No temp control ... summer is coming

So I thought about making Saison. Not just yet, but I'm trying to plan for summer temps within 2 months. From what I've read, Saison yeast enjoys temps in the 80s-90s.

I'm an extract brewer only, don't even wanna steep anything. I've thought about using 3711 for the yeast.

And it just needs to be good, drinkable beer. It's perfectly fine if it deviates from true style. We've never had a Saison before anyway.

Can someone please advise me?
Thanks!
-Johntodd

 

What exactly is the question? As long as you're within the temp range for the yeast, it will be fine. You can also just "build" a swamp cooler for easy temp control. Unless you live in an 8'x10' room, there's almost no excuse to not at least have a swamp cooler. Even if you don't ice it down, just submerging your FV in water should help regulate temp to some extent.

 

Upon re-reading my OP, it does seem a little fuzzy.

So my question is: will the 3711 make a good beer in warmer temps?

(I'll look into the swamp cooler idea.)

Thanks!
-Johntodd

 

3711:
Apparent attenuation: 77-83%
Flocculation: low
Optimum temp: 65°-77°F

It looks like your temps are a little high, I'm not an expert or science guy.. I just follow the datasheets. As far as the saison is concerned, I'd at least try and keep it in the optimum temp range for the first few days before letting it warm.

I used Belle Saison yeast for mine. In my minor experience, I would say this would be a more well-suited yeast for you to try given your temps.

Belle Saison:
"Fermentation temperature should be kept above 63F - it is unknown at this time what the upper limit for this yeast strain is, but free-rising from pitch temperature is encouraged."

I kept my saison (belle) in a swamp cooler at ~68-70 degrees for 4-5 days and then just took it out and let it get up to ~78-80 at times until I was ready to bottle. It was the first beer I took to competition and one of the only real points of feedback was that it could've used to ferment a little warmer.

Hopefully that helps a little until someone more knowledgeable chimes in. Good luck dude.

 

Is your house not air-conditioned? I tried to sleep in 80+ degrees once...... ONCE! lol
Our place we live now is at constant 68-70 thanks to AC. Can't wait to start my brewventure!

 

We have a window unit in the master bedroom, but that's it. The rest of the place is "cooled" by a whole-house fan. We don't use our living room, so that's where the beer operations are conducted.

I can open a window directly across from the fan and it will draw a constant supply of air across the fermenter.

Might try putting it in the bedroom, but SWMBO may not allow. Although she would enjoy the saison.

 

My first beer, when I didn't have temp control, went in a carboy underneath our window AC. It turned out fine, but our hottest summer days aren't even that extreme. I forgot to add this to my last post, if you're interested. Instead of googling and researching swamp coolers, maybe it will help. There's no reason to make it complicated.

Just get one of these, big enough to fit your carboy or brewing bucket:


Put your FV in it, fill it with water up to the level of the wort in the FV, throw a tshirt or towel over it and attach a blow-off tube. You're all set. It should keep it a little lower than room temp, or if nothing else.. at least a little more steady. At that point, you can toy around with adding bottles of frozen water to drop the temp. It depends how much attention you want to give it.

It may not be perfect, but it is better than no temp control and it is a cheap alternative.

 

This is what I've always done works great just add more frozen water bottles in the summer and don't forget to cover it View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1461595035.614287.jpg

 

Theres only one saison strain that can NEED to be into the high 80s/low90s and its not 3711.

ANY belgian strain is fine just free rising at rooms temps. Just be sure you can pitch it below 70 or so and itll turn out fine

 

3711 will make a good beer period. I don't think you could make a bad beer with 3711 if you tried. It's one of my absolute favorite strains.

Last summer I made a saison with 3711 and set the fermenter outside in the shade in August. The ambient temp was 98*. I did it because we were talking about this strain at one of our homebrew club meetings and I wanted to try to show everyone what a workhorse this strain is. The beer turned out great!

