Saison 3 Weeks in Primary, Reading 1.03

Hi All,

This is my 6th batch, and I took a bit of a hiatus so I'm forgetting:

Do I have to wait until my beer finishes to rack to secondary?

I brewed a yummy (i hope) Farmhouse Saison 3 weeks ago using Saison yeast. The recipe states:

"Take care with the Saison yeasts. They have a curious trait: fermentation looks and acts like it's done, but your gravity reading could be as high as 1.030. Don't rack! Leave it alone for another week or two"

Just to be clear- does this mean no secondary until it reaches 1.01 or close? Isn't three weeks a bit long in primary?

Also to note- We've been letting this one ferment warmer as I was told this is good for Saison. It's been upstairs, staying between 75 and 80 degrees.

Thanks,
Ethan

No need to rush racking it to secondary, I've left some of mine in primary for closer to a month or more with no problems. Just leave it sit and check the gravity every so often. And of course, RDWHAHB

Wonderful.. Thanks! I'll wait another week and check again.

I just read another thread where someone thought their saison was done but they gave it a good swirl and it started moving again. Could give that a shot.

If it ain't done, don't take it off the yeast. Unfortunately, some Belgian yeasts can be fickle; some stop and start, and some stop and don't re-start. What yeast; the Dupont strain has a habit of stalling and not re-starting - you would need to re-pitch another yeast.

Stir up the yeast a little (but be careful not to aerate),and see what happens.

A couple of months in Primary will not hurt it, but since you are running at higher temps than normal, probably should not go any longer on the yeast.

You do not need to secondary a saison. Give it a swirl, wait a few weeks and recheck your gravity. It will reward you for your patience.

What temp are you fermenting at? Saisons like it hot. Mine stalled out over the winter at 1.023 until I warmed it up and swirled it. Ended up at 1.010 which was surprisingly dry for a winter trial. I fermented at 78. I wanted the fermentation hotter but it just wouldnt do it under room temps.

Any thoughts on how best to 'swirl it up'? I don't want to use a big metal spoon or anything that could risk infection.. Is it okay to just kind of swirl the bucket side to side a bit? I've been fermenting 75-80. It may have gotten below 75 a few times during the first week, but it seemed to be bubbling away happily.

icedub said:

Any thoughts on how best to 'swirl it up'? I don't want to use a big metal spoon or anything that could risk infection.. Is it okay to just kind of swirl the bucket side to side a bit? I've been fermenting 75-80. It may have gotten below 75 a few times during the first week, but it seemed to be bubbling away happily.

Click to expand...

If it's in a sealed bucket, lift bucket up, rotate it a quarter turn and set back down.

If it's a carboy, grasp top of carboy, tilt it til it's sitting on one side, rotate a quarter turn on the pivot and set back down.

It should kick up enough yeast without causing sanitization or oxydation issues by openning it up or introducing anything outside.

It's not rocket science, just move the fermenter a bit.