Saison Fermentation Temp Question

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Han_Solo

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 24, 2012
Messages
80
Reaction score
1
So I brewed a saison a month ago (OG - 1.048) and it hit its FG (1.006) on Fathers Day. I didn't use the "Brewing Classic Styles" recipe but I was hoping to gradually raise the temp to 80 or so throughout the fermentation.

I was unable to accomplish this (the fermometer never went higher that 73) and I am wondering if an increase in temperature would benefit the beer at this late of a stage. The fermometer went up 6 degrees over the last two days and, given the heat wave, will likely stay there for close to a week.

What I am wondering is:
1) Will the beer benefit from an increase in temperature at this point, ten days after it hit FG?

2) If there is a chance it will benefit, would I get the same results if I were to bottle the beer and keep it at those temps?

3) Will the quality of the beer be safe regardless of whether I bottle now or bottle after it had a week in the high 70s- low 80s? I'm willing to experiment but don't want to risk diminishing the quality of the beer.

Thanks in advance and any other tips related to this would be greatly appreciated.
 
Have you tasted the beer yet? If it tastes saison-like (and I'm sure it does), nothing to worry about. A hotter fermentation would have encouraged more of those yeast flavors, and there are also certain saison strains--notably Wyeast 3724/White Labs 565--that need fairly hot temperatures to finish fermentation. But it doesn't sound like you have actually hit any problems.

(1) Very unlikely, IMO, though it could depend on the yeast strain. But at 1.006 and ten days of nothing further, you're almost 100% certain to be done with fermentation. So there won't be any further character or benefit at this point. In ordinary beer, most of the yeast's flavor compounds are created in the first few days of fermentation, though some flavor changes occur later (e.g. acetaldehyde is reduced).

(2) Bottling will produce very little additional flavor. But you could keep the bottles hot if you wanted; that might add a little more saison character.

(3) The quality is safe. A few days at high temperatures won't make a difference. High temperatures will cause the flavor to degrade faster in the long term, though.

So in sum, I'd just bottle and not worry. But if you want to try an experiment, next time ferment half the batch temperature-controlled and the other half in some kind of hotter environment, to see how the flavor differs.
 
I'd bottle it and treat it like a regular beer - give it enough time to carbonate, then keep it cold. In the future let those saisons get into the 80's F!
 
Back
Top