Infected saison?

[rockdemon]

I made a saison a month ago. Really slow fermentation as usual with wyeast belgian saison yeast. But after 1 weeks it had only gone from 1065 to 1025. I gave it a swirl and waited another week. that got it down to 1021. I made a small starter with some yeast i had saved. Added that and now after two weeks more(total of 4 weeks) its at 1018. I just tasted the beer and not only is it extremely jazy but its sour and has a grapefruit/lime flavor to it. This must be some kind of an infection right? Below is a pic of the saison and a pale ale which has been fermenting for two weeks now.

 

[rockdemon]

The beers:

 

[jsun]

I haven't used Belgian saison yeast before, but the saison I made with 3711 (French saison) looked exactly like that.

 

[jfk69]

I think some more information is necessary. The mash process, did you use a starter, what were fermentation temperatures, basically ALL the steps would be helpful. Oh, and comparing from your pics, I'll assume the pale ale is on the left....I don't see anything abnormal. I expect my Belgian beers to be hazier/cloudier, perfectly normal for the style. In my limited experience, 3711 (if that's the yeast you used) does take longer to finish. It's one of the very few beers I leave longer than 14-21 days in the fermenter, generally letting it go a full month.

 

[jsun]

I think some more information is necessary. The mash process, did you use a starter, what were fermentation temperatures, basically ALL the steps would be helpful. Oh, and comparing from your pics, I'll assume the pale ale is on the left....I don't see anything abnormal. I expect my Belgian beers to be hazier/cloudier, perfectly normal for the style. In my limited experience, 3711 (if that's the yeast you used) does take longer to finish. It's one of the very few beers I leave longer than 14-21 days in the fermenter, generally letting it go a full month.

I think he used Belgian, not French. I have read that Belgian saison yeast has a tendency to stall and needs to finish at higher temps (sometimes upwards of 90 degrees).

 

[jfk69]

Good catch jsun. If that's the case, it is probably really helpful to have a ferment fridge/freezer and be able to control temperatures. It's really nice on the belgian/french yeasts to be able to crank the temps higher on demand.

 

[Facinerous]

All the above posts are right.

Saison yeasts can be notorious to stall out. They can also take months to finish when stalling does happen. They also do much better in warmer temperatures. So if you are treating your saison yeast like standard ale yeast there should be no major surprise if or when it stalls.

To your benefit those yeast strains have a very low flocculation. Which in part is why your beer has the haze that it does. You should be able to raise the temperature if you haven't to get the yeast active again. 75 - 80 degrees is common, and even up to 90 degrees is acceptable. I can't tell you directly if you have some extra bug in there that is causing any off flavor because saisons already do have an off flavor driven from the yeast.

Assuming you used 3724, here is the direct quote from Wyeast on the strain:

This strain is the classic farmhouse ale yeast. A traditional yeast that is spicy with complex aromatics, including bubble gum. It is very tart and dry on the palate with a mild fruitiness. Expect a crisp, mildly acidic finish that will benefit from elevated fermentation temperatures. This strain is notorious for a rapid and vigorous start to fermentation, only to stick around 1.035 S.G. Fermentation will finish, given time and warm temperatures. Warm fermentation temperatures, at least 90°F (32°C), or the use of a secondary strain can accelerate attenuation.

If on the other hand you used 3711, which I don't think you did, it is well known to be a 'beast' of a yeast strain. It is known to stall shortly, but if you raise temperature a bit and keep it going it will attenuate so much it is almost scary. I used it once for a saison and it took me from 1.055 to 1.002 in a month and a half.

Either way, good luck.

 

[rockdemon]

Thanks guys and yeah its the dupont strain from wyeast, ive used it before and then it worked like you say. Slow and boring. Never had this complete stall before though. Low attenuation i can understand, ive had it at around 80-82F for a month now but the sour flavor? Thats what concerns me. I made like a classic recipe. Only pilsnermalt and candisugar. 5 rest step madh and boil for 90 min. Made a 1 liter starter since its only a 12 liter batch.