Saison fermentation schedule

[Home_alone1]

long story short I brewed a Saison on Sunday and pitched at 62 at 10:30pm with my fermenter set at 68. By 10:00am on Monday the wort had a Krausen and was at 68 degrees . I plan on holding at 68 till either 10:30 pm tonight or 10:30 pm Wednesday for eithe a 48 or 72 hour ferment at 68 and then I plan on bumping the temp up 2 degrees per day till I hit either 75 or 78.

The yeast strains are WLP565 and WLP590 ( doing a 10 gallon batch spit in 2 )

How long should I let it sit at 68 ? 48 hours or 72 hours before I raise the temp ?

 

[Hopsimus]

I personally start ramping up the heat after 24 hours (as soon as I see fermentation has started). Generally 2 degrees at 24 hours and then 2 more at 12 hour intervals thereafter until I reach the target temp I'm looking for.

The last saison I did I started at 68F or so and ended at 76F on day 3. Left it there for 4 weeks. I used WLP590 for that one.
Turned out real nice. Decent esters, some pepper, mild saison funk. 1.002 final gravity.

Prior saisons I've gone as high as 85F, but that was with Wyeast 3724, which loves the heat.
I've seen posts from other people who have pushed it even higher.

Cheers!

 

[thehaze]

I agree with Hopsimus: you need to apply some heat to Saison yeast and Belgian yeast in general. It will produces the best estery and phenolic profile for the yeast. If you ferment too low, you might either get supressed esters or possibly weird flavours. At least, this was my experience.

 

[Home_alone1]

I agree with Hopsimus: you need to apply some heat to Saison yeast and Belgian yeast in general. It will produces the best estery and phenolic profile for the yeast. If you ferment too low, you might either get supressed esters or possibly weird flavours. At least, this was my experience.

Thanks guys , I’ll bump it up then sooner rather than later . I hate fusil alcohols so I wanted to try and suppress those . I’ll bump it tonight and start the ramp up

 

[thehaze]

Saisons yeast and belgian yeast ( those that are able to ) are best fermented warm. And here you need to forget what you know about clean/american yeast, as belgian yeast will do its best work at higher temps.

 

[Home_alone1]

Ok , I got it up to 70 . About 39 hours after pitch. I’ll bump it up to 72 tonight before bed and up to 74 in the morning . Thanks for the quick replies!

 

[505-Brewer]

I keep them coolish for 48 h then let them ramp up or apply heat. Use the recommended temp range from manufacturer as a guide. Not all saison yeasts need the super high temperatures and some (like wy3711) actually produce better results at lower end of the range IMO. In my experience fermenting cooler produces a fantastic beer but many yeasts will take another 2 weeks or so to drop the last several points so you have to wait for that. I also recommend a pseudo open fermentation (foil over carboy instead of airlock) until the krausen starts to thin. Dupont strain is only saison yeast i know of that can really stall in fermentation but ive never had that issue with it or others. I typically allow 4 week primary before even checking gravity though. Good luck!

 

[Home_alone1]

Thanks , I have it sittting at 75/76 and will hold it there , according to white labs 75 is max temp , I can only control my temp to a 1.4 degree range . I won’t check gravity till the keausen drops .

 

[catdaddy66]

I keep them coolish for 48 h then let them ramp up or apply heat. Use the recommended temp range from manufacturer as a guide. Not all saison yeasts need the super high temperatures and some (like wy3711) actually produce better results at lower end of the range IMO. In my experience fermenting cooler produces a fantastic beer but many yeasts will take another 2 weeks or so to drop the last several points so you have to wait for that. I also recommend a pseudo open fermentation (foil over carboy instead of airlock) until the krausen starts to thin. Dupont strain is only saison yeast i know of that can really stall in fermentation but ive never had that issue with it or others. I typically allow 4 week primary before even checking gravity though. Good luck!

I am using 3711 in a saison and pitched Monday at 6am with ambient temps in a swamp cooler at 65°-66° (2 frozen 2L bottles)... The next am I did 68° (1 frozen 2L) and yesterday at 70° (no bottles). This am I removed the primary from the swamp cooler and it should reach 71°-72°. I was going to wrap the primary but may just leave it at room temp (ambient) and let the internal temp stay at mid 70's for the duration.

 

[505-Brewer]

Of course fermenting HOT can also turn out an excellent beer. I equate those w wine like fermentations (wine also fermented warm). They taste like ass at first but really settle in to some lovely flavors and peak in the 3-6 months range (wine takes longer). I think fermenting cooler gets a less phenolic beer that is more drinkable/balanced sooner......my 2 cents only of course.

 

[Home_alone1]

Well from 10/25/2018 to 10/30/2018 both beers went from 1.060 to 1.006 , these strains are beasts . WLP565 has a bit of acetaldehyde and a slight pepper quality , wlp590 has a fruity , soft , slightly sweet like an apple ( at least perceived, somewhat like you would expect in a dry apple cider )

I just raised the temp to 80 to try and help the yeast clean up their mess. The beer is very cloudy at the moment and the diacetyl I was tasting could have been yeast in suspension, I’ll find out soon enough.

I ordered a case of Orval a few weeks ago so I’ll give this beer a few weeks to chew down the gravity a bit further and clean up before trasfering half to smaller carboys to be infected with the Brett.

Thanks for the help , this forum is great !

 

[505-Brewer]

Sounds like you are on point and on your way to making a mighty tasty beer!
I love me a good saison w/ or w/out brett!