No krausen? Stuck fermentation?

I brewed up a Saison on the 8th and decided to use the ice-bath method of keeping a steady temperature since the Texas heat is in full swing. Unfortunately, the water was maintaining a temp of 60-62, so the yeast wasn't very active. It built about 1/4"-1/2" of krausen, then stopped bubbling completely after day three, so I pulled it out of the water and swirled it around to bring back up any dormant yeast. The next morning was holding at 67 on the carboy, and the blow off tune was bubbling again so I thought I was in the clear as I was leaving for the weekend. Just got back and noticed it is still bubbling about every 8 seconds or so, but no krausen and very few bubbles on top.

Brew notes:
OG: 1.065
Target FG: 1.002
1lb honey at 5 min.
No sign of infection or anything, but has not cleared one bit.

Am I over-analyzing this, or is this a serious problem to not have ANY krausen? I can post photos in the morning. Any similar experiences/advice is appreciated!

 

I have yet to work with saison yeast, next batch will be my first, but fermentation activity can vary. Did you use a starter? What yeast strain did you use? The temps seem low for a saison from the yeast strains I considered for my saison. I've read a lot of people have stuck ferms with saison yeast and bring the temps into the 80's to finish them off.

 

let it do it's thing.

 

No starter used, but the yeast was White Labs 565 Saison Ale Yeast. I checked the temperature again on my lunch break and it was 76 degrees, so I'm just going to let it do it's thing like @eastoak said.

Assuming everything will ferment out on schedule, if it is still cloudy in the next 2-3 weeks, what should I try to clear it up? Rack to secondary, or just keg it as-is?

Here's a photo of it right now too. You can see where the krausen was initially, but nothing on top any more.

 

If you're using the Belgian Saison strain, this is pretty normal. If you're using the French Saison strain, then they're might be a problem. I recommend taking a gravity ready to see how far you've attenuated.

If you're using the Belgian strain, crank it up into the mid-80's. If you're using the French strain, you're probably in the 70% attenuation range.

Edit: I just read your response, and you are using the Belgian strain.

Here's White Lab's Note:

I used Wyeast 3724, which is the exact same Belgian strain (WLP565). It took me 6 weeks to get this to ferment out to 1.008 from 1.056. I aerated with pure oxygen for 1 minute, and pitched in around 68F (wort temperature). I stalled out for 2 weeks around 1.028, and it took an additional 4 weeks to get to 1.008 by using a heating pad wrapped up to my fermentor controlled by a Ranco ETC Temperature Controller and a portable fan set at 75F to reduce the load on my heating pad. Needless to say, this is the last time I use this yeast.

I didn't detect any of the peppery notes either. I did get a very dry finish, with a nice bit of acidity in the finish, but no pepper.

Also, saison yeast are notorious for their poor ability to flocculate. This is acceptable to style. You can crash cool, but this won't be enough. You can try using gelatin, isinglass or any other yeast fining agent to try to get the yeast to flucculate out.

 

What is your gravity reading now?

 

my least favorite saisons are crystal clear i think the cloudiness is needed, not to mention cloudiness is true to style.

 

24 hours later and not a sign of activity in the carboy. I'm thinking there wasn't enough o2 in the wort, or that I'm thinking too much and should shut up and wait. At what point do I intervene and if so, what should I do?

1st part got cutoff

Pitched white labs 550 Belgian ale yesterday at 74, room temp is now 71. OG was 1.058, so shouldn't be stressing the yeasties

 

We had a crazy storm last night, so I wasn't able to get my hydrometer and sanitizer from the garage. Hopefully I can take a reading tonight and get back to you.

Thanks for posting this - I'm going to be pissed if this one takes 6 weeks+ to drop all the way out. I was really hoping to pull in the peppery notes too (I forgot to add pepper at 5-min ). I had pitched around 68 degrees as well, so I fear this batch is replicating what happened to you. I have a space heater that can help keep things closer to 80 in the back room, but I'm not sure how thrilled SWMBO is going to be. If the rain can hold off, it should warm up a little more anyways.

I had forgotten saisons were acceptable cloudy, so I am no longer concerned with the clarity of the beer. I'll snap a photo of the sample I pull to show you guys the current state of clarity, and how it may change when finished.

Since White Labs mentions people adding WLP001 to finish it out, could I get by adding Safale US-05? I got a packet for free and don't know what to do with it.

Lessons learned so far:
1. Always use Wyeast 3711 for Saisons. Always.
2. Hurry up and get my f*@(%!ng dual temperature controller built.

 

I'm not sure about pitching dry yeast like US-05. The issue is if you don't pitch at high krausen, the additional yeast really isn't going to out compete the active WLP565 because there's no oxygen available for the new yeast to start growing and you definitely do not want to aerate prior to pitching the new strain.

From what I remember reading in Yeast by Chris White and Jamil Zainasheff, you really need to pitch two strains at the start or pitch a secondary strain at high krausen. I'll look it up tonight and post what they say specifically, but I'm not sure how pitching a liquid yeast at high krausen compares to pitching a rehydrated dry yeast.

 

if he is pitching a dry yeast they don't need oxygen to get going, not that i'm saying he should pitch the additional yeast.

 

Thanks for clarifying about the dry yeast. I've never used it, so I'm not familiar with it.

 

Finally had a chance to take a sample. Looks about 1.013. Target FG is 1.002. I wrapped a blanket around the carboy to try and raise the temp to 80, but is adding another yeast still a good idea?

 

Very nice, I would not pitch a second strain at this point. You will keep dropping, but I would try to stay around 80 for the next week or so to get those last 10 points.

 

Will do! Thanks for the help. I will post an update when everything is finished. Sample I pulled yesterday had some peppery notes so I was excited - hope that doesn't get lost in the next week or with carbonation!

Cheers

 

Well. I raised the temperature as much as I could, and seemed to keep steady at 76 the past two weeks. Unfortunately it didn't drop a single point. It cleared up a lot more than I anticipated. Although it was still a little on the sweeter side than I'd like, I went ahead and kegged it yesterday. Here's a photo: