Saison ferment and keg advice

Turfgrass · Jul 22, 2018

My first and only saison fermented out a lot quicker than expected. From what I’ve read I was expecting a stall or a fermentation that lasted a couple weeks. The WLP565 strain was open fermented for about 12 hours and then pushed through a blow off tube. It has now been stable for a couple days and it’s super dry at .998 FG over 8 days. So, what next? Transfer to a conditioning vessel or get right to transfer and carbinating? Any advice appreciated. Thx in advance.

Braufessor · Jul 22, 2018

Personally, I would just let it sit for a bit longer 14-21 days total or so. Then I would move it to the place I was going to transfer it (up on a counter for example if you are using gravity) a couple days before you were going to transfer to keg/bottle - that will allow debris to further settle if you are going to move it before transferring.

Then I would either bottle or transfer it to keg.

I always prefer to leave my beer on the yeast in primary as it seems to give me a cleaner beer. And, unless you plan on leaving a beer in secondary for an extended period of time, I rarely see the point in using a second conditioning vessel.

Home_alone1 · Jul 22, 2018

I would second the advise above , I let mine sit on the yeast at about 72 for a month and it turned out great. Just give it a little bit of time to finish cleaning up.

couchsending · Jul 23, 2018

I’m amazed that strain got that low. What was your mash profile?

Saison strains don’t flocc well. You need to get as much of that yeast out of suspension as possible. You can wait forever and it will eventually flocc or you can speed it up.

Are you fermenting in a carboy?

I’d give it a few more days in primary but it doesn’t need more than that.

This is what I do for saisons fermented in carboys.

Let it finish out, give it a few days to clean up after itself, force transfer to a completely purged keg (star San pushed out using Co2) lager for a week at whatever temp you’re able to, colder the better. After beer has completely cleared I force transfer it to another purged keg, unscrew the PRV, pour sugar solution/yeast through PRV hole using a small funnel. Purge the headspace, give the yeast/sugar two hours or so then bottle with a beer gone or counter pressure filler into heavy glass at 3-3.5 volumes of Co2.

Sounds like a lot and it’s a pain but it’s as close as you can get to what’s done on a professional scale in terms of minimizing o2 pickup. If you have a conical and can maintain positive head pressure while crashing you can skip a step.

Braufessor · Jul 23, 2018

couchsending said:
Let it finish out, give it a few days to clean up after itself, force transfer to a completely purged keg (star San pushed out using Co2) lager for a week at whatever temp you’re able to, colder the better. After beer has completely cleared I force transfer it to another purged keg, unscrew the PRV, pour sugar solution/yeast through PRV hole using a small funnel. Purge the headspace, give the yeast/sugar two hours or so then bottle with a beer gone or counter pressure filler into heavy glass at 3-3.5 volumes of Co2.

Sounds like a lot and it’s a pain but it’s as close as you can get to what’s done on a professional scale in terms of minimizing o2 pickup. If you have a conical and can maintain positive head pressure while crashing you can skip a step.

This is very similar to what I do..... only difference really is that I ferment in kegs (bend the dip tube up to leave an inch or two clearance off the bottom) for primary, and then I jump it to a purged keg with Sugar solution to 3-3.5 volumes and bottle in heavy 750ml bottles using a beer gun.

Turfgrass · Jul 23, 2018

couchsending said:
I’m amazed that strain got that low. What was your mash profile?

Saison strains don’t flocc well. You need to get as much of that yeast out of suspension as possible. You can wait forever and it will eventually flocc or you can speed it up.

Are you fermenting in a carboy?

I’d give it a few more days in primary but it doesn’t need more than that.

This is what I do for saisons fermented in carboys.

Let it finish out, give it a few days to clean up after itself, force transfer to a completely purged keg (star San pushed out using Co2) lager for a week at whatever temp you’re able to, colder the better. After beer has completely cleared I force transfer it to another purged keg, unscrew the PRV, pour sugar solution/yeast through PRV hole using a small funnel. Purge the headspace, give the yeast/sugar two hours or so then bottle with a beer gone or counter pressure filler into heavy glass at 3-3.5 volumes of Co2.

Sounds like a lot and it’s a pain but it’s as close as you can get to what’s done on a professional scale in terms of minimizing o2 pickup. If you have a conical and can maintain positive head pressure while crashing you can skip a step.