Fermentation on my Saison

[Carrollyn]

A couple weeks ago, I posed the question on my apparently stalled fermentation on my Tank 7 clone, brewed one month ago. My yeast is Wyeast 3724 Belgian Saison. That was when I found out I needed to ramp up the heat from 80 to 90°f for this yeast. Fermentation began again, but it is sooooo slooooow. I am aiming for the vicinity of 1.009. OG 1.070. When I turned up the heat to 90, 3 days later it went from 1.042 to 1.036 (not corrected for temp, measurements at 90°) It is crawling down, about .004 points every 3-4 days. Right now it is at 1.023. My question is, would you continue to let it go until it finished (at this rate!), or it stalled out, and then pitch another yeast (T-58) to finish it, or would you just pitch the other yeast now? Should I just continue to be patient? I taste it each time, and it seems fine.

 

[jrgtr42]

I vote for patience. This is the hardest thing for any brewer to learn.
If it's still going, let it go. If it gets another 8 - 10 points lower, and stalls then, I'd say call it good. Even those yeasts can get stuck getting too low. I would also say to let it alone for a week or so and see what happens then. |Too many tests and tastes increases risk of infection.
|Hope it works out; Tank 7 is a great beer...

 

[Carrollyn]

Thanks. I’ve never had one drag on so long! But I will heed your counsel.

 

[Twinkeelfool]

A couple weeks ago, I posed the question on my apparently stalled fermentation on my Tank 7 clone, brewed one month ago. My yeast is Wyeast 3724 Belgian Saison. That was when I found out I needed to ramp up the heat from 80 to 90°f for this yeast. Fermentation began again, but it is sooooo slooooow. I am aiming for the vicinity of 1.009. OG 1.070. When I turned up the heat to 90, 3 days later it went from 1.042 to 1.036 (not corrected for temp, measurements at 90°) It is crawling down, about .004 points every 3-4 days. Right now it is at 1.023. My question is, would you continue to let it go until it finished (at this rate!), or it stalled out, and then pitch another yeast (T-58) to finish it, or would you just pitch the other yeast now? Should I just continue to be patient? I taste it each time, and it seems fine.

That yeast is a pain in the arse, but totally worth the wait. If you are bottling, wait a few months, it really gets good.Wyeast 3726 farmhouse has similar flavours but is much faster. I do like 3724, it’s just slow

 

[Carrollyn]

I do plan on bottling. Its in a bucket right now. Once I call the fermentation done and can drop the temperature back down to less hellish levels, do I need to get it off the yeast cake at some point (I almost never do a secondary) or can it sit there on it for the few months?

 

[Calder]

Let it go and get as low as it wants to. I think that yeast has a reputation of stalling around 1.030 for a while before finishing. I have never used it. No need to rack to secondary unless aging in bulk. It will be fine for a few months in the Primary.