bizarre fermentation

here is my recipe:

6# belgian pils
.25 crystal 20L
munich
.25 special B
.50 special roast
1.00 biscuit

3.9 HBU n brewer 60 Min
.5 oz willamette 15
.25 0z willamette 5 min

mash at 154 for 45 min

double batch sparge

75 minute boil,

og was 1.032

-ok. i miscalculated my grain bill and came up .008 less than my target. i pitched White Labs belgian saison and got a good start within 12 hours. i added 12 oz liquid extract to boost the gravity 24 hours later and the fermentation seemed to subside. there were still bubbles, but bery little krausen. i shook the carboy and it bubbled alot right after, but i never got a good krausen. today ( day 3 since brew), i came home and the beer is beginning to clear. i took a hydrometer reading and it said 1.022. it tasted PERFECT. after the extract addition, i figured an "original" gravity of about 1.040. is this beer just not going to get a big krausen and will is there any chance of it finishing out around 1.012?

have i stumped HBT, or are the experts out "studying" [ aka drinking ] ??

I don't really see a question in that. It's 3 days in, and it's sitting at 1.022. In a week or two, it'll be even lower than that. Where exactly it ends up depends on the yeast, fermentation temps, and brewer luck. Either way, it's not done at 1.022. 1.012 sounds much more realistic.

i guess i was wondering why there was no krausen. i have never seen that before. since i added extract after the brew, which again i had never done before, i was concerned. i think it will be fine. thaks for the respnse.

It's possible to have fermentation going on and not see any krausen. Also, the white labs saison strain (565 i believe) is kind of finicky. After a couple days, I would ramp it up slowly to the mid 80's in temperature to keep it going. If it's not dropping any more gravity points after a week or two and still not where you want it, you might try pitching an already fermenting starter of something like cal ale. I heard this from Chris White of White Labs on the Jamil show. Good luck!

thank you for the reply, illinbrew04. i guess it wasn't a dumb question afterall. i have been ramping up the temp because i know the belgians like it warm. i may pitch some nottingham if it stalls out, but i think it will be fine. i must have dropped the krausen when i stirred in the extra malt syrup. cheers!

If it was White Labs Saison I yeast, it's famous for pooping out early. One of the Whites was on Jamil's Saison podcast and said they actually intend for people to pitch that yeast, and then when they hit about 50% attenuation, pitch another yeast to finish it out. Yeah, it seems odd, but that's what he said. Straight from the horse's mouth.

Edit: Looking back at your OG, it was pretty low for a saison so I'm not sure if this would apply. Maybe someone who knows more about attenuation can add to this.

that would explain it. i hope lazy lama saw your reply. looks like there was a question and a very good one at that.