 

Will temperature fluctuations harm 3711, or will you just get more fruity esters out of it that way? I was thinking of running a saison in my cellar this summer with 3711. It tends to stay between 65 and 75 down there in the hottest months.

 

It's 3724 that needs the heat, right?

 

Im fermenting a White IPA with 3711 at 73 and it definitely is a workhorse. My starter got fermentation going in 6 hours and Krausen dropped in 4 days. I wouldnt recommend fermenting this strain higher than 80 but with it being a Saison, the additional flavors produced may be delicious. The most simple procedure I could think of to maintain a decent temperature would be the wet shirt technique. Place the fermenter in a bucket with a shirt over it and add water. If its still too warm, put a fan blowing on it...

 

Why does the 3724 get stuck and then start again? Is there aynway around this?

 

I've never used it, but I have heard that it has a tendency to stick, especially if you can't keep the temp up. They say that if you start it on 3724 and it gets stuck, you can either gradually raise the temp til it gets going again and/or pitch another yeast strain to wake it up.

 

You could also look at Omega's Hot Head Ale yeast and yeast bay's Sigmund's Voss Kveik is recommended to be fermented at 90-100. I plan on making use of these this summer. Otherwise I use a swamp cooler.

 

3724 / WLP565 is notorious for stalling, especially in the first generation straight from the pack. Usually, warming it up can help it finish.

FWIW, I've taken every saison strain ive used into the 90s without any bad off flavors. IME, it actualyl gives you a more prominent fruitier yeast character, in addition to helping it attenuate a bti more, than fermenting at room temps

The only beer I've done that I got some bad band-aid plastic-y off flavors from experienced daily fluctuations up and down of about 10 degrees. Definitely try to either keep it stable, or let it naturally warm during active fermentation and slowly come back down as fermentation subsides

 

Yeah, that's why I'm planning on running mine in the cellar rather than in the house. Maine summers are famous for going from 90 during the day to 60 at night, especially by the water, where we are. In the cellar, it'll never get as warm as a saison might like, but it also won't drop nearly so far at night.

 

A swamp cooler will lower temps about 5 degrees below ambient unless you add Ice. If you have a large cube cooler you can make a water bath that takes no more room than a swamp cooler and can control tempatures much better and lower. The cost is in the cooler and a small piece of insulation and that is about it. I can ferment down in the 50s if I wanted to in the southern california summer.

 

The HotHead Ale Yeast looks very promising!

 

Upon further review, maybe I will never get to make a saison. I woke up this morning and it's 35 degrees and snowing. Curse you, New England spring!

 

Now it is hailing. This is egregious.

 

The swamp coolers are better than nothing, but at the end of the school year, look for the biggest dorm fridge you can find from a graduating college student and don't look back. That, a collar, a controller, and a bit of styrofoam will up your game like no other.

As for doing a Saison? I did one with Belle Saison last summer (July) on the front porch, 70s at night, 80-90 during the days... a simple Rye Saison and it turned out fantastic. It actually ended up below 1.000 FG. So I'd say use that. or 3711.. easy peasy. I plan on doing that again once it's really hot and I have the chamber tied up with something else. You likely can't go wrong with either of those yeasts.

 

I wouldn't worry about the temperature fluctuations harming 3711. It's solid as a rock. I expected some strong esters with my beer, but it wasn't as noticeable on this beer as it was on the next batch I brewed a couple of weeks later. For that 5G batch, I made a 2L yeast starter and fermented in the mid 60's. I was having process issues and I was trying to figure it out. Turns out that the process issue was the brewer being stupid and I didn't need the giant yeast starter, but the yeast character in that beer was phenomenal. More fruity esters than the beer I fermented outside in the heat.

 

Going the swamp cooler route is easy and effective. You really should be able to brew any ale style with the temps you are working with. You dont have to brew a Saison just because it is hot outside. I actually have to have more control over temps to do a Saison, because I l Iike to bring it up gradually.