Bottled my saison today: 27 bombers of goodness. Ran 5.9oz corn sugar for 5 gallons shooting for 2.8 volumes. We shall see how it comes out in a few weeks> Thanks to everyone for all the input! Happy brewing and have a great day!
I brewed a batch of a belgian pale ale 8 days ago a pitched a starter of 3724 and oxygenated with pure O2 for about 40 sec (ran out of O2). After about 8ish hours, it was chugging away and cont to do so for 6 days. Saturday I checked my gravity and it was down to 1.034 from 1.053. It had been fermenting at 80-82 degrees which is the temp in my garage. There has been absolutely no airlock activity since then. I bought an aquarium heater yesterday but apparently it is a dud and needs to be returned. My question is, how long can it sit doing nothing before I need to worry? I will get a new heater tonight to try to get it to 90 degrees. Should I sanitize a spoon and give it a gentle stir? It seemed to have a lot of yeast in suspension when I checked it Saturday.
I’m not sure how long it can sit and not give up. I can tell you that my batch with 3724 showed no signs of ferm in a bucket with blow off tube, I got nervous but gave it 10 days before opening it. At that point it was only down to like 1.029 from 1.051. I switched out for an airlock and had immediate and ongoing airlock activity for the next 8 days or so. I bottled it a month after pitching and it was down to 1.007/8ish. Only been in the bottle for 3 days so I’m still a bit off from rating it. Good luck
I followed the advise of an experienced homebrewing friend and sloshed it around real good in the bucket. He felt that I could probably re-oxygenated since the gravity was so high. I opted just to slosh and this morning it is bubbling away.
If the bucket was at all sealed I doubt there was much oxygen in there to get dissolved, but rousing the yeast like that may have helped. Mine slowed way down a couple of weeks in, but once it took off again I didn’t think it would ever stop. Be patient and let it work-- you’ll love the results.
I wish you lived closer to Seattle. I’d love to get together and sample each other’s brew. Please don’t forget to get back to us when you open that first bottle.
Thanks, will di
I definitely would not re-oxygenate this far into the fermentation. As a rule of thumb, if proper oxygen is provided into the chilled wort when pitching the yeast, then that should be all that is needed (even when dealing with high gravity beers, most of the time…). If you aerate a second time late into fermentation, you run the risk of oxidizing the beer which would make your batch not so enjoyable for drinking.
I checked the gravity last night (day 16), and I’m at 1.025. I hope this finishes up soon, I want to get another batch going in the chest freezer.
After carbing at 70-74 for 10 days, I refrigerated and opened a bottle the next day. The carbonation was great, tiny little bubbles just bursting in my mouth. The beginning of a sip was quite refreshing, lightly fruity but the back end of a sip was quite off. Cant really describe it and I have no other experience with 3724, so not sure where to go with it. The whole batch was bottled in 22oz bombers, so as I worked my way through a poured bomber and after a couple sips, either I got used to that off taste, or it was never there. In the end, I am enjoying this brew and will make again next summer or late spring most likely.
Here’s a quick pic of my 3724 saison. Recipe is basically Amanda K’s from earlier in this post and fermented at 90•. So light in color, at least pouring from the bottle, it’s easily the lightest colored brew I have made so far
And the arrogant bottle it conditioned in!
Looks good Frank ! Enjoy.
Thanx Jon, I plan on it!
At day 34, it’s finally down to 1.009 (from 1.057).
I think I’ll keg it on Sunday.
Edit: I checked the gravity again on Sunday, and it was down to 1.007. It’s kegged and carbonating.
I just kegged mine that I referenced above yesterday. It took me 5 weeks to get it to 1.008. Stalled twice on me. I repitched some of the slurry into a pumpkin saison that I brewed yesterday. We’ll see if the second time around is any easier as some have indicated. On the flip side the begian ale I kegged tasted great! I dry hopped it with Colombus, Cascade and Mt. Hood. I can’t wait to try the finished product.
I just brewed my first saison using WLP565, Brewing Classic Styles recipe. OG = 1.060, 2 days @ 70 degrees, 5 days @ 76-78 degrees, 8 days @ 82-86 degrees. FG = 1.002. Kegged it last night, taste tested throughout. Definitely has the tart finish I wanted with the low FG and I can detect some citrus and spice flavors.
Any recommendations? Sounds like I could finish the fermentation sooner by starting near 90 degrees and staying there. Great thread
Two weeks sounds pretty good to me. If you like the results, do it again.
Ok, I used the fermentation schedule that I previously mentioned: “WLP565, Brewing Classic Styles recipe. OG = 1.060, 2 days @ 70 degrees, 5 days @ 76-78 degrees, 8 days @ 82-86 degrees. FG = 1.002.” After a week to mellow and further tasting, this beer ended up more like a wheat beer or belgian with some dunkelweizen-like notes.
Does not really resemble a saison and I can’t help but think I should have fermented a lower temperatures. I was afraid of not attenuating and read all about saison yeast loving warm temps, but I don’t know what else would contribute to a tried-and-true recipe resulting in these flavors.
Thoughts?
WY3724 is the strain especially prone to stalling at lower temps. 565 (though Dupont) is supposedly not the exact same strain and is less prone to the higher temp requirement.
EDIT - Dupont allegedly uses 2 strains in their saison from what I’ve read. 3724 is one, 565 the other.