Had to start fermentation at 100F with a Saison

[Swazi_Brew]

Hello all, I have looked up this issue as much as possible but I couldn't find an answer to my next step. I brewed a little over 2 gallons of wart for a 5.5 gallon extract recipe. It called for mixing cold water with the wort to get it down to temp. The problem that I did not see coming with this is that I currently live in Africa and the "cold" water I had to mix with wasn't cold enough. The yeast strain I used was the Belle Saison from Lallemand. After throwing in the yeast I drove to find ice and was able to make a decent ice bath of about 50F about an hour later. I wrapped it in a wet towel and let it sit overnight and it got down to 72F by early next morning. Fermentation has since taken off and its up to 75F sitting in a water bath with a wet towel around it.

My question is what is my next move? Should I keep up with the water bath to keep the temp down, or let it ramp up on its own? The room temperature is probably 80F during the day and 70F during the night.

Thanks!

 

[Hello]

Yes. Keep it cool. Pitching other yeasts at 100F could killed it but at least saison yeast handles higher temps. Has if started fermenting? Do you see a layer of krausen?

I don't know much about the exact yeast you used but I think 75F is a good temp.

 

[Swazi_Brew]

Yes it is fermenting, has a good layer of krausen going. I don't know if the smell maters but it smells very good.

 

[pvault98]

Now that you have the temp down for the first few days you will want to let it ramp up. I pitch my saison yeast at 68 and warm it 2 degrees per day until i reach the low 80's. I just kegged a saison last night using that fermentation schedule and after 14 days it had attenuated down to 1.005.

 

[Swazi_Brew]

Now that you have the temp down for the first few days you will want to let it ramp up. I pitch my saison yeast at 68 and warm it 2 degrees per day until i reach the low 80's. I just kegged a saison last night using that fermentation schedule and after 14 days it had attenuated down to 1.005.

Awesome. Day 5 I let it go where it wanted. It's at 80 right now and has slowed down quite a bit. I hope I get that 1.005 like you did!

 

[Swazi_Brew]

Now at day 9. I opened it up because its been 3 days with no activity. I got a reading of 1.007 on the hydro. It started at 1.070. I also took a sample and it tastes pretty good. Can I move to bottling at this point?

 

[RM-MN]

Now at day 9. I opened it up because its been 3 days with no activity. I got a reading of 1.007 on the hydro. It started at 1.070. I also took a sample and it tastes pretty good. Can I move to bottling at this point?

NO! Not until you are sure that it is completely done fermenting. Give it another 3 days and take another hydrometer sample. If they match, it is done and could be bottled but hurrying it won't get you good beer. Another 2 weeks would be in order since your beer started at 1.070.

Also, for your future batches, there is no, "had to start fermenting at 100". Put it in the fermenter and let it sit until it cools enough. As long as your sanitation is good it won't hurt the wort to sit for another 24 hours if necessary to get the temperature where it should be.

 

[pvault98]

Definitely give it another 3-4 days and check the gravity to make sure it is stable before bottling. Saison yeast in particular have the tendency to keep chugging along slowly, however being an extract recipe and there is no mention of any simple sugar additions my best guess is there is not really any fermentables left that the yeast can break down.

I definitely agree that 100 is too hot to start fermenting you are much better off waiting a day and get it down to a more reasonable temperature. You will likely produce a lot of hot, fusel alcohols by pitching that warm that will take some modest conditioning to mellow out. Also, I am a firm believer in not lowering the temp during the fermentation until everything is done and you are preparing to package. The yeast seem to perform best when pitched within the acceptable range for the strain and then slowly warmed during the fermentation after the growth is done. If you lower the temp after pitching, the lag will likely be longer, yeast health can suffer, and chance for an infection increases due to the longer lag time.

 

[Swazi_Brew]

Definitely give it another 3-4 days and check the gravity to make sure it is stable before bottling. Saison yeast in particular have the tendency to keep chugging along slowly, however being an extract recipe and there is no mention of any simple sugar additions my best guess is there is not really any fermentables left that the yeast can break down.

I definitely agree that 100 is too hot to start fermenting you are much better off waiting a day and get it down to a more reasonable temperature. You will likely produce a lot of hot, fusel alcohols by pitching that warm that will take some modest conditioning to mellow out. Also, I am a firm believer in not lowering the temp during the fermentation until everything is done and you are preparing to package. The yeast seem to perform best when pitched within the acceptable range for the strain and then slowly warmed during the fermentation after the growth is done. If you lower the temp after pitching, the lag will likely be longer, yeast health can suffer, and chance for an infection increases due to the longer lag time.

Thanks for the info man. I just bottled today, hydro read 1.007 again. I drank some at the end and it tasted pretty good all things considered. I will be letting them sit for a good 3 weeks before I throw any in the fridge. I would wait longer but the beer here sucks and its expensive.

I do have another saison batch to brew though so I really do appreciate the help. Definitely wont be rehydrating yeast towards the end of the boil again.