Question on my first Saison

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humpadilo

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I have a question about my saison. I used the saison yeast from white labs 560. It has been sitting in the primary for just over 2 weeks. I haven't really seen much action in the airlock the entire time. There has been minimal action. I checked the FG it was at about 1.030. The target FG is1.013. It was really foamy and it looks like the hops are floating on top of the foam. It had a really strong hop smell to it also. When I moved it, the airlock started bubbling crazy. My question is, should I transfer it to a secondary or just let it be? Here is a picture of it.

image-849983239.jpg
 
Definitely let it be. If you want to transfer it to a secondary eventually that's okay, but it still has quite a bit of fermenting to do so it's best to just leave it where it is for now.

Hop smell coming off of it right now is normal, as it the airlock bubbling a lot when you move it. As you move the fermenting vessel, it will knock more co2 out than when it is sitting still. Try to keep moving it and opening it to a minimum. I am sure you will have a great saison! :mug:
 
Just leave it alone. I haven't used this strain, but the other WL saison yeasts have a reputation for stalling in that FG range. Swirl the fermenter to make sure you've got enough yeast in suspension and then get it into a warmer room . At this point, you can ramp the temp way up to get it going.
 
Man do I feel silly. I almost don't want to admit this but, I made another batch of beer about 3 days ago and I got the buckets mixed up. On the other hand the FG is .002 under target. So I'm bottling now. Thanks for the help even though it turns out I just got the buckets mixed.
 
humpadilo said:
Man do I feel silly. I almost don't want to admit this but, I made another batch of beer about 3 days ago and I got the buckets mixed up. On the other hand the FG is .002 under target. So I'm bottling now. Thanks for the help even though it turns out I just got the buckets mixed.

1.011 is still pretty high for a saison yeast. Did you check fg over several days and it is stable or did you just bottle when you saw it at 1.011? If the latter, you may be in for a nasty surprise.
 
most saison yeasts take a long time to ferment, but will go very low in Fg on the end. they can take up to 2 months to ferment. just up the temps a little and wait some more.
 
To finish out the song ... (Beatles must have been closet brewers)

Let it be, let it be, let it be, yeah, let it be
There will be an answer, let it be
Let it be, let it be, let it be, yeah, let it be
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be

Couldn't hurt to let the saison age a few weeks, so the yeast can clean up odd chemicals etc produced during the fermenting process.
 
Man do I feel silly. I almost don't want to admit this but, I made another batch of beer about 3 days ago and I got the buckets mixed up.

I use wide blue painters tape and a Sharpie to mark my fermenters. It comes off easily when a batch is done.
 
1.011 is still pretty high for a saison yeast. Did you check fg over several days and it is stable or did you just bottle when you saw it at 1.011? If the latter, you may be in for a nasty surprise.

I just went by the recipe and bottled it. What kind of surprise are you talking about? I might just have to throw in the towel on this one.
 
Don't throw in the towel, but it might be a good idea to keep the bottles in a rubbermaid tub or something like that. If it wasn't done fermenting yet and you put priming sugar in the bottles they could potentially over carbonate and explode.

Never just go by what the recipe says FG should be. There are so many variables when you're making beer that only two or more hydrometer readings that come out the same can tell you if your beer is done fermenting or not. Brew and learn!
 
humpadilo said:
I just went by the recipe and bottled it. What kind of surprise are you talking about? I might just have to throw in the towel on this one.

As mentioned above, your bottles may explode. In brighter news, they might not. How much sugar did you use? If you have a big Rubbermaid, that would be a good place for them. If not, at least a big cardboard box to contain most of the glass should any pop. Once they carb up, I'm guessing in a week or two max, throw them in the fridge and you should be in the clear at that point. Don't get more discouraged if you open one soon and it gushes. It takes a few days for the co2 to be in solution.
 
The recipe was from Austin Home Brew. I have no idea if their recipes are better than others. That also brings up a question; If it is good practice to ignore the recipes that companies send with their kits, why don't they just modify the recipe so that it is at least close to being correct?
 
I think the recipes are usually pretty close, but there are usually some details that are not. A lot of times kits are designed for beginners and it's too much effort to explain the why or how of something, or the explanation might just go over their heads. I don't think it's personally a good idea to completely ignore the recipe (they made the kit after all) but for some things like FG it could be different from person to person.
 
"If it is good practice to ignore the recipes that companies send with their kits, why don't they just modify the recipe so that it is at least close to being correct?"


The recipes are correct - for their system and their process. The "problem" is that you aren't doing things the exact same way as they are. If you optimize everything in the process, you might be churning out beer in a week to 10 days like many pro's do. If you are still learning the ropes (or just don't care enough about the timeline to optimize every variable), then your brew will just take longer. It doesn't mean you can't make great beer. You just have to give it as much time as your process requires.
 
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