8th AG Brew - Belgian Saison

My first brew that I designed the recipe 100%. A friend gave me a pack of Wyeast 3724, so I had to come up with something to use it with. Obviously I looked up many saison recipes and got an idea of the "theme" of ingredients, but then I threw it all together (partially from what I had on hand). It's currently in primary, but I can't wait to try it. I'll be taking a gravity reading in a few days to see where it's at and if I've got the dreaded stall around 1.035 that this yeast is known for. That's why I ramped the temp to 90°F within the first 24 hours. Let me know what you think!

Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: Wyeast 3724
Yeast Starter: 1 L
Batch Size (Gallons): 5.5
Original Gravity: 1.058
Final Gravity: 1.006
IBU: 32
Boiling Time (Minutes): 90
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 90°F, 4 & counting...
ABV: 6.9%

Ingredients

7.0 lbs Belgian Pilsner 57.3%
2.0 lbs Vienna 16.4%
1.0 lb Caramunich 8.2%
1.0 lb White Wheat 8.2%

3.5 oz Acidulated Malt 1.7%
1.0 lb Honey (added to boil) 8.2%

1.0 oz German Hull Melon (60min)
0.5 oz German Hull Melon (15min)
0.5 oz Saaz (15 min)
0.5 oz German Hull Melon (0min)
0.5 oz Styrian Golding (0min)
0.5 oz Styrian Golding (Dry Hop)


Single infusion mash at 148°F. Mash out and fly sparged.

So I just checked the gravity today (day 7), and it's only at 1.040. I was really hoping to avoid the stuck fermentation. I didn't under pitch (223 billion cells in starter), and have kept fermentation temps at 90°F since day 2 (was ramping in the 80's for the first 24 hours).

Any suggestions as to whether to let it sit and see how it goes or to add some more yeast (and if so, what do you recommend)?

MagicMatt said:

So I just checked the gravity today (day 7), and it's only at 1.040. I was really hoping to avoid the stuck fermentation. I didn't under pitch (223 billion cells in starter), and have kept fermentation temps at 90°F since day 2 (was ramping in the 80's for the first 24 hours).



Any suggestions as to whether to let it sit and see how it goes or to add some more yeast (and if so, what do you recommend)?

Click to expand...

Wyeast 3711. That's a monster. Just took a saison I did from 1.071 to 1.002 in three weeks!

Thanks. I just ramped up the temps to 95°F. I'll give it another week and take another reading. If it hasn't moved (much), I'll use some 3711. I've seen other recommendations for the same yeast in this situation as well.

I think you are trying to rush things. That yeast is one of the best saison yeasts but it can be a little finicky. I never even check it until 3 weeks and have never had it stall on me. The key is to pitch plenty of healthy yeast, aerate well and then get the temps up. It looks like you have done that, so just give it a little more time. Checking at 7 days is not necessary. If after 3 weeks it is still high, then bomb it with 3711. I am guessing that you won't need to do that.

I agree, give it more time.

Last time I used this yeast I pitched at 75, 24 hours later ramped to 85. Two weeks later the gravity was stuck, bumped it to 95 and held it for 2 more weeks before taking another sample. At that point it was down in the single digits. Be patient!

Thanks for the reassurance guys. I read from Wyeast themselves that if you pitch at 90°F and keep it there that it should fully attenuate withing 10 days. My problem was I didn't know this at the time I pitched so it was about 70°F. Otherwise I wouldn't have chilled the wort as much.

The only reason I'm trying to hurry it along is that my fermenting chamber is a chest freezer that doubles as my keezer. So this prolonged fermentation is making me not able to drink my kegged beer since I can't chill it.

I'm looking into getting another fridge or freezer to make this a non issue, but for now it's what I have to deal with.

Heating is much easier than cooling, I now have a fermentation minifridge but still keep my old bucket setup around for situations that just require heating. Grab a big plastic tub and a $20 aquarium heater and you can easily keep it at elevated temperatures without holding up that fridge

Good advice. I already have a couple of large soda bins (keg tubs) that I could have used for this. I didn't think about a submersible heater. I actually just bought a heat rope (for terrariums) and ran it up and down the inside of my chest freezer. I figured whenever I get my new fridge I can use it with an STC-1000 and have dual stage control of heat/cooling. Right now I'm on a Johnson so I can only run one at a time.

It's nice to have an external controller, but aquarium heaters have built-in adjustable thermostats so you should be able to get pretty close just with that.

Agree on the aquarium heater. I use one in a big cooler full,of water. Works great. I brew saisons all year long.

Quick question on these aquarium heaters - do you need to circulate the water? I can just imagine cold(er) spots developing (say on the other side of the carboy from where the heater is at).

They're intended to go into an aquarium that has a filter to move the water around, but I've never worried about it. Things seem to stay pretty steady once it's going and up to temp.

I found this for more reading:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=99183

So just a quick update. It's Day 13 and I just checked the gravity again - 1.037.

This doesn't seem to be going anywhere anytime soon. It's sitting at 94°F, and as far as I'm concerned I did everything you're supposed to aside from pitching at 70° instead of 90°.

How are you checking sg? Refractometers aren't accurate after fermentation started and will read higher than what the sg actually is.

Nope, using a thief to snag the brew and then a hydrometer to read SG. In fact, the temp of my sample was only 76°F when measured, so the SG is more like 1.039 right now - meaning it seemingly hasn't moved since last week.

I think I'm just going to get some other yeast and pitch on top of it. Or I actually overbuilt my last starter intentionally and have saved about 70 billion cells of the 3724....

What effect would pitching a small starter of 3724 at this point be? Does anyone think it would clean up the stalled fermentation?

MagicMatt said:

So just a quick update. It's Day 13 and I just checked the gravity again - 1.037.

This doesn't seem to be going anywhere anytime soon. It's sitting at 94°F, and as far as I'm concerned I did everything you're supposed to aside from pitching at 70° instead of 90°.

Click to expand...

It is only day 13. Step away from the fermenter and give it some more time. You may be trying to fix a problem that really does not exist. 2 weeks is a short time for that yeast. It will most likely start up again. Check back in at least another week or even two will be bette

So, so the last post mentioned how it was "only" day 13. Well here we are 7 weeks into primary fermentation, at 94°F since day 2, and it's still only at 1.012.

Last week (week 6) it was at 1.014. So it's still moving, but ever so slowly.

I finally had to bite the bullet and setup an aquarium heater rig so that I could have my chest freezer back. Currently have a Belgian Blond in there right now (day 8).

I was worried about dead spots with using the aquarium heater, so I also bought an aquarium 'wave maker' (water mover.....like a little underwater fan).

(I know it's a dark pic, but here it is nonetheless)