Wyeast 3724 Belgian Saison ... A touchy beast!

[elbrewers54]

First off, we are total newbies. For our 4th beer ever we decided to try our hand at the Saison extract kit from Northern Brewer (recipe here) on 5/26/2012. We pitched the yeast - Wyeast 3724 Belgian Saison - at 78 degrees with an OG of 1.058. Being the noobs that we are we didn't know how touchy this would be.

Also, just to note, we haven't gotten into anything for temperature control. We do our best, but we're in a tiny apartment in New England so it's tough. At first the fermenter sat in the kitchen corner behind a table. It was hot in May, but cool in early June. In the first few days of fermentation the temp was in the mid to high 80s for a few days, then it dropped to high 60s low 70s before we racked to the secondary.

At first we didn't see ANY vigorous fermentation in the airlock at first, totally opposed to everything we heard about Saisons. We got concerned so we tested the gravity on 6/03 and at 70 degrees it was 1.028. We were less concerned. Then it came time to rack to the 2ndary. So we did so on 6/17 and the gravity was 1.022 at 68 degrees.

This weekend I went to test the gravity in hopes of being able to bottle in the next week. The gravity was 1.018 at 81 degrees. I am nervous that this is too high too bottle. I don't think the fermentation is necessarily stuck and I know this yeast strain is infamous for crawling the finish, so to speak. Should I do anything to help the fermentation of just leave it alone for another week or two? I don't want to keep opening and closing the carboy to test, plus I am going on vacation in a few weeks and would rather get this in the bottles before that if possible.

Any suggestions??

 

[MattzKauf]

Just leave it while you go on vacation. It will be fine.

 

[Brandonovich]

Definitely leave it. And try to get the temp up high, as close to 90 degrees as possible. And use the French Saison next time, it is effortless.

 

[kingwood-kid]

You can put in the garage and do a heat wave dance, or you can pitch some hungry yeast on yop of it. You could use US05, notty, WY3711 or WY3522 just to name a few.

 

[pdxal]

Another option is to put a heating pad under your carboy to heat it up to 85-90 for a while until it finishes, when it is convenient. Or, finish with WY3711.

 

[Cellarbrau]

With this yeast aerate/oxygenate and pitch at 90F. Aerate/oxygenate again after 24 hours and proceed as normal. This should get you the typical flavor profile and low FG.

 

[zacster]

I have one fermenting in my kitchen right now. On day 1 the thing was going like crazy. By day 2 it slowed some and right now on day 3 it is very slowly bubbling. My temps have been around 80 here, but it will get hot the next few days. I haven't been able to take the temp within the carboy, my Fermometer, that stick on thing on the carboy, only goes to 78 and it isn't registering so I'm over that temp but these things are notoriously inaccurate. I'm going to wait for the high temps before I take a reading, and then decide if I need to do anything special, like adding 3711 to finish it off. I already have a pack of 1332 in my fridge so I could also use that.

 

[Hollingsworth]

I had a similar issue with the temperature stickers, they max at 78 and are not made for Saisons

To be clear, your 3724 has been fermenting since May? So over two months?

 

[elbrewers54]

Yes, it's been fermenting since May.

I am going to check it again this weekend as it seems to be doing something, albeit very slowly. I shook it up this weekend and put it in a warmer spot, so I am hopeful that did something.

I really can't decided whether to pitch more yeast or just let it be. Hopefully this turns out to be worth it!

 

[neko]

Then it came time to rack to the 2ndary. So we did so on 6/17 and the gravity was 1.022 at 68 degrees.

Just wondering what made it time to rack to secondary? Seems like the FG is too high, but I've only used 3711 so I'd take some other poster's advice on what to do from here. There is another thread from today where people have success pitching 3711 on a stuck 3724.

 

[elbrewers54]

Just wondering what made it time to rack to secondary? Seems like the FG is too high, but I've only used 3711 so I'd take some other poster's advice on what to do from here. There is another thread from today where people have success pitching 3711 on a stuck 3724.

We racked to the secondary after 3.5 weeks because a few guys at the lhbs recommended not leaving it on the trub for too long because it can throw off the flavors. We figured it would just keep fermenting in the secondary while not sitting on the trub. Is this a bad rule of thumb? Should we let it sit longer after fermentation is fnished?

Also, I just checked last night and the gravity is down to 1.010 in the last 2 weeks. We also discovered both hydrometers we own are off by .003 at 60 degrees. I will check again this weekend/early next week and then decide on a bottling date.

 

[djbradle]

There was no need to rack to secondary for 2 reasons:


1.) Your SG is not nearly high enough to warrant one
2.) Auto lysis of yeast when beer sits on the yeast cake too long has been proven over and over again to produce no off flavors unless you maybe sit on it for a veeeeeery long time. Many have left the beer on the cake for many months with no issues whatsoever.

Your non stable ferm temps and pitching rate are to blame. 3724 is known for stalling out if proper aeration is not achieved as well as the above two other important factors. As a member stated above, oxygenating and reoxygenating the next day is a healthy practice not only with this yeast strain as well as others and the high temps.

 

[phenry]

3724 only likes to get hotter while fermenting. If you let fermentation temps drop while it's still working that's when it likes to stall around ~1.030. Big starters, plenty of oxygenation, and rising temps is just about the only way to get this yeast to behave properly. I've switched to using 3711 almost exclusively for my Saisons now, just because it's so much easier to work with. I do like the flavors 3724 puts off more, but unless I have time to babysit the fermenter, I'm going with the yeast that will definitely get the job done.

 

[elbrewers54]

Thanks for all the input... like I said, we're newbies... this is our 4th batch. I'll probably try to brew this again with 3711, but when I get more experience, and better heating/cooling equipment, I'll definitely be going head to head again with the 3724. Also, good to know about letting the beer sit in the primary fermenter for a while. It sounded a little strange to me, but being so new to this, I didn't really think much of it. Anyway, hopefully just a few more days till this gets in the bottles.