Stalled Saison

Damn you Saison. Been fermenting for 10 days at 80+ degrees. Stuck at 1.030.

I gave it a good rousing and moved the heating pad right under the yeast cake. Hopefully that will make it finish up.

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1441203060.745426.jpg

What was your starting gravity?

Recipe?

That's a pretty high sticking point for a Saison, I would say.

Psylocide said:

What was your starting gravity?

Recipe?

That's a pretty high sticking point for a Saison, I would say.

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Malt bill:
9.0 lbs 2 Row
2.0 lbs White Wheat
0.5 lbs Munich 10

Mashed at 149 for 60 min. Starting gravity was 1.057 (I oversparged and ended up with 5.5+ gal. in the fermenter)

Apparently it's not that uncommon.. I made a starter from a friend's washed yeast. He wasn't sure which version it was but thought it was probably WY 3724.

Did you just lmgtfy me?

**** that. I'm out.

Going to go drink my saison that finished at 1.001.

^^^I actually did it to myself.

It's common with that yeast for sure. Wait it out. It can suddenly jump back to life. It should finish, it might just take time, like a month or 2. I've only used this yeast once. Had similar experience. I got a nice beer out of it but the heartache and worry wasn't worth it!

Here's my personal experience:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=487773

Peruvian802 said:

^^^I actually did it to myself.

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I was just messing, bowing out though, never used that yeast.

I brewed a saison with 3724 last summer and it took a good 6-7 weeks for it to finish off at 80+ degrees. I say let it ride for awhile and see if there's any progress. For mine, it was a slow, steady march...there wasn't really much at all for visible activity, but it kept dropping and eventually finished off at 1.006.

I did have a packet of dry Belle Saison yeast on hand just in case I needed something to help finish it, but I never used it (well, I did use it, but as the primary yeast on a different beer later on ).

You could pitch some Brett in there too. Probably not at all what you were planning on making, but it would finish the job.

I just did this too. Had to crank it up to 95 and still only got it down to 1.008. It's kegged right now and is still pretty good.

grizzly2378 said:

You could pitch some Brett in there too. Probably not at all what you were planning on making, but it would finish the job.

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I would have done this if I was willing to dedicate the fermentor for the time it takes for brett to do its thing.

Yeah I'd try cranking it up in temps if you can. Other solutions would be to add a bit of 3711 or dry Belle saison to finish it out. At this point the flavor contribution would be minimal. Although I do love the bright lemony character of 3711. And brett'd saisons are always awesome if you have the fermentor space. Easiest way to do that would be to buy 3-4 bottles of your favorite wild beers and adding the dregs. Know that your plastic equipment you use on it afterwards will basically be contaminated though

That looks pretty cloudy.. could you have missed your mash temperatures due to a faulty thermometer? I would add some amylase to see if that helps drop the gravity over a couple weeks.

you might want to try pitching a packet of Belle Saison yeast from danstar. That yeast went to pound town on my saison and finished at 1.004 from a SG of 1.060.

I also have a saison fermenting now using 3724 and after 10 days at approximately 90f got 1.035. Very frustrating, I'm gonna let it ride. I did harvest some of my 3724 starter, would pitching this now at this point in my fermentation speed things up? Don't think I'll be using 3724 again anytime soon, therefor will not need the harvested yeast.

Yeah that sucks. I doubt pitching more of the same strain will help. Especially if its from the same starter. This is why I always use blends in my saisons now:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?p=7077464

m00ps said:

Yeah that sucks. I doubt pitching more of the same strain will help. Especially if its from the same starter. This is why I always use blends in my saisons now:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?p=7077464

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I have a packet of saf 05, would that work? Use the entire packet?

Sorry for hijacking the thread, Subject is exactly what I'm going through at the moment.

BurlingBrew said:

I have a packet of saf 05, would that work? Use the entire packet?

Sorry for hijacking the thread, Subject is exactly what I'm going through at the moment.

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pitch a packet Belle Saison. It works awesome! great saison yeast. I fermented from 1.060 down to 1.004 with this yeast with great flavor.

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/medi...08d6e5fb8d27136e95/b/e/belle_saison_yeast.jpg

US-05 will work, but Belle saison would get you to the dry levels of a saison

If it were me (and it has been) I'd probably krausen it with some 3711.

MrFancyPlants said:

That looks pretty cloudy.. could you have missed your mash temperatures due to a faulty thermometer? I would add some amylase to see if that helps drop the gravity over a couple weeks.

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Aren't most saisons cloudy?

Hold the phone! 2 1/2 hours after rousing and moving the heat pad below the fermenter and it looks like a new krausen is forming. The airlock is also quite active. It could just be the CO2 was knocked out of suspension but I hope not!

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1441212112.458071.jpg

I made a saison with 3274 this month and it went down to 1.004 in 8 days. It was hot here in NYC, and my fermentation spot was at least 85 the entire time, more like 90. It's in the keg carbonating, needs a few more days to reach full carbonation. In the meantime I'm "tasting" it every day.

My last saison was 1.000 with Saisonstein's monster. It ferments pretty quick too. Give it a try if u can find it

Heat and time will fix the 'stall' issue with this yeast. And it's worth the wait.

Maybe try replacing the airlock with a piece of sanitized foil for a while. Might be worth a shot, "Avoiding The Saison Stall", about the middle of the page...

I am drinking a 1.060 OG saison that I just kegged using wyeast 3724. It took 9 weeks to get down to 1.004....keep it warm, keep swirling the fermenter and just wait. The beer you will get will be amazing as there is nothing that compares to this yeast for saison. 3711 isnt even in the ballpark.

BurlingBrew said:

I also have a saison fermenting now using 3724 and after 10 days at approximately 90f got 1.035. Very frustrating, I'm gonna let it ride. I did harvest some of my 3724 starter, would pitching this now at this point in my fermentation speed things up? Don't think I'll be using 3724 again anytime soon, therefor will not need the harvested yeast.

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Yes I am quoting myself! The beer I mentioned above was brewed on 08/19 and my first hydrometer reading taken on 08/30 was 1.035 and today 09/20 1.026. I thought it would have dropped more by now. I did not add anymore yeast as some suggested, simply roused the carboy every other week and it has been sitting at aprox. 90F. Sample tasted very sweet.
What do you guys think, might be done by 2016??

Saison yeast requires warmer temperatures. Mid 70's to 80.

jaydlaw said:

Saison yeast requires warmer temperatures. Mid 70's to 80.

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Maybe you missed the part where I said its been sitting at 90f. Maybe that's to warm?

Do you think maybe using a wine degasser (whip) to get rid of some of the dissolved CO2 might help?

BurlingBrew said:

Maybe you missed the part where I said its been sitting at 90f. Maybe that's to warm?

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Yup, mistaken this post for another similar post. 90 might be too hot, but I can't say for sure. I have made atleast 4 saisons this year and haven't had an issue with any of them fermenting, and they are usually done fermenting in less than a week. I keep mine in what ever temperature my basement is. Somewhere between 70-80 degrees.

jaydlaw said:

Yup, mistaken this post for another similar post. 90 might be too hot, but I can't say for sure. I have made atleast 4 saisons this year and haven't had an issue with any of them fermenting, and they are usually done fermenting in less than a week. I keep mine in what ever temperature my basement is. Somewhere between 70-80 degrees.

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Yea, I ramped up to 90F almost right away based on other threads I read. I almost feel I should have began at a lower fermentation temp and see where that took me beforehand. I guess I'll just have to be patient. I read one guy who waited 9 weeks for his batch and turned out amazing!