Slow fermentation with Belgian saison yeast

[Bevilaquafoto]

I currently have a rye saison in the ale pale for three weeks. I used Belgian yeast despite my kitchen being a tad cool for it (78 degrees Fahrenheit during the day and 74 at night).

Fermentation was slow, but steady, then it appeared to stall. On the advice of my local brew shop, Bitter & Esters, I gently agitated the ale pale to keep the yeast in suspension, but not enough to oxygenate. Fermentation resumed. It is still bubbling, albeit very very little at this point.

My question: should I rack to a secondary to get it off the yeast cake, and let it finish fermenting for another week? I still get occasional bubbles in the airlock. Is there any harm in letting it sit on the yeast for a fourth week? Any thoughts would be appreciated. Please forgive the long question.

 

[youreanimpulse]

4 weeks on yeast is not a problem. Have you taken gravity readings? Bubbles could be off-gassing, which isn't fermentation related, but related to the ambient temperature rising and falling in your fermentation area. I would take a gravity reading and leave it for a few days to a week and take another. That said, if the "Belgian" yeast you're referring to is Dupont (WY3724/WLP565) then it is notorious for taking a long time to finish on its own. 4 weeks is quite possible with that yeast.

 

[Natdavis777]

I recently used French Saison and it took about 3 weeks to fully ferment ( FG 1.004) and my buddy uses the Belgian Saison and he said it took forever. There's no need to worry about letting it sit on the yeast that long. If you are worried about autolysis, it shouldn't be an issue


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[pdxal]

Wait. Then, wait some more.
Your other option is to heat the beer up to 80-90 degrees to get it to kick back up and ferment.
This yeast is notorious for stalling out for a while, but finishing with a low FG if you can wait a long time (6-8 weeks) or heat it up a bunch. Look it up on the Wyeast or White Labs websites and you'll see the info.

 

[Bevilaquafoto]

Thank you all for the great responses. I will do a gravity reading today. I WAS told that the Belgian stalls out more easily than the French, but that it was a yeast worth using for the flavor. I was also told that I could pitch a different yeast to kickstart it, but that unless it had stalled out totally, it wasn't necessary. Better to let it do it's thing slowly. I'll take another reading today and post it here. Thanks again.

 

[Bevilaquafoto]

Hydrometer reading this morning read 1.020 at a solid 74 degrees. OG was 1.064. The final gravity stated in the recipe is 1.008, so we have a ways to go, but it tastes great, and is tasting much more like beer now than wort. It'
s been a day over three weeks now, and if you guys thinks it's okay, I'll leave it in the pail on the yeast cake for another week and take a look then.
Thanks for your help.