beer is fairly hazy (not as much as a lot of heffes but not sparkling clear either) which I attribute to the low flocculation of the 3724. I’ve left bottles still in the fridge for a few days and tried to pour carefully, but the beer doesn’t get any clearer, even after warming up a bit. Which is all to say that if you’re cold crashing to aid in clarity, it won’t hurt but I’ll be surprised if you get the results you’re hoping for.
Please follow up and let us know what happens!
IMO some of my best saisons have a bit of haze. I never seek/want a turbid beer, but just like a hefe that falls clear loses some of its yeast character, I feel the same way about saison - just a touch of haze, not a lot.
Thanks guys, might get it into bottles this weekend then, since I need the fermenter if I want to brew this weekend as well
Hey all, I’m looking for bottling suggestions on this brew. My OG was 1.051, finishing at 1.007/8. ran ferm at 90 degrees. My batch size into fermenter was almost 5.25 gallons(more than 5, less than 5.5.)I will be bottling in 22oz Stone Bombers(as are almost all my batches), so I have “sturdy” bottles. Questions arising are:
- What carb level should I aim for on this brew?
- As an example, for 2.9 volumes, Beersmith suggests 5.26oz while brewer’s friend.com suggests 6.6oz corn sugar due to the high fermentation temp.
- I guess what I really want to know, as this is my first saison, is where should I aim for, what is safe in these bottles, and if highest temp reached during ferm can make such a big difference, why doesn’t beersmith account for temp in its calculations?
Any ideas would be most helpful, especially in preventing bottle bombs!
Earlier in this thread, dcb states that he carbed to 3.5 volumes in bombers, but beersmith really does not like that level for this brew, so I am feeling lost on where to go here
I carbed my last saison to 3 volumes and some bottles cracked. I don’t know how strong the Stone bomber bottles are, but I suspect that they are stronger than the ones that blew. IIRC 3-3.5 vols are what are called for. 2.8 vols is the design pressure for a lot of bottles. I think you can get by with 2.8.
Thanks I will shoot for 2.8 then
I chose 3.5 vol based on this thread:
https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=15376.0
But looking back at my logs, I primed to 3 vol, not 3.5. My mistake. I primed with 6.4 oz corn sugar in 5.3 gal per BrewersFriend.
This is the fizziest brew I’ve made, and I will admit to some sphincter puckering when choosing that carb level because I worried whether the bottles could take it. So far, no explosions, and with the warmth here I’ve had a couple of bottles sitting at 80F for a brief period.
I may bump up to 3vol then, thanks dcb
As far as I understand it (based on Brewing Classic Style priming sugar nomograph chart), the amount of priming sugar is strictly based on the temperature of the beer at the time of bottling. It does not say anything with regards to fermentation temperatures.
BTW, I have bottled upwards of 3.6 volumes in the shitty home-brew shop bottles with no ill effects. I do keep my bottles cold after packaging though.
The NB calculator attempts to account for CO2 lost during fermentation due to temperature. Beersmith does not.
My advice is to average the two sugar values from the different calculators at 2.6 volumes. This should produce good bubbles without being a foam bomb.
Thanks to all, I am now planning on 5.9 oz corn sugar targeting a median value of brewer’s friend and beersmith calls for 5 gallons at 2.8 vols at 80 degrees. The beer was fermented at 90(3724) for 3.5 weeks to get within 1 point of expected FG of 1.007 before I turned off the heat. It was still at 1.008 5 days after first reading there. Brewers friend highly suggests using ferm temp as priming calc point unless cold crashing which I’m not doing. I did kill the heat, 3 days before bottling so it will be about 70 degrees upon bottling
I decided to give this a try as well and pitched around 1:00 a.m. this morning in the upper 80’s (which made for a really excellent 2:00 a.m. baby feeding).
It’s about 8.5 hours later now, and it’s just cranking at 91 degrees.
I was surprised at how quickly the yeast dropped out when I chilled the starter.