my saison only went from 1.078 to 1.052

i used the wyeast belgian saison yeast and both packs "blew up" when i smacked them and i pitched them at about 75 degrees. fermentation started fast and furious and seemed to slow considerably within 48 hours.

my buddy said that he heard talk at the AHA conference that people were having trouble with this yeast.

i've already transferred it into a five gallon carboy, but i'm not giving up on this...

i'm thinking i should transfer it back over into the larger carboy and pitch some other yeast onto it along with some yeast nutrient and give it a little swirl and then let it just do it's thing a few weeks.

1. is this a good idea?

2. if it is, what yeast should i use? i'm real hesitant to go with the belgian saison yeast again.

3. if it's not, what do you recommend?



thanks in advance for your time.

Did you shake your fermentor at all to ruse up the yeast? Saison yeast also like very warm fermentation temperatures. Try raising the fermenter temperature up to 80 degrees or even 90 degrees.

I'm having same problem, used same yeast and it has been fermenting for four weeks.

I am at 1.031, fermentation had stalled so I agitated it again, but the last time I did that I only went from 1.036 to 1.031 in the course of 1 week.

I'm thinking of getting another pack of yeast and adding it to 1000ml of my beer and then repitching it. I have 12 gallons fermenting, and made a starter that I stepped up to 2000ml originally.

How long was the beer in primary before you transferred it?

I'm gearing up to do a Saison soon and was talking to an experienced brewing buddy of mine and he said this yeast takes its sweet ass time to ferment out. He said that it'll pick up and die down and then pick up again and it could take up to 4 weeks before hitting your FG.

I was also listening to the Jamil's Saison show the other day. He recommended the Wyeast 3724 over the WL because of the better attenuation. However he said if it doesn't finish out then you should add an active neutral yeast like 1056/001 to finish it off.

I used the wlp565 and it didn't seem to get stuck, but my OG was a lot smaller than all of yours, only around 1.048. It got down to 1.015 really fast (after about 2 days), and then stayed there for the rest of the 3 weeks in the primary.

Room temp was about 75-80 most of the time, and I swirled the fermenter about 5 times throughout the 3 weeks.

DrinksWellWithOthers said:

How long was the beer in primary before you transferred it?

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two weeks.


i used two packs of wyeast 3724. perhaps i was hasty.

deepsouth said:

two weeks.


i used two packs of wyeast 3724. perhaps i was hasty.

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Your yeast may have become lazy from over-pitching....

To anyone experiencing this problem with the wyeast saison, here's the quote from the wyeast labs website:

YEAST STRAIN: 3724 | Belgian Saison™

Classic farmhouse ale yeast. Spicy and complex aromatics including bubble gum. Very tart and dry on palate with mild fruit. Finishes crisp and mildly acidic. Benefits from elevated fermentation temperatures. This strain is notorious for a rapid and vigorous start to fermentation, only to stick around 1.035 sg. Fermentation will eventually finish, given time and warm temperatures.

Origin:
Flocculation: Low
Attenuation: 76-80%
Temperature Range: 70-95F, 21-35C
Alcohol Tolerance: 12% ABV

I'm getting ready to keg 15 gallons of Saison from the Big brew Day after almost 4 weeks in the fermenter. I'll let ya'll know how the WL565 finished after 4 weeks with rousing on a regular basis.

Reno_eNVy_446 said:

Your yeast may have become lazy from over-pitching....

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both brew pal and brewsmith advised to pitch two packages if not making a starter. my OG was 1.078.

JuanKenobi said:

To anyone experiencing this problem with the wyeast saison, here's the quote from the wyeast labs website:

YEAST STRAIN: 3724 | Belgian Saison™

Classic farmhouse ale yeast. Spicy and complex aromatics including bubble gum. Very tart and dry on palate with mild fruit. Finishes crisp and mildly acidic. Benefits from elevated fermentation temperatures. This strain is notorious for a rapid and vigorous start to fermentation, only to stick around 1.035 sg. Fermentation will eventually finish, given time and warm temperatures.

Origin:
Flocculation: Low
Attenuation: 76-80%
Temperature Range: 70-95F, 21-35C
Alcohol Tolerance: 12% ABV

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i never thought to check there. thanks. i guess i'll go with the plan to pitch another package onto it and wait it out.

Heat it up, swirl it daily, and give it some time. I recently kegged a saison that took 2 months to get all the way down, even in this heat we've had recently. If all else fails repitch, heat it up, swirl it daily, and give it some time.

I pitched the exact Saison yeast you are referring to last Thursday, and given heat, proper aeration it did indeed take off like a rocket. After reading this thread I went and roused the yeast, put in 1/4tsb of yeast energizer, took a gravity check and resealed the fermenter.

After 3.5 days of fermentation it has slowed down at 1.031 (started at 1.060), approximately what Wyeast stated would happen, although the krausen was still quite apparent, and fermentation while a little slower, is still apparent.

I am in no rush, and had already assumed full fermentation would take a long time, so I ear-marked about a month in my fermentation schedule for this to finish out.

Remember ladies and gents, Saisons take a LONG time to dry out and reach its full potential, so think of it as your lazy summer brew; put it somewhere warm and mostly forget about it while thinking about or doing something else.

Has anyone tried using yeast nutrient just to give it a little bump?

or beano, helps to convert unfermentables

size said:

Has anyone tried using yeast nutrient just to give it a little bump?

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i had used a tablespoon in the later part of the boil.