saison - should I repitch?

I'm fermenting a saison, and am thinking abut adding a pack of notty to it to help dry it out. It has been at 1.012 for a week straight. I'm looking for opinions on whether to add the notty or wait it out. Relevant specs below:

og 1.070
currently at 1.012
7/4 - brew
7/11 - roused yeast
7/20 - grav 1.012 - roused yeast again
7/26 - grav 1.012 - roused yeast
temp held at 82 since pitching via aquarium heater
yeast - wlp568


I already have gotten 82% attenuation out of the WLP 568, and don't know if I will get anymore. I want the beer drier than it is. If I do pitch the notty, should I bring the temp of the beer down to mid 60's first, for the notty? Also should I pitch the entire pack, or should I only put partial in due to the low amount of attenuation needed from it?

I would try a yeast energizer rather than pitching a yeast OR use a champagne yeast NOT NOTTY...I had a similar issue and I pitched yeast hulls into it....Yeast hulls is basically dead yeast cells...You can get it as yeast hulls at many lhbs's or at a health food store as brewer's yeast.

My saison was stuck at 1.019 for a week..

I just had some old dead bread yeast that I add usually to the boil on high grav beers...This was stuff that should have been kept frozen and I had left out in the hot summer so it was useless for bread making.

You could even do it with your pack of notty...What I would do is get a couple cups of water boiling and add the yeast to it, which will kill the cells off. Then let that cool and add to the fermenter and give it a gentle stir.

Here's some info on using yeast hulls...

http://www.extension.iastate.edu/NR...CF/73955/ProblemFermentationandYeastHulls.pdf

Stuck fermentation - its causes, how to prevent it, and how to solve it - grapestompers

Effect of Yeast Hulls on Stuck and Sluggish Wine Fermentations: Importance of the Lipid Component -- Munoz and Ingledew 55 (6): 1560 -- Applied and Environmental Microbiology

I would try this first...it worked for me, rather than repitching...But if I did repitch I would use champagne yeast instead of notty....it is cleaner...you don't want notty characteristics in your saison.

This is from the AHA big brew day Saison recipe...

NOTE: Saison should be a dry beer. If your attenuation is not enough, you may need to add a secondary yeast such as Champagne yeast

Click to expand...

Doing this mine came down to 1.008 or 9 .

Revy, with all due respect I must take issue with two points you made.

1) I feel nottingham yeast would likely not colour an already very powerful taste brought in by the saison yeast itself.

2) I agree that using lysed yeast will certainly improve a fermentation and "energize" the yeast present. And once again in a saison style or belgian style beer it probably won't matter but never add lysed yeast in a light beer or a pilsner. I tried this once and wound up with some off flavors of autolysis.

As to the original thread. This beer is mighty attenuated already. If the reason is presence of many trissacharides and polysaccharides it is unlikely that any yeast will be able to "dry" it out any further. Though some lager yeasts can metabolize some degree of trisaccharide sugars.

I appreciate the responses guys. As with most homebrewing questions, multiple answers abound.

You both agree on a form of yeast energizer, so I think I'll try that first. If that does nothing....

Any other opinions on which yeast to pitch in for a second bite at the apple?

You could also try raising the temp to 85 or even 90. There are commercial brewers that use that yeast at 90F. It might not matter but it's also worth a shot. You've got a couple of weeks to play with.

update:
I added the yeast energizer, gave it a week, and checked the grav. No change.

Today i pitched a packet of pasteur champagne yeast. I'm keeping it at mid 80's as this yeast is good to 86 f from what I read.

If next Sunday it hasn't changed, I'm cold crashing and kegging this beast.

I am also doing a Saison and the OG was 1.053 and finished at 1.012. the recipe specified that it should finish in that range. I racked it to the secondary. After seeing this thread I am somewhat concerned that it might not be dry enough. I used Wyeast 3274. So I am wondering if I should pitch some champange yeast, yeast nutrient. Any thoughts are greatly appreciated.

thanks,

Z

Zman - 1.012 is the top end of the bjcp range, so it is not a problem.

In fact after all of my babying, warming, repitching , yeast energizing and all, I ended up at 1.012. I kegged it tonight.