I just brewed my first saison and used WLP590. I mashed at 150 for 90 minutes and have fermented at 74 degrees for 10 days. Attenuation is currently at a whopping 94%.
Smells great, tastes great, but the attenuation really threw me off and upped the alcohol past what I was after. Has anyone else had this happen with WLP590 or saison yeast in general? As stated, this is my first time using it so it’s new to me. I’m trying to get a feel for if this is something I should anticipate for future batches.
Because it is Saccharomyces cerevisiae var. diastaticus it has “the ability to utilize some dextrins (unfermentable sugars), resulting in higher levels of attenuation than what is considered typical.” — White Labs
Just curious: did you have simple sugars in your recipe? They say the key to a Saison is that it’s very dry. I understand to get there simple sugars are added. If this is too much for you, possibly you could reduce simple sugar additions in v2 (if used).
Good to know. I’m at 1.003 and assume it’ll drop another point or two. I certainly don’t mind the dryness but it’d be nice to know if it’ll consistently do this for grain bill/ABV planning purposes!
I love Saisons, but I very rarely make them. I buy the Belgians and I may try to make the best of the commercial ones, but I fear another unicorn chase. I make lagers and have gotten pretty close to what I want, so maybe Saisons are next…I know this may become a six month or more hunt, but I suspect it will be worth it.