Hurrying my Saison

[shemp]

I have a labor day party coming up so decided to brew a people pleaser Saison. I just put it in the primary today and need to keg it in 10 days. I'm thinking about splitting it up into 2 secondaries so I can keep one of them in the secondary longer. I dont think we'll drink more than a couple gallons (family party). Is there a problem with having all that headspace in the 5 gallon carboys?

Thanks
Shemp

 

[pdxal]

Yes there would be a problem. You don't want a lot of headspace in a secondary, to prevent oxidation. Covering it with a blanket of CO2 might help some, but not much.
Many people never use secondary anyway (cue primary only vs. secondary debate...).
The beer you serve needs to be finished fermenting before you keg it anyway. Has the gravity stopped dropping? What is it at?
IMO better to keg it all close to the party, serve what you want out of it and let the rest finish aging in the keg.

 

[shemp]

I've brewed this before and it finished in about 7 days.

If I keg it all, will it condition fine at serving pressure or should I change it?

 

[pdxal]

Has the gravity stopped dropping? What is it at?
What yeast?
"Finished"? 7 days is likely very green beer. Saisons were originally made to be brewed and store for a while before drinking. More time is probably better. It will still smooth out under some pressure, just like lagering in bottles works too. Better to have a yeast cake to condition on, but if you want to serve green beer soon, and avoid oxidizing the rest while waiting to drink later, kegging is your best option. CO2 is better to be sitting under than oxygen. You could always bleed off the pressure after the party, too, and let it finish in the keg at 65-80 degrees before serving again later.

 

[shemp]

It's not finished yet so I haven't taken a reading. My last one was down to 1.02 in 7 days. I used 2 packs of wyeast 3711 last time, Danstar Belle Saison dry this time.

 

[peterj]

It's not finished yet so I haven't taken a reading. My last one was down to 1.02 in 7 days. I used 2 packs of wyeast 3711 last time, Danstar Belle Saison dry this time.

Is that 1.02 or 1.002? I'm guessing you meant 1.002 otherwise I would say it almost certainly wasn't done.

Belle Saison is a pretty fast fermenter so you should be fine if you let it go 10 days in the primary and then keg it. It's a little on the short side but it will be ok I think. Just make sure the gravity is stable. Then I would do what pdxal suggested and just keg the whole thing. It will condition just fine in the keg and that is a MUCH better option than a secondary with a lot of headspace. I would even say that's a better option than a secondary with no headspace.

 

[mbbransc]

Might be a chance of diacytel by removing the yeast so soon after fermentation.

 

[peterj]

I don't think you have to worry about diacetyl too much with saison yeasts. And 10 days isn't ridiculously short or anything. I've read a lot of people saying their usual procedure is a 10-14 day primary then straight to the bottle/keg. After the initial vigorous fermentation, it only takes the yeast about a day or two to clean everything up. The rest of the time is mostly waiting for the beer to clear.

 

[shemp]

That's always been my biggest question; How much do you gain once the beer is stable? If it's pretty much clarity, I don't care. I like cloudy beer. If there is a noticeable difference in taste though, then it's obviously worth waiting.