1.007 gravity saison, continued airlock activity

I'm wondering if I can bottle. Besides the info in the title, I'll say that after a 16 day primary and about 10 days in secondary I'm observing very slow airlock activity (a bubble every 2 minutes or so). I have a contest I want to enter it in and if I'm going to make it in time I need to bottle it within the next day. OG was about 1.047ish

The only way to be sure is multiple gravity readings over time. Say 2 or 3 days apart. No change means you are good to go.

Recipe? what yeast? mash temp? and any other info..

need all that info to tell you if you are in the ballpark. I am guessing that if there are no recipe quirks, high mash temps etc you are probably not done yet. Most saison yeasts can take a beer down near 1.000 to 1.004. So a beer that was only 1.047 would most likely finish very low with saison yeasts.

Both of the above. It could still be fermenting or it could just be releasing co2. I have had finished brews bubble with temperature or atmospheric pressure changes at over a month in the fermenter, more than a couple of weeks after the last visible signs of fermentation.

At 26 days total, unless your temperature dipped way down for a long period of time then you are done! It's normal for beer to off-gass some of its Co2, and one bubble every two minutes that sounds like what it is.

I'd bottle it. Good luck on the competition. Let us know how you do!

andy6026 said:

At 26 days total, unless your temperature dipped way down for a long period of time then you are done! It's normal for beer to off-gass some of its Co2, and one bubble every two minutes that sounds like what it is.

I'd bottle it. Good luck on the competition. Let us know how you do!

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Not necessarily. If he used 3724 then it may not be done. That yeast can some times take a while to finish. Yeast does not punch a time clock. So saying it is done because it has been 26 days may not be good advice.

We need more info to give proper advice.

beergolf said:

Not necessarily. If he used 3724 then it may not be done. That yeast can some times take a while to finish. Yeast does not punch a time clock. So saying it is done because it has been 26 days may not be good advice.

We need more info to give proper advice.

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Like a gravity reading tonight and one no sooner that tomorrow night!

If they are the same it is done.

it is 3724. Grist is pilsner and red wheat, mashed very low for 90min. Added 0.5lb rhubarb to each the boil and primary, then 1lb to secondary. gravity at racking was also 1.007. Temps in fermenter have not dipped below 75F since 8 days past pitching, and has spent a lot of time above 80F.

Is there any harm to filling a few belgian bottles and leaving the rest to sit another week? I would think the risk to the bulk would be oxygenating (ignoring contamination as I'll trust that I have sufficient sanitization practices), how concerning would that be?

From what I've been told, 3724 seems to take forever. Most people I know who brew with it expect it to be 6 weeks or longer before it's done (depending on temperature, OG etc.).

Damoxemus said:

From what I've been told, 3724 seems to take forever. Most people I know who brew with it expect it to be 6 weeks or longer before it's done (depending on temperature, OG etc.).

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Everybody but me... I finish fermenting in 5-7 days. Pitch healthy, aerate well and let it rise to HOT and keep it there.

My experience with 3724 has been long and slow, at least four weeks. This is a yeast that really takes its sweet time to come into its own and starts tasting great at about 4 months from pitching, so don't rush it. Wait until you get consecutive gravity readings. Take a gravity reading now , take another one in a week.

sandyeggoxj said:

Everybody but me... I finish fermenting in 5-7 days. Pitch healthy, aerate well and let it rise to HOT and keep it there.

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Everyone but him and me. My house Saison hits FG in about 5 days using 3724 (~1.060 to ~1.004). Start cool and keep ramping up the temp. You almost can't even go to high with it. I start at 68, once fermentation starts ramp to 75, over 24 hours ramp to 80, over 24 hours ramp to 85, over 24 hours ramp to 101 and hold. Boom.


For the OP, Saison yeasts can be tricky, and that is among the trickiest, especially if you don't know how to handle it. It may not be done. I wouldn't bottle the whole batch unless the gravity is stable (and with that strain, even the usual 3 days may not be enough- I'd look for stability over a week), or you're using Belgian/Champagne bottles that can handle very high carbonation. If you have the ability to bottle a few out of the fermenter in high pressure bottles, you're probably close enough that it'd be alright. I've done that before for competition with sours.

I know this isn't the same strain but with Belle Saison my first batch finished at 0.995 with the temperature up to 85. The second batch was at 1.002 at 4 weeks with the fermentation temperature at 72 and didn't change so I bottled it. Now I have gushers because the yeast wasn't quite done when I bottled. Don't rush your saison yeast unless you can bring the temperature up. That kind of yeast seems to like a hotter temperature to finish.

sandyeggoxj said:

Everybody but me... I finish fermenting in 5-7 days. Pitch healthy, aerate well and let it rise to HOT and keep it there.

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That is true but the OP did not so that so he can probably expect it to take a lot longer to finish up.