Carbonation Issues T-58 5 Weeks In

[jlangfo5]

Hello Home Brewers! I know many people on here don't talk about the dry sassion yeast, t-58 very much, but I have some pretty big issues with bottle carbonation right now using this yeast, and I want some advice.

First some back ground information, the beer in question is a rye sassion at 7.5% abv. It spent 5 weeks in primary including 1 week with a gelatin addition to help clear it up a bit, and since then it has been bottled for another 5 weeks.

I used 3 oz by weight of white granulated sugar boiled into a syrup and well mixed into the beer before bottling, from which we produced 42 12-oz bottles. The ambient room temperature at which the bottles have been kept ranges from 68-70F. This should yield 2.35 volumes of C02.

I tried one of the beers after keeping in the fridge for 72 hours last week, and when I popped the cap I heard a mild to low-moderate hiss, and when I poured the beer it poured basically flat, no head at all and only the faintest and tiniest of bubbles where in the beer. Which is not really what I want.

Does anyone have any advice to offer on this, what should I expect out of a beer like this at this point in time?

Here is the information fermentis on it:

A specialty yeast selected for its estery somewhat peppery and spicy flavor development.
Sedimentation: medium. Final gravity: high.
Also recommended for bottle-conditioning of beers. Excellent performance in beers with
alcohol contents of up to 8.5% v/v but can ferment up to 11.5% v/v.

Recommended fermentation temperature: 15C – 24C (59-75F)

 

[TNGabe]

I wouldn't think it's the yeast. T-58 is a beast. Depending on your max temp during fermentaion, you should have 2+/- vol CO2. Is there sediment in the bottles?

 

[jlangfo5]

There is very little yeast on the bottom of the bottles, infact each time I have poured the beer, the bottom of the bottle appears mostly clean even with a gentle pour.

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

The only thing I see is maybe the gelatin knocked out enough cells to make it take really long to carb up but even after five weeks I would expect reasonable carbonation. Not really sure why you used gelatin since saison is a traditionally hazy beer.

What was the highest temperature fermentation reached?

 

[jlangfo5]

I added the gelatin mainly to make it easier to siphon the beer into the bottling bucket and to minimize losses by allowing me to get closer to the cake without siphoning up to much trub.

I'm not sure of the higest temp that was reached during fermentation, but the room temp was about 68 and I waited till I was down to that temp before I pitched. Can you explain to me what the peak fermentation temp will do with respects to carbonation?

 

[beernut70]

I recently brewed a Saison with T-58 and had the same issues. This was the first batch I tried a short cold crash with and figured that's what caused my issues. I eventually did the unthinkable and re-bottled the beer and it eventually carbed. It tasted great once it was carbed. I wouldn't recommend doing that unless you plan to drink it fairly quickly. Also when I bottled I just racked on top of the priming solution now I stir with a sanitized spoon before I bottle.

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

I added the gelatin mainly to make it easier to siphon the beer into the bottling bucket and to minimize losses by allowing me to get closer to the cake without siphoning up to much trub.

I'm not sure of the higest temp that was reached during fermentation, but the room temp was about 68 and I waited till I was down to that temp before I pitched. Can you explain to me what the peak fermentation temp will do with respects to carbonation?

Priming sugar calculators assume a certain amount of CO2 is already dissolved in the beer. If there is more or less dissolved then the calculator will be wrong. The warmer your beer gets the more CO2 is released and the less dissolved CO2 goes into your bottles so you have to make up for it by adding more sugar to generate more CO2. Since saisons are usually fermented fairly warm (well into the 80s) you could have a very flat beer and need additional sugars to reach desired carbonation.

Doesn't sound like that is your problem here.

T-58 may be a strain that responds a little too well to gelatin and you don't have enough yeast left in suspension to give you timely carbonation. I'd try getting the yeast off the bottom of the bottles to get them back in contact with the sugars.

 

[TNGabe]

T-58 will eventually leave you with crystal clear beer if you cold condition the bottles. I didn't think it flocculated that well at first, but after a few weeks in the fridge, it's like a different beer. If there is very little sediment, maybe you stripped the yeast out, although there are a few threads here saying that doesn't happen.

 

[jlangfo5]

So, as of now, what is probally the best thing that I can, do what you guys think about me inverting the bottles to attempt to get the yeast back in suspension and to try warming them up in a hot water bath?

 

[beernut70]

I would try swirling them around a bit to rouse the yeast and leave them at room temp (around 70) for awhile.