Saison Stall?

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.

Baltic Brews

Member
Joined
Apr 26, 2020
Messages
7
Reaction score
2
So...I brewed a batch of Saison on Saturday, added rehydrated Belle Saison yeast at around 70F. They kicked off in just a few hours, went at it like crazy, but now, there's hardly any activity and I don't see much of krausen either. Is this the classic Saison stall? I did use an airlock but tried to push on the bucket lid to get some of the CO2 out at regular intervals.

The current temperature is around 72F, so should I crank it up higher to get the yeast working again? Or just wait it out?
 
What was the OG?
What is the current s.g.?

https://***************.com/wiki/Stuck_fermentation
 
OG was 1.048, I haven't checked the gravity right now, I don't really like opening up the fermenter until it's closer to being done. But I haven't seen such a sudden drop in yeast activity before - I mean it's still bubbling a little bit, but very little krausen.
 
What yeast did you use? When I've used Belle Saison yeast (which is nearly identical to Wyeast 3711), it started quickly for a few days, but then continued to ferment very very slowly for another 3 weeks. It's probably not stalled, just slowed way down.
 
What yeast did you use? When I've used Belle Saison yeast (which is nearly identical to Wyeast 3711), it started quickly for a few days, but then continued to ferment very very slowly for another 3 weeks. It's probably not stalled, just slowed way down.
That might actually be what happened - I'm using Belle Saison, and what you're describing fits exactly what happened in my case. Around 36 hours of very vigorous fermentation, and then a sudden drop in activity. But it's still bubbling, albeit slowly, so I guess it's just doing its thing.

Should I ramp up the temperature to around 80F in the coming days? Read that's what many folks do.
 
That might actually be what happened - I'm using Belle Saison, and what you're describing fits exactly what happened in my case. Around 36 hours of very vigorous fermentation, and then a sudden drop in activity. But it's still bubbling, albeit slowly, so I guess it's just doing its thing.

Should I ramp up the temperature to around 80F in the coming days? Read that's what many folks do.

My club ran a saison competition a few years ago. I think we had about 10 different saisons entered. Mine won 1st place. I began my fermentation in the mid-60s then let rise to a maximum of 73-74 F for the next 3 weeks. I asked the 2nd place winner what he did and he reported exactly the same thing, mid-60s to mid-70s.

Personally, I'd just leave it the heck alone. But, your mileage may vary.
 
I'd let it ferment for a couple more days, leaving it as is, then increase the temp into the 70s to eke out all the attenuation you can.
 
There is a " saison stall " and I've read that it would be the claimed Dupont strain from Wyeast, which is 3724. But I've never had stall with neither Belle Saison, BE-134, 3726 and several Imperial, Omega and Bootleg Biology saison strains. If you can raise the temp. a few degrees more, do it. It wont hurt and will probably encourage the yeast to continue the fermentation. I've experienced explosive fermentations for 24-48 hours with many yeast and then they somwhat died down, but they didn't stall. They simply continued chewing on sugar and finished. If you usually take gravity samples, do it at day 10-12. You will probably find out it's done.
 
In the "Farmhouse Ales" book, Markowski notes that a lot of Belgian ale strains experience this - the last 10% of fermentation can take just as long, or longer, than the first 90%. I suggest to be patient.
 
Back
Top