The logic of yeast.

[ruostetta]

I'm currently fermenting a Belgian dark strong ale with wyeast 3522 Belgian Ardennes.
(Château pils and 12% d-180, 1.090 og, ~30 ibu for those curious)
Top cropped some nice thick krausen for a later use and cooled it down to 6c in fridge.
Still, after 12 hours in, the yeast is trying to blow the lid out of the mason jar I've been using.
Added some of this unco-operating harvest back to the primary bucket after failing to make it stop fermenting and saw an increase in activity within 1.5 hours.
I'm not worried of infection, the sample I took smells and tastes awesome.
Just curious if someone has experienced something like this. I've had a fermentation stall because of a drop of 1-2c with 3822, this one seemed to get more active.

Thanks.

 

[IslandLizard]

I've had similar experiences with that, and some other Belgian yeasts too. Jars with those harvested or ranched yeasts tend to get bulged lids, even when in the fridge at ~38F (~3C). I took some out for inventory and they started to become "active" within 5-10 minutes. When easing the lid, in some the yeast cake started to float, and ooze out the top. I guess most of this is caused by outgassing, so yes, that seems to point to some activity at low temps. It doesn't go dormant as most others do. For example jars with British and American yeasts don't exhibit any of that behaviour.